Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Florida

Collectingattorneys fees for a dismissed law suit

A few years ago, I was a co-defendant (along with my cousin) in a lawsuit for alleged breach of contract on the basis of a non-refundable $600 deposit on a very dubious and arguably non-existent lease that was never executed on a beachfront property that we never took possession of. About two years later, and after incurring some $19,000 in legal costs, the case finally went to court. Within about half an hour into the trial, the judge dismissed the plaintiff�s suit �with prejudice�, awarding us the right to recoup our attorneys fees from the plaintiff. Despite the fact that the plaintiff retains ownership of the income property (worth well over $2 million) over which the suit for alleged breach of contract was filed, we have thus far been unable to collect any attorneys fees from him. I would like to find out whether we have any effective legal recourse against the plaintiff as he has cost us considerable expense by filing, what I continue to regard as, an essentially pure nuisance suit against us.


Asked on 1/29/07, 1:15 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Johm Smith tom's

Re: Collectingattorneys fees for a dismissed law suit

Generally, you only get attorney fees if you had an actual attorney on the case. Sometimes you can get sanctions awarded to you to cover your costs. An attorney would presumably have worked on recovering their costs from the other party, so it sounds like you did not have one and went to trial pro se. Otherwise, you should get your trial counsel to work on getting your reimbursed for what you paid them for their work.

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Answered on 1/29/07, 2:18 pm


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