Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed March 22, 2023.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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No. 3D22-0850
Lower Tribunal No. 19-13416 CC
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Louis Carambot, et al.,
Appellants,
vs.
Lizet Moncion, et al.,
Appellees.
An appeal from the County Court for Miami-Dade County, Chiaka
Ihekwaba, Judge.
Victor K. Rones, P.A. and Victor K. Rones, for appellants.
No appearance for appellees. 1
Before EMAS, LOGUE, and MILLER, JJ.
1
By order of the court, appellees were precluded from filing an answer brief
for failure to timely file same.
MILLER, J.
In this landlord-tenant dispute, appellants challenge an amended final
judgment rendered following a nonjury trial. In the judgment, the trial court
denied their motion for attorney’s fees and costs, ostensibly on the basis they
were not prevailing parties because their recovery was limited to the
negligible amount of claimed damages conceded by appellees at the trial.
Given the broad discretion afforded to the trial court in determining which
party prevailed on the significant issues in the litigation, we decline to disturb
the denial of fees. See Skylink Jets, Inc. v. Klukan,
308 So. 3d 1048, 1051
(Fla. 4th DCA 2020); Sidlow v. Bowles Custom Pool & Spas, Inc.,
32 So. 3d
722, 722 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010); Prosperi v. Code, Inc.,
626 So. 2d 1360, 1363
(Fla. 1993). An award of costs, however, was required because appellants
recovered judgment. See § 57.041(1), Fla. Stat. (2021) (“The party
recovering judgment shall recover all his or her legal costs and charges
which shall be included in the judgment . . . .”); Arellano v. Bisson,
761 So.
2d 365, 366 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000) (noting that, under section 57.041, Florida
Statutes, entitlement to costs “is conditioned solely on recovering a
judgment”); Governing Bd. of St. Johns River Water Mgmt. Dist. v. Lake
Pickett Ltd.,
543 So. 2d 883, 884 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989) (“[S]ection 57.041
mandates that every party who recovers a judgment in a legal proceeding is
2
entitled as a matter of right to recover lawful court costs and that a trial judge
has no discretion under that statute to deny court costs to the party
recovering judgment.”); First Protective Ins. Co. v. Featherston,
978 So. 2d
881, 883 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008) (same). Accordingly, we reverse and remand
for further proceedings.
Reversed and remanded.
3
