Goldman v. Estate of Goldman

Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed June 17, 2015.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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No. 3D14-98
Lower Tribunal No. 10-3425
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Richard Goldman, et. al.,
Appellants,
vs.
The Estate of Aaron Goldman,
Appellee.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Michael A.
Genden, Judge.
Michael J. Schlesinger, Lori A. Sochin and Andrew W. Abel; Greenberg
Traurig, P.A., Julissa Rodriguez, Ronald M. Rosengarten and Jay A. Yagoda, for
appellants.
Pollack, Pollack, & Kogan, LLC, Gary W. Pollack and Lyudmila Kogan;
Carlton Fields Jordan Burt, P.A., and Jack Reiter, for appellee.
Before SALTER, FERNANDEZ and LOGUE, JJ.
FERNANDEZ, J.
Richard Goldman, Kenneth Goldman, Mitchel Goldman, Ethan Goldman,
and Andrea Carless appeal the trial court’s order awarding attorney’s fees and
costs in favor of appellee, Jonathan Lewin.1 We reverse the order without prejudice
because the trial court, under its inherent authority to award attorney’s fees and
costs, failed to make bad faith findings.
In the fall of 2007, Attorney Liz Consuegra appeared as court-appointed
Guardian Ad Litem for Aaron Goldman in his guardianship proceedings. During
the proceedings, Consuegra reviewed the guardianship file, which contained
Goldman’s confidential financial and medical information. The file was placed in
the hands of Consuegra, who signed a Stipulation of Confidentiality regarding her
copy of the guardianship file.
On March 17, 2008, the trial court found that the file was confidential. On
September 15, 2010, Consuegra inadvertently sent the guardianship file to Paul
Cowan, who was Richard Goldman’s new attorney. Cowan subsequently issued
ten subpoenas to financial institutions requesting information regarding Goldman’s
accounts. On September 28, 2010, Cowan filed a petition seeking the court’s
permission to review the confidential guardianship file.
Lewin then moved for the imposition of sanctions against the appellants,
contending that they had obtained confidential information from the guardianship
file in violation of the trial court’s confidentiality order. The trial court held a
hearing regarding sanctions and concluded that Consuegra sent the file
1 Appellants are the nephews and niece of Aaron Goldman.
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inadvertently and not in bad faith. The trial court determined that imposition of
sanctions against the appellants was appropriate, but made no findings supporting
bad faith conduct as to Cowan or the appellants. The trial court imposed sanctions
upon the appellants.
The primary issue in this case is whether the trial court abused its discretion
when it awarded attorney’s fees and costs as a sanction against a litigant, under its
inherent authority to do so, where it did not make an express finding of bad faith
conduct. We do not address any of the other issues on appeal, and conclude that the
trial court abused its discretion.
We review a trial court’s decision to impose sanctions for bad faith conduct
for abuse of discretion. Boca Burger, Inc. v. Forum, 912 So. 2d 561, 573 (Fla.
2005). In Moakley v. Smallwood, 826 So. 2d 221, 226 (Fla. 2002), the Florida
Supreme Court held that a trial court has “the inherent authority to impose
attorneys’ fees against an attorney for bad faith conduct.” However, this sanction
must be based on “an express finding of bad faith conduct and must be supported
by detailed factual findings describing the specific acts of bad faith conduct that
resulted in the unnecessary incurrence of attorneys’ fees.” Id. at 227. Moreover, the
“amount of the award of attorneys’ fees must be directly related to the attorneys’
fees and costs that the opposing party has incurred as a result of the specific bad
faith conduct of the attorney,” and this sanction “is appropriate only after notice
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and an opportunity to be heard - including the opportunity to present witnesses and
other evidence.” Id. The Florida Supreme Court has also noted that nothing limits
the application of this inherent authority “to a party rather than the party’s
attorney.” Id. at 224.
The appellants argue that the trial court did not comply with Moakley
because neither the sanctions order nor the entitlement to fees and costs order
contain any express finding of bad faith conduct or provide detailed factual
findings describing specific acts of bad faith. As support for this argument,
appellants further point to the trial court’s finding that the disclosure of the
guardianship file was inadvertent and accidental, and the fact that the trial court did
not sanction either of the attorneys involved in the disclosure and use of that
material.
However, Lewin contends that Moakley only requires a finding of bad faith
when the award of attorney’s fees is against counsel, rather than against a party.
Lewin points to language in Moakley expressing a concern for “ensuring that
attorneys will not be deterred from pursuing lawful claims, issues, or defenses on
behalf of their clients,” Id. at 226-27, as support for his argument. We disagree. As
the Fourth District Court of Appeal held in T/F Systems, Inc. v. Malt, 814 So. 2d
511, 513 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002), “[a]lthough Moakley involved the imposition of
fees against an attorney, the procedures described in the case are equally applicable
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to the assessment of fees against a party.” Thus, the trial court’s failure to make
specific findings regarding bad faith conduct as to each party or attorney against
sanctions are to be imposed requires reversal. We therefore reverse and remand
for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.
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