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539 So. 2d 564

Docket No. 88-0981.

Temple v. Temple

John TEMPLE, Appellant, v. Marianna TEMPLE, Appellee.

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District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1989-03-08

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently April 1999

7 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“only assessable when a claim is for the plaintiff's out-of-pocket, pecuniary loss and there is a fixed date of that loss. The purpose in awarding such interest is to compensate a party for the deprivation of his property. Attorney's fees are not liquidated damages, they are litigation costs.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 632 So. 2d 615 - Higley South v. Quality Engineered Inst.

Relies on 474 So. 2d 212 - Argonaut Ins. Co. v. May Plumbing Co. · 494 So. 2d 1143 - Lambrix v. State · 471 So. 2d 38 - The Florida Bar in Re Inglis

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1989-03-08

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¶1Edna L. Caruso of Edna L. Caruso, P.A., and Lewis Kapner, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

¶2No brief filed for appellee.

¶3PER CURIAM.

¶4In 1986, the trial court, in a divorce proceeding, denied an award of attorney's fees and costs to the wife. On appeal, this court reversed the ruling on attorney's fees. Temple v. Temple,519 So.2d 1054 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988). After remand, the trial court appropriately awarded fees but also granted interest thereon from the date of the initial judgment which had been later reversed on appeal and which contained no attorney's fee award. We again reverse.

¶5Prejudgment interest cannot be assessed since attorney's fees do not constitute liquidated damages. Argonaut Insurance Co. v. May Plumbing Co.,474 So.2d 212 (Fla. 1985). Interest is only assessable when a claim is for the plaintiff's out-of-pocket, pecuniary loss and there is a fixed date of that loss. The purpose in awarding such interest is to compensate a party for the deprivation of his property. Attorney's fees are not liquidated damages, they are litigation costs. See NCN Electric, Inc. v. Leto,498 So.2d 1377 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); Grasland v. Taylor Woodrow Homes Limited,460 So.2d 940 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984), rev. denied,471 So.2d 43 (Fla. 1985); First*565American Bank & Trust v. Windjammer Time Sharing Resort, Inc.,483 So.2d 732 (Fla. 4th DCA), rev. denied,494 So.2d 1150 (Fla. 1986).

¶6We would stress that this opinion is directed exclusively to the question of prejudgment interest. We see nothing wrong with the accumulation of interest subsequent to a judgment for attorney's fees. In the instant case, interest would accrue prospectively from the date of the modified judgment (now appealed) awarding said fees. Novack v. Novack,210 So.2d 215 (Fla. 1968).

¶7REVERSED AND REMANDED.

¶8DOWNEY, LETTS and DELL, JJ., concur.

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