Beck v. Olstein
Beck v. Olstein
Opinion of the Court
The issue presented by this appeal is whether the plaintiff’s voluntarily-dismissed substantive claim under the Florida RICO statute was so lacking in a legal foundation that the defendants are entitled to an award of attorney’s fees.
Beck’s contentions here are essentially twofold: (1) a court cannot award attorney’s fees under a “substantial justification” statute simply because no court in the jurisdiction has construed the statute on the point presented, and (2) a credible treatise published in the jurisdiction advocating the plaintiff’s position,
The order awarding fees to the defendants-appellees is reversed.
. Section 772.104, Florida Statutes (1989), entitles a defendant to reasonable attorney’s fees
. Gough, Wrongful Discharge: Can RICO Come To The Rescue?, 61 Fla.B.J. 91 (June 1987).
. Because we hold that the defendants were not entitled to a fee award in the first instance, we need not address the contention made by cross-appeal that the fee award was wholly inadequate.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Robert A. BECK, II, Appellant/Cross-Appellee v. Harry OLSTEIN, William Paulus, Jr., Leonard Bellezza, and Ernest Sabato, Appellees/Cross-Appellants
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published