Florida District Courts of Appeal, 2010

Geiger v. Spurlock

Geiger v. Spurlock
Florida District Courts of Appeal · Decided March 26, 2010 · Torpy, Evander, Palmer
30 So. 3d 704; 2010 Fla. App. LEXIS 3911; 2010 WL 1131433 (Southern Reporter, Third Series)

Geiger v. Spurlock

Opinion of the Court

PER CURIAM.

AFFIRMED.

TORPY and EVANDER, JJ., concur. PALMER, J., concurs specially with opinion.

Concurring Opinion

PALMER, J.,

concurring specially.

I concur in the majority’s affirmance of the trial court’s final order awarding attorney’s fees and costs pursuant to section 57.105 of the Florida Statutes (2005). I write to express my concern regarding the conflict of interest issues created by the fact that Attorney Marilyn Hochman’s law firm is representing both Geiger and Hochman in this appeal.

In the initial brief filed in this matter Hochman argued, inter alia, that it was error for the trial court to sanction her by directing her to pay half of Spurlock’s attorney’s fees. If Hochman had been successful in arguing that point, Geiger could have been responsible for paying twice as much in attorney’s fees. It is disturbing that Hochman’s firm, while purporting to represent Geiger’s interests, sought a reversal of a trial court ruling which, as a consequence, could have resulted in an assessment against Geiger of twice as much liability. See Mullins v. Kennelly, 847 So.2d 1151 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003); R. Regulating Fla. Bar 4-1.7. Unfortunately, we are unable to determine, from the state of the instant record, whether Hochman’s firm apprised Geiger of this conflict and the consequences of continued representation (such as whether Geiger had a financial obligation to solely fund the prosecution of this appeal even though Hochman’s firm had a financial interest in obtaining a reversal of the sanction entered against it).

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