Hagood v. Wells Fargo N.A.
Hagood v. Wells Fargo N.A.
Opinion of the Court
ON THE COURT’S MOTION FOR SANCTIONS
Pursuant to rule 9.410, this Court, on its own motion, notified Appellant’s counsel of its intent to impose sanctions and provided counsel an opportunity to show cause why sanctions should not be imposed. Hagood v. Wells Fargo, 112 So.3d 770 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013). Counsel separately filed written responses. The responses do not refute the fact that the initial brief was based entirely on a false assertion of fact and was, therefore, frivolous. Nor do any of the responses refute the fact that the reply brief improperly relied on facts not supported by the record, lacked record references, and improperly interjected a new point on appeal.
Mr. Lynd asserts that his name was placed on the briefs because he is a partner at Kaufman, Englett & Lynd, PLLC (“KEL”), and he might have been needed
Although the responses by the lawyers satisfy this Court that no intentional misconduct occurred in this case, they evince systemic flaws in internal procedures, a lack of understanding of substantive law and rules of procedure, a lack of supervision by senior lawyers, and multiple acts of professional negligence that began in the trial court and continued through the oral argument. The left-hand-did-not-know-what-the-righthand-was-doing defense is not acceptable. Even negligent violations of rules of procedure may justify sanctions. Accordingly, this Court imposes a $1,000 fine on counsel, jointly and severally, to be paid to the Clerk of this Court within thirty days.
This Court also admonishes all counsel that each attorney of record is responsible for the content of the entire document when his or her name appears on the document. Each attorney who appears in a proceeding and authorizes his or her name to be affixed to an appellate brief or other pleading cannot avoid responsibility for the content of the brief by later claiming limited or no involvement in its preparation.
The court reserves jurisdiction to enforce this order.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.