In 1988, a judge asked Mr. Levine to serve as an expert witness at an attorney fee hearing in a Landlord and Tenant case in County Court in (then Dade County). Since then, Mr. Levine has been certified as an attorney’s fee expert in Circuit and County Court in Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County.
The leading case in the Fourth District Court of Appeals of Florida that requires an expert witness to appear for or against a Motion for Attorney’s fees is Murphy v. Tallardy, 422 So.2d 1098 (4th DCA, Fla 1982). This case set a precedent in the Fourth that expert testimony is necessary to establish the amount of attorney’s fees being claimed are reasonable. This case also established that expert witness fees may be taxed as costs for the expert witness who testified as to the reasonableness of the attorney fees being claimed in the Motion.
“…Florida has a long-standing practice of requiring testimony of expert fee witnesses to establish the reasonableness of attorney’s fees. Crittenden Orange Blossom Fruit v. Stone, 514 So.2d 351, 352-53 (Fla.1987) (“(I)t is well settled that the testimony of an expert witness concerning a reasonable attorney’s fee is necessary to support the establishment of the fee.”). “At a minimum, an award for attorney’s fees ‘requires a predicate of substantial competent evidence in the form of testimony by the attorney performing services and by an expert as to the value of those services.’ ” Pridgen v. Agoado, 901 So.2d 961, 962 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) (quoting Cooper v. Cooper, 406 So.2d 1223, 1224 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981)). The attorney moving for fees can testify as to the amount of time he expended, but he must present some expert testimony as to what would be a reasonable hourly fee. Fitzgerald v. State, 756 So.2d 110, 112 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) (citing Yakubik v. Bd. of County Comm’rs of Lee County, 656 So.2d 591, 591-92 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995)).…”
