Stephanie Sackett v. David Tubero and Paula Tubero

── Stephanie Sackett v. David Tubero and Paula Tubero ── Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida Date: June 03, 2026 Category: General DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FOURTH DISTRICT STEPHANIE SACKETT, Appellant, v. DAVID TUBERO and PAULA TUBERO, Appellees. No. 4D2025-1712 [June 3, 2026] Appeal from the County Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Debra Ann Moses Stephens, Judge; L.T. Case No. 502022CC012475XXXXNB. Lisa M. Boswell of Lisa M. Boswell, P.A., Wellington, for appellant. No appearance for appellees. MAY, J. A landlord appeals an attorney’s fees and costs order following a landlord/tenant action, in which she prevailed. She argues the trial court erred in reducing the attorneys’ fees and taxable costs requested. We agree in part and reverse. • The Facts The landlord filed a breach of contract action against the tenants. The landlord alleged the tenants damaged the rental property during their occupancy and the damage exceeded the tenants’ deposit. The landlord secured a judgment against the tenants for $10,189.08, and $550 in court costs, totaling $10,739.08. The landlord then moved for attorney’s fees, costs, and interest (“fee motion”) for the two attorneys who represented her. The landlord’s attorneys requested $7,455 in fees ($350.00/hour) for attorney Boswell’s representation and $12,918.75 in fees ($375/hour) for attorney Clamens’s representation. 1 The motion included a request for taxable costs of $2,148 for attorney Boswell and $2,780.34 for attorney Clamens. The trial court heard argument on the fee motion and entered a final judgment, which was later amended but reflected the same amounts. The landlord moved for rehearing to ascertain whether the Amended Final Judgment included the trial court’s ruling on the fee motion. The trial court then issued an order on the fee motion. The order reduced both attorneys’ rates to $325/hour based on the court’s determination that their online Florida Bar profiles did not reflect their experience in landlord-tenant law. The order awarded $3,412.50 in attorney’s fees; specifically, 6.0 hours ($1,950.00) to attorney Boswell and 4.5 hours ($1,462.50) to attorney Clamens. The order also awarded $1,375.00 in costs (for filing fees, service, court reporting, and transcript costs). 2 The trial court denied the motion for rehearing in the same order. From the orders on the fee motion and the motion for rehearing, the landlord now appeals. • The Analysis The landlord challenges the trial court’s reduction in the attorneys’ hourly rates and time spent based upon the trial court’s finding of lack of experience and unreasonable billing tasks. The landlord argues the trial court’s reduction in both hourly rates was arbitrary because it was based solely on the trial court’s independent review of each attorney’s Florida Bar profile. The trial court also reduced attorney Clamens’s time to 4.5 hours from the requested 34.45 hours and attorney Boswell’s time to 6.0 hours from the requested 21.3 hours based on the court’s determination that much of the work performed could have been done by paralegals or legal secretaries. The court specifically identified certain time entries, advised that it was not going to go through each one, and provided other entry 1 Each attorney represented the landlord at different times. Attorney Boswell represented the landlord for the trial from December 2023 forward and attorney Clamens represented the landlord pretrial from July 2022 to December 2023. 2 The initial final judgment included $550 in court costs for filing fees and service. The fee order awarded an additional $825 for court reporting and transcription services, for a total of $1,375. 2 dates where the court found too much time had been spent or the work co