Attorney's Fees to An Attorney Who Withdrew

In Hastings v. Osius, 104 So. 2d 21, 22 (Fla. 1958), the supreme court held that an order awarding attorney's fees, which contained the phrase "for which let execution issue," was a final judgment reviewable by appeal rather than by certiorari because it terminated all judicial labor on the issue of attorney's fees in the case. In Kucera v. Kucera, 330 So. 2d 36 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975), the fourth district, relying on the supreme court's decision in Hastings, held that an order awarding attorney's fees to an attorney who withdrew, entered during the pendency of a dissolution proceeding, constituted a final judgment subject to plenary appeal. See id. at 37-38. In Ruppel v. Gulf Winds Apartments, Inc., 508 So. 2d 534, 535 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987), the second district, relying on the fourth district's decision in Kucera, held that an order awarding attorney's fees pursuant to section 57.105, Florida Statutes, which had been entered prior to final disposition in the case and had been based on a finding that the defendants had filed a frivolous motion to dismiss, was a final order for purposes of an appeal from that order.