Summary
In Flea Market USA, Inc. v. Cohen, 490 So.2d 210 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986), the Third District ruled that a party which sought and obtained a continuance just before trial could be required to pay attorney's fees occasioned by the delay.
Summary of this case from Dept. of Children v. M.GOpinion
No. 86-16.
June 24, 1986.
Appeal from the Circuit Court, Dade County, Bernard Jaffee, J.
Wilbur G. Silverman, Bay Harbor Islands, for appellant.
Burnstein Knee and Jerrold Knee, Hollywood, for appellees.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and HUBBART and JORGENSON, JJ.
We find no abuse of discretion in the order under review, which conditioned granting the appellant's eve-of-trial motion for continuance upon the payment of the appellees' attorney's fees caused by the delay. Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Suit, 153 Fla. 490, 15 So.2d 33 (1943); 11 Fla.Jur.2d Continuances § 40 (1979); Annot., Continuance of Civil Case as Conditioned upon Applicant's Payment of Costs or Expenses Incurred by Other Party, 9 A.L.R. 4th 1144, 1163-66 (1981); compare Speight v. City of Fort Walton Beach, 180 So.2d 385 (Fla. 1st DCA 1965) (condition invalid when party entitled to continuance as a matter of right). Moreover, because the appellant accepted the continuance without objection, the basic rule which forbids a party from appealing from the adverse portion of an order after accepting its benefits, 3 Fla.Jur.2d Appellate Review § 21 (1978), precludes the present attempt to reverse the fee award. 11 Fla.Jur.2d Continuances § 40 (1979) ("In accepting the continuance, the applicant thereby assents to the terms or conditions imposed and must comply with them.").
Affirmed.