Klingensmith, J.
Coconut Key Homeowner's Association, Inc. ("the Association"), as the appellant/cross-appellee, seeks review of an order imposing a mandatory injunction against it. Gonzalez, as appellee/cross-appellant, appeals the denial of her request for attorney's fees and costs. Accordingly, there are two issues presented in this appeal and cross-appeal. First, whether the trial court erred in issuing the injunction against the Association. Second, whether Gonzalez prevailed in the underlying action for purposes of an award of attorney's fees when the jury found that the Association breached a contract, but awarded no damages to Gonzalez. We affirm as to the entry of the injunction, and also find that Gonzalez was the prevailing party for purposes of awarding both attorney's fees and costs.
Gonzalez filed a complaint against the Association. Under count one, "Breach of Governing Documents," Gonzalez alleged that the Association had "breached, and continue[d] to breach the Governing Documents by failing to properly manage the surface water management system," which caused her property to consistently flood when it rained, and led to significant damage to her home.
In their joint pretrial stipulation, both parties agreed on the underlying issue in the case:
(Emphasis added).
After a trial on these issues, the jury found that the Association breached its governing documents by failing to maintain and operate the surface water management system on Gonzalez's property, but that the breach was not a legal cause of damage to Gonzalez. As a result, Gonzalez was awarded no monetary damages on count one.
The trial court conducted a post-trial hearing on whether to issue an injunction against the Association pursuant to count two. After the hearing, it granted
Gonzalez then filed a motion for attorney's fees and costs pursuant to section 720.305(1), Florida Statutes (2008). Following a hearing, the trial court denied Gonzalez's motion for attorney's fees and costs. Gonzalez timely appealed the denial of fees and costs, and the Association timely appealed the entry of the injunction.
"`[A]n order imposing a permanent injunction lies within the sound discretion of the trial court and will be affirmed absent a showing of abuse of discretion.'" Smith v. Coal. to Reduce Class Size, 827 So.2d 959, 961 (Fla. 2002) (quoting Operation Rescue v. Women's Health Ctr., Inc., 626 So.2d 664, 670 (Fla. 1993)). Gonzalez sought a mandatory injunction to command specific conduct, specifically compliance with governing documents. "In order to establish entitlement to a mandatory injunction there must be a clear legal right which has been violated, irreparable harm must be threatened, and there must be a lack of an adequate remedy at law." Amelio v. Marilyn Pines Unit II Condo. Ass'n, Inc., 173 So.3d 1037, 1039 (Fla. 2d DCA 2015).
Section 718.303(1), Florida Statutes (2008), authorizes the extraordinary civil remedy of a mandatory injunction in cases involving condominium associations and their members. This section provides in pertinent part:
§ 718.303(1) (emphasis added). Similarly, section 720.305(1) authorizes courts to impose equitable remedies in disputes between homeowners and their associations:
(Emphasis added); see also Fox v. Madsen, 12 So.3d 1261, 1263 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009) ("[A] mandatory injunction is the proper method of enforcing restrictive agreements on property."); Abbey Park Homeowners Ass'n v. Bowen, 508 So.2d 554, 555 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987) ("Injunctive relief is an appropriate remedy for the enforcement of regulations contained in a declaration of condominium.").
After careful review of the record in this case, which included three full days of conflicting testimony and evidence before
First, Gonzalez demonstrated that a clear legal right was violated when the jury found the Association violated its governing documents for failing to properly maintain the surface water management system at Gonzalez's property. See Billian v. Mobil Corp., 710 So.2d 984, 992 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998) ("Where the fact issues decided by a jury in an action at law are sufficiently similar to the fact issues on a related equitable claim, the trial court is bound by the jury's findings of fact in making its ruling on the equitable claim.").
Second, Gonzalez proved irreparable harm since multiple witnesses testified that the flooding problem could only be resolved if the Association fixed the swales and drainage system near Gonzalez's property.
Third, Gonzalez did not have an adequate remedy at law. Any potential award of compensatory damages would only address repairs to whatever structural damage was caused by previous flooding. While damages for the diminished value of her property caused by future flooding could conceivably be recovered, only an injunction requiring the Association to comply with its governing documents would prevent future harm.
Therefore, we affirm the trial court's order issuing a mandatory injunction against the Association.
In general, we review a trial court's determination of the prevailing party for an abuse of discretion. See T & W Developers, Inc. v. Salmonsen, 31 So.3d 298, 301 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010). However, when the trial court's determination of which party prevails depends on the interpretation of a statute or a contract, we apply a de novo standard of review. Id.; accord Shirley's Pers. Care Servs. of Okeechobee, Inc. v. Boswell, 165 So.3d 824, 827-28 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015). Here, the trial court's determination of the prevailing party does not depend on the interpretation of either a statute or the parties' agreement. Thus, we review the trial court's determination of whether Gonzalez was the prevailing party for abuse of discretion.
The exercise of the trial court's discretion is "subject to the test of reasonableness, i.e., [it] must be supported by logic and justification for the result and founded on substantial, competent evidence." In re Guardianship of Sapp, 868 So.2d 687, 693 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004).
In addition to the excerpt cited above, section 720.305(1) provides, "The prevailing party in any such litigation is entitled to recover reasonable attorney fees and costs." This section specifically covers disputes that occur between homeowners and homeowner's associations. Additionally, Gonzalez referenced multiple sections of Chapter 720, Florida Statutes, in support of her claim as stated in her complaint. Therefore, this section applies to this action.
When there is a prevailing party statute or contract, reasonable attorney fees must be awarded. See Sorrentino v. River Run Condo. Ass'n, 925 So.2d 1060, 1066 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006). "For the purpose of attorney's fees, the prevailing party is the party that won on the significant issues in litigation." M.A. Hajianpour, M.D., P.A. v. Khosrow Maleki, P.A., 975 So.2d 1288, 1289 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008). In this case, the trial court found that Gonzalez was not the prevailing party by focusing primarily on the amount of the judgment she received — or more specifically,
In an analogous case from this court, Khodam v. Escondido Homeowner's Ass'n, Inc., 87 So.3d 65, 66 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012), a homeowner sued her homeowner's association for breaching its declaration of covenants. Like this case, the jury found that the homeowner's association breached the covenants, but awarded the homeowner no damages. Id. Despite the zero-damage award, we held that the homeowner was the prevailing party for purposes of recovering attorney's fees and costs, and reversed the trial court order denying the claim:
Id. (emphasis added).
We recognize that in other jurisdictions, it is the amount of the judgment, not merely the verdict, that trial courts consider in determining whether to award attorney's fees. See, e.g., Intercontinental Grp. P'ship v. KB Home Lone Star L.P., 295 S.W.3d 650, 656 (Texas 2009) (holding that "law nor logic favors a rule that bestows `prevailing party' status upon a plaintiff who ... pockets nothing except a jury finding of non-injurious breach[,]" and to prevail where a party seeks only actual damages "there must be a showing that the plaintiff was actually harmed, not merely wronged.").
When looking for the meaning of common and ordinary legal terms, courts routinely refer to Black's Law Dictionary, which defines "prevailing party" as "[a] party in whose favor a judgment is rendered, regardless of the amount of damages awarded." BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 1154 (8th ed. 2004) (emphasis added). Ignoring the second, emphasized phrase by making even a "no money judgment" dispositive would seem to be a departure from the ordinary meaning of "prevailing party." Normally, the "touchstone of the prevailing party inquiry must be the material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties." Texas State Teachers Ass'n v. Garland Indep. School Dist., 489 U.S. 782, 109 S.Ct. 1486, 1494, 103 L.Ed.2d 866 (1989) (stating that a technical victory may be so insignificant as to be insufficient to support prevailing party status). Such a "material alteration" typically occurs when a plaintiff secures an "enforceable judgment[ ] on the merits." Buckhannon Board & Care Home, Inc. v. W. Virginia Dep't of Health & Human Res., 532 U.S. 598, 121 S.Ct. 1835, 1840, 149 L.Ed.2d 855 (2001). The Supreme Court has also reasoned that the amount of a judgment is critical to the prevailing party determination by holding that a "prevailing party" is one who has been awarded some relief by the court, even if it is nominal damages. See Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U.S. 103, 113 S.Ct. 566, 574-75, 121 L.Ed.2d 494 (1992). Stated succinctly, "no money judgment, no fees."
Florida case law does not allow for the consideration of proportionality to decide a litigant's prevailing party status in these cases. Consequently, we are bound by our prior holding in Khodam on the effect of the jury's verdict, thus making Gonzalez a prevailing party on the breach claim despite the "no damages" award. See also Yellow Pages Photos, Inc. v. Ziplocal, LP, 2014 WL 5517027, at *2 (M.D. Fla. Oct. 31, 2014) ("Florida courts have held that the party against whom a contract has been breached may be the prevailing party even though the jury awarded `$0' damages.").
While the prevailing party determination does not depend solely on the magnitude of relief Gonzalez obtained, she was required, at the least, to secure some relief on the merits of her claim to achieve such status. "`[P]laintiffs may be considered a `prevailing party' for attorney's fees purposes if they succeed on any significant issue in litigation which achieves some of the benefit the parties sought in bringing suit.'" Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 1939, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983) (quoting Nadeau v. Helgemoe, 581 F.2d 275, 278-79 (1st Cir. 1978)). Although there is ongoing debate in the courts on whether a plaintiff who recovers no money damages can be a prevailing party, a party who receives affirmative judicial or equitable relief is clearly considered a prevailing party under the law. Gonzalez was indisputably a prevailing party on her injunctive claim in equity, regardless of her marginal victory on the breach count. Thus, prevailing party attorney fees should be awarded to Gonzalez in this dispute. See Khodam, 87 So.3d at 66.
Court costs under section 57.041, Florida Statutes (2008), are also "`governed by the `prevailing party' standard....'" Wyatt v. Milner Document Prods., Inc., 932 So.2d 487, 490 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006) (quoting Spring Lake Imp. Distrib. v. Tyrrell, 868 So.2d 656, 658-59 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004)), abrogated on other grounds by Westgate Miami Beach, Ltd. v. Newport Operating Corp., 55 So.3d 567 (Fla. 2010). A trial court has no discretion to deny costs under this statute — the prevailing party must be awarded their costs. See Oriental Imps., Inc. v. Alilin, 559 So.2d 442, 443 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990) (holding that under section 57.041, a judge does not have discretion to deny recovery of costs to a prevailing party). As such, appellant is the prevailing party for purposes of an award of costs as well. See Sunshine Bottling Co. v. Tropicana Prods., Inc., 757 So.2d 1231, 1233 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000).
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
Gerber, C.J., and Damoorgian, J., concur.