Florida Senate - 2024                                     SB 702
       
       
        
       By Senator Martin
       
       
       
       
       
       33-00717-24                                            2024702__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to attorney fees and costs; creating
    3         s. 57.106, F.S.; defining the term “property rights”;
    4         requiring courts to award reasonable attorney fees and
    5         costs to a prevailing defendant in certain civil
    6         actions under specified circumstances; providing an
    7         effective date.
    8          
    9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 1. Section 57.106, Florida Statutes, is created to
   12  read:
   13         57.106 Recovery of attorney fees and costs in certain
   14  disputes regarding property rights.—
   15         (1) For the purposes of this section, the term “property
   16  rights” includes, but is not limited to, use rights, ingress and
   17  egress rights, and those rights incident to land bordering upon
   18  navigable waters as described in s. 253.141.
   19         (2) In a civil action brought against the owner of a parcel
   20  of real property to resolve a dispute concerning property
   21  rights, the court must award reasonable attorney fees and costs
   22  to the prevailing defendant if the improvements made to the
   23  property by the defendant property owner were made in
   24  substantial compliance with, or in reliance on, environmental or
   25  regulatory approvals or permits issued by a political
   26  subdivision of the state or a state agency.
   27         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.