People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals, Inc. v. Dade City's Wild Things, Inc. et al

Filing 317

ORDER granting in part and denying in part 315 Motion to abate the court's determination of attorney's fees or, in the alternative, for an extension of time to respond to PETA motion for attorney's fees. See order for details. Signed by Magistrate Judge Amanda Arnold Sansone on 3/23/2020. (BEE)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
TAMPA DIVISION
PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL
TREATMENT OF ANIMALS, INC.,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No.: 8:16-cv-2899-T-36AAS

DADE CITY’S WILD THINGS, INC.,
et al.,
Defendants.
___________________________________________/
ORDER
Stearns Zoological Rescue & Rehab Center, Inc. d/b/a Dade City’s Wild Things,
Kathryn P. Stearns, and Randall E. Stearns (collectively, DCWT) move to abate the
court’s determination of attorney’s fees or, in the alternative, for an extension of time
to respond to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal’s (PETA) motion for
attorney’s fees.

(Doc. 315).

PETA opposes the motion to abate the court’s

determination of attorney’s fees but consents to an extension of time to respond to its
motion for attorney’s fees. (Doc. 316).
The filing of a notice of appeal generally divests a district court of jurisdiction
on any matters involved in the appeal. Shivers v. Hill, 205 Fed. Appx. 788, 789 (11th
Cir. 2006). But the court has discretion to entertain motions for attorney’s fees and
costs, defer ruling, or deny the motions without prejudice to refile after the appeal.
See Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d)(2) advisory committee’s note (“If an appeal on the merits of
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the case is taken, the court may rule on the claim for fees, may defer its ruling on the
motion, or may deny the motion without prejudice, directing under subdivision
(d)(2)(B) a new period for filing after the appeal has been resolved.”).
Here, the fee award is part of the imposed sanction. (Doc. 304, pp. 6-10). Thus,
the court must determine the fee amount for the judgment to become final and
appealable.

See Jaffe v. Sundowner Props., Inc., 808 F.2d 1425, 1426–27 (11th

Cir.1987) (holding that “[b]ecause the amount of attorney’s fees has not yet been fixed,
the [sanctions] order appealed from is not a final judgment”); Santini v. Cleveland
Clinic Fla., 232 F.3d 823, 825 n. 1 (11th Cir. 2000) (same).
Although the court has the discretion to award PETA its attorney’s fees and
costs as a prevailing party under the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1540(g)(4),
PETA “has no desire to further prolong this litigation, and affirmatively represents
to the Court that it will not seek additional fees and costs as a prevailing party under
16 U.S.C. § 1540(g)(4).” (Doc. 316, p. 3). Because the court must adjudicate the fee
award (which is part of the court’s imposed sanctions) prior to appeal and PETA is
not seeking additional fees and costs under 16 U.S.C. § 1540(g)(4), there is no basis
to delay a determination of the fee award. However, the court will allow DCWT an
extension of time to respond to PETA’s motion for attorney’s fees.
Accordingly, DCWT’s motion to abate the court’s determination of attorney’s
fees or, in the alternative, for an extension of time to respond to PETA’s motion for
attorney’s fees (Doc. 315) is GRANTED-IN-PART AND DENIED-IN-PART.
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DCWT’s request for abatement of determining the fee amount is denied. DCWT’s
request for an extension to respond to PETA’s motion for attorney’s fees (Doc. 314) is
granted. DCWT’s response is due by April 24, 2020.1
ORDERED in Tampa, Florida on March 23, 2020.

DCWT’s motion requests an extension until April 6, 2020 and cites the school
closures and other coronavirus-related unknowns as the basis for the closure. At the
time of filing, schools were anticipated to reopen on March 30, 2020. Now, the earliest
schools will reopen is April 15, 2020. Consequently, a longer extension is warranted.
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