sunEthics

Justice Administrative Commission not responsible for paying fees of lawyer appointed to represent indigent grandmother in dependency proceeding

    In a dependency proceeding, the trial court appointed counsel to represent an indigent grandmother.  The court entered an order requiring the Justice Administrative Commission ("JAC") to pay the lawyer's fees.  Seeking to quash the order, the JAC petitioned the First DCA for a writ of certiorari.

    The First DCA granted the petition and quashed the order.  Although the grandmother "undoubtedly entitled to participate in the dependency proceeding concerning her minor grandchildren." the appellate court concluded that the grandmother "was not entitled to court-appointed representation in this case, as she did not fall under the category of persons who qualify for court-appointed counsel at public expense.  See § 27.40(1), Fla. Stat. (2008)."  Consequently, the lower court did not have statutory authority to enter the order requiring the JAC to pay her lawyer's fees.  "We agree with JAC that the decision in Justice Administrative Commission v. Peterson, 989 So.2d 663 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008), is on point and was correctly decided."  Justice Administrative Commission v. Grover, __ So.3d ___ (Fla. 1st DCA, No. 1D09-1613, 6/24/2009).

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