Sheppard v. M & R PLUMBING, INC.

Max and Alicia Sheppard appeal the trial court’s order requiring them to pay costs and attorneys’ fees to M & R Plumbing, Inc. (M & R) on the purported authority of section 713.29, Florida Statutes (2008). We affirm the costs award, but reverse the award of attorneys’ fees.

The parties’ dispute over costs and fees is ancillary to a dispute that arose in connection with M & R’s installation of a water treatment system on the Sheppards’ property. The Sheppards eventually removed the system M & R had installed, and replaced it with another, less elaborate system they found more satisfactory. In…