Metiver v. State, Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles

After dismissal of Appellees’ forfeiture action was affirmed on appeal, State Dep’t of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles v. Metiver, 684 So.2d 204 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996), Appellants sought attorney’s fees pursuant to § 932.704(10), Fla.Stat. (1995). That statute provides, in relevant part, that a successful claimant in a forfeiture proceeding is entitled to reasonable trial attorney’s fees “if the court finds that the seizing agency has not proceeded at any stage in the proceedings in good faith or that the agency’s action which precipitated the forfeiture proceedings was a gross abuse of the…