An appellate court reversed a sanctions order against a Miami Gardens lawyer Wednesday, finding the trial judge ”failed to make any detailed factual findings” supporting the punishment.

Broward Circuit Judge Dale Cohen issued the sanctions order against attorney Gregory Ochalek, who represented the mother in a family law dispute. Ochalek withdrew from the case but said he was still serving as “non-advocate counsel” for the client when a different lawyer started taking action on behalf of the mother, according to the Fourth DCA.

The new lawyer, Jodie Bassichis, moved for sanctions against Ochalek for interfering in the case after he appeared at a hearing and moved to appear at a deposition. Ochalek had also accused Bassichis of behaving improperly.

Cohen ruled Ochalek was “barred from interfering and involving himself any further” in the case and ordered him to pay $600 in attorney fees to Bassichis as sanctions.

Ochalek appealed, arguing the judge didn't allow him to defend himself in a hearing and did not detail his reasoning for the sanctions. The appellate panel agreed with Ochalek, reversing the decision and remanding the case to the trial court.

“Here, the trial court failed to make an express finding of bad faith conduct,” wrote Fourth DCA Judge Melanie May, with Judges Robert Gross and Mark Klingensmith concurring. “It failed to make any detailed factual findings describing the specific conduct that resulted in the mother's unnecessary incurrence of attorneys' fees.”

Instead, Cohen ordered Ochalek to pay $600 to Bassichis after merely finding the fees were “reasonable and necessary.” The appellate panel ruled the order was insufficient under the inequitable conduct doctrine, which requires detailed findings to support an attorney fee award for misconduct.

“I'm shocked that I prevailed, but I think it was correct that I prevailed,” Ochalek said. ”But it's very difficult to prevail on appeals, particularly when you're in unwanted conflict with a sitting trial jurist, which I always try to avoid.”

Bassichis, of Kelley Kronenberg in Fort Lauderdale, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the trial court docket, she is no longer involved in the case.

The sanctions dispute erupted after Ochalek told the judge Bassichis filed a pleading before he withdrew, and failed to properly notify the father about it. Ochalek told the court he attended a hearing because the mother “retained him to review her new counsel's billing methods, case progress, and provide 'strategic advice,'” according to the Fourth DCA.

According to the appellate record, Ochalek also said he told Cohen about a 2011 Florida Bar admonishment against Bassichis for performing “virtually no services” for a client in a child support case.

Ochalek was happy to see Wednesday's decision from the appellate court.

“I'm very satisfied that the appellate court fairly and squarely applied the controlling law to the record facts to obtain a just, American legal result,” Ochalek said.