Caple v. Tuttle's Design-Build, Inc.

753 So. 2d 49, 25 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 76, 2000 Fla. LEXIS 77, 2000 WL 124388
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedFebruary 3, 2000
DocketSC93549
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 753 So. 2d 49 (Caple v. Tuttle's Design-Build, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Caple v. Tuttle's Design-Build, Inc., 753 So. 2d 49, 25 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 76, 2000 Fla. LEXIS 77, 2000 WL 124388 (Fla. 2000).

Opinion

753 So.2d 49 (2000)

George R. CAPLE, et al., Appellants,
v.
TUTTLE'S DESIGN-BUILD, INC., Appellee.

No. SC93549.

Supreme Court of Florida.

February 3, 2000.

*50 John M. Lynn of Lynn & Hanson, Homestead, Florida; and Sharon L. Wolfe and Nancy C. Ciampa, Miami, Florida, for Appellants.

Vance E. Salter and Christopher N. Johnson of Coll, Davidson, Carter, Smith, Salter & Barkett, P.A., Miami, Florida, for Appellee.

J. Thomas Cardwell, and Virginia B. Townes of Akerman, Senterfitt & Eidson, P.A., Orlando, Florida, for Florida Bankers Association, Amicus Curiae.

HARDING, Chief Justice.

We have on appeal Tuttle's Design-Build, Inc. v. Caple, 712 So.2d 1213 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998), wherein the Third District Court of Appeal declared section 702.10(2), Florida Statutes (1997), unconstitutional under the Due Process Clauses of the United States and Florida Constitutions.[1] We have mandatory jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution. For the reasons expressed below, we find the statute to be constitutional. Accordingly, we reverse the Third District Court's decision.

Facts

In 1996, Tuttle's Design-Build, Inc. (Tuttle) purchased a plant nursery from Caple Enterprises and George R. Caple (Caple) for a price of $17,000,000. See Tuttle's Design-Build, 712 So.2d at 1214. The purchase was financed by a bank, with three promissory notes to Caple Enterprises and one promissory note to George Caple individually. See id. Tuttle subsequently defaulted on one of the notes to Caple Enterprises and the note to Caple after paying more than $10,000,000 on the notes. See id. Caple filed a foreclosure action and requested an order to show cause pursuant to section 702.10(2), which allows a commercial mortgagee to request a court order requiring the mortgagor to continue payments pending litigation, post bond, or relinquish possession of the property. See id.

Tuttle answered, demanded a jury trial, and asserted various affirmative defenses. See id. Following the hearing, the court entered an order requiring Tuttle to pay Caple interest retroactive to the date of the request for the order to show cause and monthly interest payments thereafter. See id. The order provided Tuttle the alternative of posting a bond in the amount of $6,865,572, the unpaid mortgage principal and interest.[2]See id.

On appeal, Tuttle challenged the constitutionality of section 702.10(2) on two grounds: (1) it does not provide adequate due process safeguards to the mortgagor; and (2) it impermissibly conflicts with the Supreme Court's rulemaking authority. *51 See id. The Third District held that the statute was indeed unconstitutional under the United States and Florida Constitutions because it forces a mortgagor who wants to retain possession of the property to make payments without due process protection in the form of a mortgagee's bond or sequestration. See id. at 1215. The court further held that because it only provides for an excessive bond to stay those payments, the section impermissibly regulates matters of practice and procedure. See id. Caple appealed the Third District's ruling.

Caple argues that the statute neither violates the principles of due process nor encroaches upon the Supreme Court's rulemaking authority.[3] Caple asserts that the statute adequately protects the mortgagor's due process rights without requiring either a creditor's bond or that interest payments be made into the court registry. Further, Caple argues that the statute does not encroach on this Court's rulemaking authority because the procedural provisions at issue are substantially intertwined with substantive rights.

Tuttle argues, and the Third District Court agreed, that the statute violates the Due Process Clauses of the United States and Florida Constitutions and encroaches upon this Court's rulemaking authority. Relying on this Court's opinion in Gazil, Inc. v. Super Food Services, Inc., 356 So.2d 312 (Fla.1978), Tuttle asserts that the statute's failure to require a creditor's bond violates due process and thus renders it unconstitutional. Additionally, Tuttle argues that section 702.10(2) conflicts with (1) Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.610(b) by failing to require a creditor's bond even though it authorizes what is essentially a temporary injunction, and (2) Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 9.310 by requiring a mortgagor's bond that greatly exceeds the supersedeas bond provided by the rule. Thus, Tuttle reasons, section 702.10(2) encroaches upon this Court's rulemaking authority. We disagree with Tuttle's arguments.

Analysis

It is a fundamental rule of statutory construction that, if at all possible, a statute should be construed to be constitutional. VanBibber v. Hartford Accident & Indem. Ins. Co., 439 So.2d 880, 883 (Fla. 1983). In fact, this Court is bound "to resolve all doubts as to the validity of [the] statute in favor of its constitutionality, provided the statute may be given a fair construction that is consistent with the federal and state constitutions as well as with the legislative intent." State v. Stalder, 630 So.2d 1072, 1076 (Fla.1994)(quoting State v. Elder, 382 So.2d 687, 690 (Fla.1980)).

Due Process

Beginning with this presumption of validity, our next step is to consider section 702.10(2) in light of the due process requirements of the United States and Florida Constitutions. It has long been established that flexibility is a concept fundamental to a determination of the adequacy of a statute's due process protections. See Mitchell v. W.T. Grant Co., 416 U.S. 600, 610, 94 S.Ct. 1895, 40 L.Ed.2d 406 (1974). In fact, any concept of rigid procedure is incompatible with the elastic nature of due process. See id. As stated by the United States Supreme Court in Mitchell, "[t]he requirements of due process of law `are not technical, nor is any particular form of procedure necessary.'" Id. (quoting Inland Empire Dist. Council v. Millis, 325 U.S. 697, 710, 65 S.Ct. 1316, 89 L.Ed. 1877 (1945)). Furthermore, rather than articulating a laundry list of specific procedures required to protect due process, the United States Supreme Court has emphasized that the protection of due process rights requires balancing the interests of the parties involved. Connecticut v. Doehr, 501 U.S. 1, 2, 111 S.Ct. 2105, 115 L.Ed.2d 1 (1991).

*52 In Mitchell, the United States Supreme Court examined a Louisiana statute which allowed a mortgage or lien holder to obtain a writ of sequestration to forestall waste or alienation of encumbered property on an ex parte application. The Court held that the statute comported with due process because, as a whole, the statute adequately protected the parties' interests. See Mitchell, 416 U.S. at 610, 94 S.Ct. 1895. Although the Court was primarily concerned with judicial participation in the process, which it considered necessary to diminish the possibility of improper sequestration, it identified the aspects of the procedure that operated to protect the parties' interests and concluded the protection was sufficient.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
753 So. 2d 49, 25 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 76, 2000 Fla. LEXIS 77, 2000 WL 124388, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/caple-v-tuttles-design-build-inc-fla-2000.