Crescenzo v. Atwater

136 So. 3d 1248, 2014 WL 1613401, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 5866
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 23, 2014
DocketNo. 2D12-3092
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 136 So. 3d 1248 (Crescenzo v. Atwater) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crescenzo v. Atwater, 136 So. 3d 1248, 2014 WL 1613401, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 5866 (Fla. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinions

ALTENBERND, Judge.

William Crescenzo appeals an order denying his “Motion to Direct Chief Financial Officer to Return Funds to Court.” [1250]*1250Although this court concludes that the circuit court properly denied this motion, we do so for reasons other than those contained in the order on appeal. This case involves the first step in the confusing process of obtaining unclaimed funds from the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) under chapter 717, Florida Statutes (2011), after those funds have been deposited with the CFO by a court pursuant to section 43.19, Florida Statutes (2011). By statute, the circuit courts play a role in this process, but once the judicial branch has deposited such funds with the executive branch, separation of powers affects the role of both the court and the CFO.1

In the style of this opinion, we describe the order on appeal as an order denying a “petition for order directing payment of $13,857.69 in unclaimed money deposited in accordance with section 43.19, Florida Statutes.” Mr. Crescenzo’s pro se motion is intended to accomplish this general result but in fact sought an order from the trial court compelling the CFO to perform certain actions when the CFO was not a party to the proceeding. The CFO, who from this record has received other similar claims from Mr. Crescenzo, intervened in the trial court action to protect his interests and to establish precedent.

Procedurally, this case is very unusual. If the CFO had not chosen to intervene in the trial court, we doubt that any active party would be listed as an appellee. There are apparently no judicial rules of procedure to assist in the filing of a claim under section 43.19. It is likely that the legislature intends the local state attorney to perform a function as if the state attorney were a party to the action. The state attorney is not a party, and it is doubtful that state attorneys are actually performing the intended function. The CFO has promulgated regulations that are useful within the context of the administrative proceeding to obtain payment under chapter 717, but those regulations should have little, if any, impact on the proceedings within the court itself.

In this opinion, we first provide a description of the lawsuit from which this proceeding arises, a lawsuit in which none of the original parties are remaining parties to this proceeding.2 Second, we provide a description of the proceeding commenced by Mr. Crescenzo. Third, we provide a description of section 43.19 and of chapter 717. Fourth, we provide a legal analysis of the many issues presented by the parties. Finally, in the fifth section, we provide a summary of the procedure that we conclude should be used to process claims under section 43.19 and to seek payment from the CFO.

I. THE ORIGINAL PROCEEDINGS IN THE CIRCUIT COURT

In 1999, Willie Consuegra sued certain underwriters at Lloyd’s of London to resolve a dispute arising from the repair of his large truck, which was insured by Lloyd’s. The dispute, identified as case [1251]*1251number 99-CA-003537, was referred to an umpire who apparently determined that Tampa Spring Company was entitled to be paid a storage fee on the truck of $11,375.00.3 As a result, Judge Edward H. Ward entered an order in July 2000 that contained a provision stating “[t]hat the Defendants shall also pay as agreed the storage charges claimed by Tampa Spring Company for the Plaintiffs vehicle in the amount of $11,375.00 into the court registry as above representing the interests of such storage facility within thirty (30) days of the date of this Order.”

Tampa Spring Company was not a party in the action, but the order indicates that it was served on John Messina in care of Tampa Spring Company. It is undisputed that Lloyd’s deposited these funds into the registry of the court on August 24, 2000. For reasons not explained in the record, Tampa Spring Company never obtained these funds from the court’s registry.

The lawsuit between Mr. Consuegra and Lloyd’s continued primarily as a dispute over the payment of attorneys’ fees. That issue resulted in an opinion by this court. See Consuegra v. Lloyd’s Underwriters at London, 801 So.2d 111 (Fla. 2d DCA2001). The issue of storage, however, was fully resolved by the order in 2000. Eventually, the lawsuit was resolved and the parties dismissed the action in March 2003. Thus, since 2003 the circuit court has not had personal jurisdiction over the original parties to this action.

Because no one ever claimed the $11,375.00 from the registry of the court, in 2007 the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Clerk of Circuit Court included this case among those in an application to the chief judge of the circuit seeking authorization to transfer the funds to the CFO. That proceeding was styled as “In the Matter of Unclaimed Court Registry Funds, Case No: 07-AF-000007.” By the time the clerk commenced this proceeding, the amount held by the clerk that was properly to be deposited with the CFO had grown to $13,857.69 with interest. On November 16, 2007, Chief Judge Manuel Menendez signed an order stating,

[T]he Clerk of this Court is hereby authorized and directed to deposit with the Chief Financial Officer of Florida to the credit of the State School Fund, the moneys described upon the attached schedule, which have been deposited in the Registry of this Court for five years or more, unclaimed by the person, firm, or corporation entitled thereto, in the described causes set forth in the Exhibit attached to the Petition.
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[T]he deposit of such funds as herein ordered, shall be without prejudice to the rights of any interested party as provided by law.

As a result, the funds from this case and a long list of other cases were transferred to the CFO.

II. THE PROCEEDINGS COMMENCED BY MR. CRESCENZO

About four years later, in September 2011, John Messina as “Director of Tampa Spring Co. a/k/a Tampa Spring Company” executed an “assignment of case, lien and interests.”4 By the assignment, for a pay[1252]*1252ment of only $10, Interest Recovery, Inc., obtained whatever rights Tampa Spring might have to the $13,857.69 that had previously been placed in the registry of the court. Interest Recovery, Inc., is a company controlled by William Crescenzo. Interest Recovery, Inc., subsequently assigned its claim to itself and William Cres-cenzo, in exchange for $10. Thus, the corporation and Mr. Crescenzo apparently hold joint ownership of the claim to the $13,857.69.

Mr. Crescenzo is not an attorney, but he filed the pro se motion that sought to have the circuit court order the CFO to return the funds to the registry of the court. Initially, he attempted to file the motion on behalf of himself and Interest Recovery, Inc. Eventually, the court required that an attorney appear on behalf of the corporation, but Mr. Crescenzo continued to represent himself pro se.

Mr. Cescenzo and his corporation did not commence a new proceeding but rather filed this motion in case number 99-CA-003537. Of course, that case had been closed for years and neither Mr. Crescenzo nor Tampa Spring had ever been a party to that lawsuit. The CFO had never been a party. Mr. Crescenzo served copies of this motion on the attorneys for Mr. Con-suegra and Lloyd’s. Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
136 So. 3d 1248, 2014 WL 1613401, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 5866, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crescenzo-v-atwater-fladistctapp-2014.