First Union v. Goodwin Beach Partnership

644 So. 2d 1361, 1994 Fla. App. LEXIS 8865, 1994 WL 501294
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 16, 1994
Docket93-743
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 644 So. 2d 1361 (First Union v. Goodwin Beach Partnership) 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
First Union v. Goodwin Beach Partnership, 644 So. 2d 1361, 1994 Fla. App. LEXIS 8865, 1994 WL 501294 (Fla. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

644 So.2d 1361 (1994)

FIRST UNION NATIONAL BANK OF FLORIDA, Appellant,
v.
GOODWIN BEACH PARTNERSHIP, et al., Appellees.

No. 93-743.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

September 16, 1994.
Rehearing Denied December 1, 1994.

E. Lanny Russell and Mary E. McManus of Smith, Hulsey & Busey, Jacksonville, for appellant.

Frank D. Upchurch, III of Upchurch, Bailey and Upchurch, P.A., St. Augustine, and Stephen Stratford, Jacksonville, for appellees.

COBB, Judge.

This appeal concerns the denial of a deficiency judgment sought by a mortgagee on the basis of the trial court's determination that the fair market value of the realty securing the debt exceeded the judgment debt at the time of the foreclosure sale. See Ricard v. Equitable Life Assurance Society of U.S., 462 So.2d 592 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985); F.D.I.C. v. Circle Bar Ranch, Inc., 450 So.2d 921 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984). The decision below is flawed in several respects, necessitating reversal for a new trial on the deficiency issue.

In 1990, First Union's predecessor in interest, Southeast Bank, N.A., filed a foreclosure action against Goodwin Beach Partnership and other defendants, resulting in a final judgment which aggregated $4,986,487.00 as of the date of the foreclosure sale. First Union purchased the property at the foreclosure sale in November, 1991 for the nominal sum of $1,000.00 and thereafter moved for entry of a deficiency judgment. Jurisdiction to entertain deficiency proceedings was retained in the foreclosure judgment itself. Prior to commencement of the deficiency hearing, First Union sold the realty for $2,500,000.00 to a third party.

At the evidentiary hearing, First Union presented evidence of its sale of the property for $2,500,000.00; the tax assessment for 1991 of $3,106,500.00; and the expert opinion of an MAI based upon an income approach that the value of the property was $2,180,000.00. The defendants (hereinafter referred to as Goodwin) presented opinion evidence from three appraisal experts whose value estimates, based upon a comparable sale method, ranged from $5,000,000.00 to $5,200,000.00. One of these experts, Crenshaw, found the value to be $4,800,000.00 based on a discounted cash flow method. Crenshaw's appraisal was erroneously based upon an assumption that there were 69.13 acres involved rather than the correct acreage, as determined by the trial court, of 65 acres.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial judge declined to award a deficiency judgment, finding that "comparable sales were not helpful because of the special nature of this parcel." The trial court specifically rejected any consideration of unpaid real estate taxes of $124,953.00 extant as of the date of the foreclosure sale. The trial court found that any such tax consideration was barred by the doctrine of res judicata and cited to the case of Horne v. Smith, 368 So.2d 392 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979).

*1362 Initially, it should be noted that the trial court's judgment is intrinsically inconsistent in rejecting comparable sales as "not helpful" and thereafter relying on appraisals at trial utilizing that method of appraisal. The appraisals at trial utilizing a different method — i.e., discounted cash flow — did not exceed the amount of $4,800,000.00, an amount which would have justified a deficiency judgment of some $186,500.00, exclusive of the tax consideration.

More egregious, however, was the trial court's refusal to consider the amount of unpaid ad valorem taxes on the subject property as detracting from its value on the date of foreclosure on the theory that the plaintiff should have had the delinquent tax amount of $124,953.00 included in the final judgment of foreclosure it obtained. The trial court clearly misconstrued Horne, which involved two separate actions. That case held that mortgagees who foreclosed a second mortgage on property with outstanding ad valorem taxes due thereon, and who acquired title thereto without raising the issue of a deficiency in that action, could not thereafter seek to recover those unpaid taxes from the prior owners in a subsequent action. It is obvious that the doctrine of res judicata cannot apply where there is one continuing action.[1] The court in Horne explicitly noted that "No deficiency judgment was ever entered in the foreclosure case." 368 So.2d at 393. Section 702.06, Florida Statutes, authorizes entry of a deficiency decree, should a deficiency exist, in all suits for the foreclosure of mortgages. The mortgagees here are simply seeking a deficiency judgment in connection with the foreclosure action.[2]

The underlying theory that a purchaser at a mortgage foreclosure sale is presumed to have made allowances for prior liens in making his bid cannot logically apply to the instant situation where the token price of $1,000.00 paid by the mortgagee at foreclosure sale was totally rejected (and rightfully so) by the trial court as indicative of true market value. Whether or not First Union National Bank of Florida considered the tax indebtedness on the property in fashioning its successful bid at foreclosure sale is therefore irrelevant. It is obvious that real estate with an outstanding tax indebtedness against it is worth less than that same property free and clear of debt, and that should have been equally obvious to the trial judge. The amount of the delinquent taxes should have been considered in arriving at a fair market value. See Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Morley, 915 F.2d 1517 (11th Cir.1990); City Savings Bank of Bridgeport v. Miko, 1 Conn. App. 30, 467 A.2d 929 (1983); First of America Bank-Oakland Macomb, N.A. v. Brown, 158 Mich. App. 76, 404 N.W.2d 706 (1987); McCrum v. Rubbert, 219 Iowa 454, 257 N.W. 766 (1934). If Horne actually stood for the proposition attributed to it by the trial court and the dissent herein, then we should simply reject it as illogical and inequitable.

REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR NEW TRIAL.

*1363 DAUKSCH, J., concurs.

W. SHARP, J., dissents with opinion.

W. SHARP, Judge, dissenting.

I respectfully dissent. There simply is no valid basis to overturn the trial judge's factual determination in this case. And the rule of law announced by the majority upsets established precedent, and creates a conflict with our sister courts, as well as this court's prior cases.

The First Union National Bank appeals from a final judgment which denied it a deficiency decree against Goodwin Beach Partnership, a Florida general partnership, which was the mortgagor in a foreclosure suit, various individuals,[1] who were Goodwin's general partners, and the Ponce de Leon Utility Company of St. Johns County. After a non-jury trial, the court ruled that the fair market value of the property on the foreclosure date exceeded the total mortgage indebtedness. First Union argues that the court's finding is not supported by substantial evidence because the trial court expressly rejected the market approach or comparable-sales method of valuation, the trial court failed to discount the property's fair market value by unpaid real estate taxes due and unpaid on the date of the foreclosure sale, and the trial court erred by excluding First Union's "rebuttal" expert-appraiser witness from the courtroom during the trial. I would affirm.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

DENISE L. MARTINEC v. EARLY BIRD INTERNATIONAL, INC. and LARRY MARTINEC
262 So. 3d 205 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2018)
Nancy and Stjepan Sostaric v. Sally Marshall
766 S.E.2d 396 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 2014)
Conti v. B & E Holdings, LLC
61 So. 3d 1272 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2011)
Edwards v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
746 So. 2d 1157 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1999)
Chidnese v. McCollem
696 So. 2d 879 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1997)
Warehouses of Florida, Inc. v. Hensch
671 So. 2d 885 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
644 So. 2d 1361, 1994 Fla. App. LEXIS 8865, 1994 WL 501294, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-union-v-goodwin-beach-partnership-fladistctapp-1994.