Harris v. Martin Regency, Ltd.

576 So. 2d 1294, 1991 WL 6543
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJanuary 17, 1991
Docket75097
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 576 So. 2d 1294 (Harris v. Martin Regency, Ltd.) 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
Harris v. Martin Regency, Ltd., 576 So. 2d 1294, 1991 WL 6543 (Fla. 1991).

Opinion

576 So.2d 1294 (1991)

Jennie HARRIS, et al., Petitioners,
v.
MARTIN REGENCY, LTD., Etc., Respondent.

No. 75097.

Supreme Court of Florida.

January 17, 1991.
Rehearing Denied April 16, 1991.

*1295 Joanna R. Martin, Stuart and Russell S. Bohn of Edna L. Caruso, P.A., West Palm Beach, for petitioners.

Bob L. Harris of Haben & Culpepper, P.A., Tallahassee, for respondent.

Thomas A. Munkittrick, Largo, amicus curiae for Federation of Mobile Home Owners of Florida, Inc.

Jack M. Skelding, Jr. and David D. Eastman of Parker, Skelding, Labasky & Corry, Tallahassee, amicus curiae for Florida Manufactured Housing Ass'n, Inc.

BARKETT, Justice.

We have for review Harris v. Martin Regency, Ltd., 550 So.2d 1160 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989), in which the following question was certified as one of great public importance:

Is the conversion of land comprising a mobile home park from use as a mobile home park to vacant land, or to no use, a "change in use" within the contemplation of section 723.061(1)(d), Florida Statutes (1985)?

550 So.2d at 1161. We answer the question in the affirmative as qualified below and quash the decision of the district court.[1]

Respondent Martin Regency, Ltd., a limited partnership, owns the Regency Mobile Home Park in Martin County, Florida. On August 30, 1985, the partnership sent eviction notices to its tenant mobile home owners, including petitioners, as required by section 723.061(1)(d) of the Florida Statutes (1985). Section 723.061(1)(d) provides:

(1) A mobile home park owner may evict a mobile home owner or a mobile home only on one or more of the grounds provided in this section.
... .
(d) Change in use of the land comprising the mobile home park, or the portion thereof from which mobile homes are to be evicted, from mobile home lot rentals to some other use, provided all tenants affected are given at least 6 months' notice, or longer if provided for in a valid rental agreement, of the projected change of use and of their need to secure other accommodations.

(Emphasis supplied.)

In its notice, Martin Regency, Ltd., gave the following reason for eviction:

For many extenuating circumstances, including the decrepit condition of the "A" park, the very high cost of making minor repairs to the water and sewer facilities, and the probability of further restrictive legislation at the state level imposed on owners of mobile home parks, I must regretfully advise you that I wish to vacate the Regency Mobile Home Park. Florida law, in particular, Section 723.061(1)(d), F.S., requires that a six (6) month notice be given to residents of the Park. The six months will expire from the date stated above. Please consider this as your notice of the projected change in use of the land comprising the mobile home park. During the next few months you will need to secure other accommodations.

(Emphasis in original.)

Although the notice gave tenants until the end of February 1986 to vacate, the partnership later extended the deadline until May 1, 1987.[2] When the property remained occupied by petitioners on May 1, the partnership gave them five days' notice to vacate, warning that failure to vacate *1296 would result in eviction. Petitioners again did not vacate. Hence, on June 5, 1987, Martin Regency, Ltd., filed complaints for eviction in the county court against petitioners. Petitioners counterclaimed against Martin Regency, Ltd., and general partner James A. Kern, focusing on the good faith and fair dealings requirement of section 723.021 of the Florida Statutes (1985), and asking for damages for abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Petitioners contended that Martin Regency, Ltd., wanted the land vacated so it could sell the property as vacant land to get a better profit.

The actions were consolidated and transferred to the circuit court where the parties moved for summary judgment on respondent's eviction action. On February 24, 1988, the circuit court denied summary judgment sought by the mobile home owners and granted summary judgment in favor of Martin Regency, Ltd., finding, in relevant part, that the notice satisfied the requirements of section 723.061(1)(d):

If the land is no longer going to be used as a mobile home park and in effect becomes vacant land, to be put into some other commercial use or no use at all[,] this constitutes a change of use. To pinpoint exactly what the land is going to be used for is not critical, so long as it is not a mobile home park. This interpretation falls well within the legislative intent in passing the legislation in question here. To do otherwise could initiate a constitutional problem or create an unreasonable result or consequence for the property owner. The mobile home park owner is required to follow certain procedures also, such as that proper and reasonable notice shall be provided the tenant in order to avoid the grievous abuses to mobile home owners which the legislature also sought to accomplish in this legislation. Chapter 723, Fla. Stat. as it now exists and existed at the filing of this action is a bona fide and successful effort to balance the rights of both sides in this dispute.

The circuit court conditioned summary judgment on the basis that the property not be used again as a mobile home park or anything related thereto. The court gave petitioners until March 1, 1989, to vacate.

The Fourth District Court affirmed. First, it held that the legislature did not intend to require the park owner to specify what the "change in use" would be, relying on its prior decision in Brown v. Powell, 531 So.2d 731 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988):

"Clearly, the statute does not expressly require the mobile home park owners to specify in the notices of eviction what the nature of the projected change of use of the land will be. Furthermore, there does not appear to be any valid reason for requiring the mobile home park owner to specify the actual change in use in the eviction notice. Thus, we agree with the appellants' assertion that the trial court erred in finding their notices of eviction failed to comply with section 723.061(1)(d), Florida Statutes (1985)."

Harris, 550 So.2d at 1161 (quoting Brown, 531 So.2d at 735). Second, the court held that the term "change in use" in section 723.061(1)(d) contemplated "converting the land comprising the mobile home park from use as a mobile home park to vacant land, or to no use," but certified the question above. Id.

We begin our analysis by agreeing with the district court's conclusion that nothing in either section 723.061(1)(d) or other provisions in chapter 723, read in pari materia, requires a mobile home park owner to "`specify in the notices of eviction what the nature of the projected change of use of the land will be.'" Harris, 550 So.2d at 1161 (quoting Brown, 531 So.2d at 735). The question that remains to be resolved is what is a valid "change in use" under section 723.061(1)(d).

The purpose of the eviction statute is "to ameliorate and correct as far as possible by exercise of the police power what the Legislature has found to be evils inimical to the public welfare in the subject considered. Protection of mobile home owners from grievous abuses by their landlords, or mobile home park owners, was found by the Legislature to be essential." Stewart v. Green, 300 So.2d 889, 891 (Fla.

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Bluebook (online)
576 So. 2d 1294, 1991 WL 6543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-martin-regency-ltd-fla-1991.