McAlister v. Salas

485 So. 2d 1333, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 709, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 6975
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 19, 1986
DocketNo. 85-1504
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 485 So. 2d 1333 (McAlister v. Salas) 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
McAlister v. Salas, 485 So. 2d 1333, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 709, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 6975 (Fla. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

FRANK, Judge.

This is the second appearance of this litigation before the court. In McAlister v. Salas, 442 So.2d 375 (Fla.2d DCA 1983), which we refer to in this opinion as McAlis-ter # 1, we found that an enforceable contract existed between the purchaser, McAl-ister, and the seller, Salas, and that failure to consummate the conveyance of the subject land was solely the fault of Salas. We remanded to the trial court and empowered it to determine the appropriate remedy, i.e. damages or specific performance. The trial court awarded McAlister damages and, solely for the reason set forth below, it declined the grant of specific performance.

The transcript of a non-evidentiary hearing conducted on March 7, 1984, following our remand, discloses that the trial court entertained, inter alia, two motions filed by McAlister — a motion seeking specific performance of the McAlister/Salas contract and a motion to consolidate the present litigation with a subsequent action McAlister initiated against persons identified as Charlie C. and Fern L. Parker; both motions were subsequently denied by the trial court.

It appears that McAlister’s lawsuit against the Parkers and his motion to consolidate the two actions arose when he learned that Salas had conveyed the land to the Parkers approximately one month after the notice of appeal was filed in McAlister # 1. The record before us does not contain the deed by which Salas transferred the property to the Parkers. The March 7 transcript, however, indicates that McAlis-ter’s attorney presented the deed to the trial court and it became the basis for the conclusion that the conveyance barred granting McAlister specific performance:

Just to begin with, and I haven’t made any final decision, I want to think on it, but my — I would think, recalling the testimony and the evidence as I do, that but for the conveyance out of Salas into Parker, that in all probability you would be granted specific performance within my discretionary options under what the District Court has provided and under the evidence. But it seems to me like at this point in time that as to Salas, that’s an impossibility, (emphasis added).

Our pre-argument review of the March 7 transcript, containing assertions that the conveyance to the Parkers was without consideration and was accomplished shortly following the filing of the notice of appeal in McAlister # 1, prompted us to inquire at oral argument whether Salas’ appellate attorney participated in or knew of the conveyance. We were advised, in response to our inquiries, that the deed from Salas to the Parkers dated March 7, 1983, was prepared by an attorney in the firm which has represented Salas at every stage of all trial and appellate proceedings. Indeed, the record reveals that the same attorney was served with the notice of appeal in McAlister # 1. More[1335]*1335over, his law firm also represents the Par-kers in the subsequent lawsuit in which McAlister seeks to compel the Parkers to convey the property to him. Based upon the foregoing events and the analysis which follows, we reverse the trial court and remand with direction that an order be entered consolidating the two McAlister lawsuits. The trial court is further directed to enter an order joining the Parkers in the instant proceeding as indispensible defendants. See Delves v. Kingdom Voice Publications, Inc., 464 So.2d 1327 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985); Hallmark Builders, Inc. v. Hickory Lakes of Brandon, Inc., 458 So.2d 45 (Fla.2d DCA 1984).

The question central to the disposition of this matter upon remand is whether the Parkers became purchasers without knowledge of McAlister’s interest in the property. The courts of this state have long followed the general principle that a third party purchaser, aware,of a prior contract to sell to another, is not a bona fide purchaser and the conveyance to such third party is subject to judicial cancellation.1 See e.g. Hallmark Builders, Inc. v. Hickory Lakes of Brandon, Inc.; Coates v. Hale, 429 So.2d 761 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). Although our review of this matter does not permit us to say that the conveyance to the Parkers was undertaken to defeat McAlister’s entitlement to the property, the fact and timing of the Sales/Parker deed require a comprehensive evidentiary hearing in which the Parkers are defendants in McAlister # 1 and the two McAlister actions are consolidated. Such hearing will provide the trial court with an opportunity to determine whether Salas improperly achieved the extinction of McAlister’s otherwise paramount rights. We are concerned that the trial court’s denial of equitable relief to McAlister, following our initial remand, may have been the result of undisclosed but contestable actions. This court certainly would not have remanded McAlister # 1 for the trial court’s selection of an appropriate alternative remedy unless it believed alternative remedies were available.

Neither Salas, her attorneys, nor the Parkers can find succor in the trial court’s refusal to stay the judgment rendered in McAlister # 1, its refusal to extend the lis pendens which expired approximately two days after the filing of the notice of appeal in McAlister # 1 and before the deed to Parker, or the absence of a supersedeas bond. Anticipating that those arguments will be urged on remand, we believe reference to the principles we deem pertinent is warranted. The general rule in Florida is that an action remains pending in the trial court during the period in which the time for an appeal has not expired or an appeal is pending. Wilson v. Clark, 414 So.2d 526 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). An appeal is merely the continuation of the proceeding from which the appeal is taken and is not the commencement of a new action. Smith v. State, 192 So.2d 346 (Fla.2d DCA 1966). Notwithstanding that the trial court, following the entry of its amended final judgment, refused to extend the lis pendens filed by McAlister at an earlier stage, the judicial policy enunciated in Ray v. Hocker, 65 Fla. 265, 61 So. 500 (1913), has retained its vitality with the result that even in the absence of a recorded lis pen-dens, if the third party purchaser takes title to property with awareness of a prior interest, evidenced here by the pending litigation, such notice bars the third party’s claim to the property. Cf. Smith v. Gale, 144 U.S. 509, 12 S.Ct. 674, 36 L.Ed. 521 (1892); Alfred H. Wagg Corporation v. F.L. Stitt & Co., 95 Fla. 748, 116 So. 637 (1928). Similarly, if the Parkers had knowledge of that litigation, the fact that McAlister did not file a supersedeas bond or succeed in his effort to stay the amended final judgment will not sustain the Par-kers’ claim to the property. Cf. Mackenzie v. Engelhard & Sons Co., 266 U.S. 131, 45 S.Ct. 68, 69 L.Ed. 205 (1924); Todd v. Romeu, 217 U.S. 150, 30 S.Ct. 474, 54 L.Ed. 705 (1910). With such notice, the Parkers [1336]*1336would stand in the shoes of Salas and be bound by the outcome of the proceeding before us. See Mackenzie, 266 U.S. at 142, 45 S.Ct. at 68-69.

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Bluebook (online)
485 So. 2d 1333, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 709, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 6975, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcalister-v-salas-fladistctapp-1986.