Silver Beach Towers Property Owners Ass'n v. Silver Beach Investments of Destin, L.C.

230 So. 3d 157
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedOctober 18, 2017
DocketCASE NO. 1D16-4555
StatusPublished

This text of 230 So. 3d 157 (Silver Beach Towers Property Owners Ass'n v. Silver Beach Investments of Destin, L.C.) 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
Silver Beach Towers Property Owners Ass'n v. Silver Beach Investments of Destin, L.C., 230 So. 3d 157 (Fla. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

DOUGLAS, WESLEY R., Associate Judge.

On appeal from the final judgment entered September 30, 2016, Appellants challenge the earlier order on cross-motions for partial summary judgment entered by the trial court on July 6, 2015, and determining liability, as well as the final judgment determining damages. As provided by article V, section 4(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution, and rule 9.110(h), Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure, this Court’s authority and scope of review includes review of the partial summary judgment.

Appellants assert reversible error in the trial court’s ruling that an amendment to the condominium declaration was invalid and that Appellants remained liable for certain assessments after that purported amendment. The trial court based its determination , on the finding that the amendment procedures used by Appellants violated the terms of the declaration and section 718.110(4), Florida Statutes. Because we reverse the partial summary judgment regarding the amendment and its effect on the duration of liability for the contested assessments, we need not address Appellants’ other challenges to the final judgment.

“Summary judgment is proper if there is no genuine issue of material fact and if the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Volusia Cnty. v. Aberdeen at Ormond Beach, L.P., 760 So.2d 126, 130 (Fla. 2000). “This court reviews both orders granting summary judgment and interpretations of condominium declarations de novo.” Shores of Panama Club, LLC v. Shores of Panama Resort Cmty., 204 So.3d 541, 543 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016). Because it “assumes some of the attributes of a covenant running with the land,” a declaration of condominium is more than a “mere contract spelling out mutual rights and obligations of the parties thereto,” and thus must be strictly construed. Id.

The declaration of condominium for the real properties owned'at the time by Silver Beach Investments of Destín, L.C., was filed in the Official Records of Okaloosa County on July 6, 2001. See §§ 718.104(2), 718.105, Fla. Stat. As defined in the declaration, appellee Silver Beach Investments of Destín, L.C., is the “Developer”; appellant Silver 'Beach Towers Property Owners Association, Inc., is the “Master Association”; and the other two appellants, Silver Beach Towers East Condominium Association, Inc. and Silver Beach Towers West Condominium Association, Inc., qualified as “Members.” Members were condominium associations “or the Developer,” and individual condominium unit owners were “Owners.”

The declaration governed the owners’ easements and rights- to enjoy “common properties” as defined in the declaration. In addition, article 2, section 2.9 of the declaration provided that each unit owner “shall automatically become a non-equity member of The Club at Silver Shells, Inc.” (the second appellee in this action). 1 Unit owners were prohibited from terminating their .membership until the unit was conveyed to another owner, but the Club was authorized to terminate an owner’s membership without notice to the owners. Although the, Club property and facilities were not, contiguous to the condominium properties but were located approximately a mile away, section 2.9(a) stated that each unit owner’s “membership in the Club shall be appurtenant to the Unit upon which it is based.” Section 2.9 also provided that, unlike the common properties of the condominium, the clubhouse property would be retained by “Silver Shells Corporation and not conveyed to- the Master Association or the Owners at the time of Turnoyer.” And while the clubhouse property was “intended primarily for the benefit of the Owners and Occupants of Units,” Silver Shells Corporation was allowed to make the Club facilities “available to the general public.” Finally, section 2.9(d) provided that the Master Association was responsible for collecting the Club dues and fees payable by the unit owners and that the amount of dues and fees could be changed solely at the Club’s discretion without prior notice.

The date of “turnover,” as defined by the declaration in article l(y) and as described in section 718.301(4), Florida Statutes, was not definitively established. However, the parties agreed that by 2008 turnover from the Developer to the associations involved in this action had been completed. Accordingly, title to the common properties and control of Silver Beach Towers Property Owners Association, Inc., as the Master Association, had been conveyed to “the Members (other than the Developer)” by 2008. The Master Association’s duty to collect-the dues for Club membership remained, but, due to the turnover, the Board of Directors of the Association was made up only of Members (i.e., the condominium associations) and no longer included the Developer.

Beginning in 2008, members of the associations sought to end the mandatory Club membership and the attendant dues and fees required by article 2.9 of the declaration of condominium. On May 4, 2010, after notice had been posted and mailed to the current Directors, a special board of directors meeting of the Master Association, Silver Beach Towers Owners Association, was held, 2 One director of the Master Association, who also represented Towers East Condominium Association, moved to adopt the proposed amendments to the declaration, and the motion was approved unanimously. Elimination of article 2.9 was one of the amendments. The Certificate of Amendment was executed on May Í8, 2010; filed in the public records of Okaloo-sa County on May 21, 2010; and mailed to each unit owner on May 28,2010.

On May 2, 2012, the Developer, Silver Beach Investments of Destín, L.C., and the separately incorporated The Club at Silver Shells, Inc., filed suit seeking to recover the Club dues and fees from the Associations, under the original declaration. In their responsive pleadings, the defendants (appellants here) asserted that the declaration had been amended as of May 2010 and that article 2,9 was no longer in force after the amendments took effect. The litigation progressed, and on October 31, 2014, the defendant associations filed their motion for partial summary judgment, based in part on the associations’ assertion that the declaration had been amended in 2010 to eliminate the mandatory Club membership provision. The plaintiffs also moved for summary judgment.

The trial court heard the cross-motions and considered the summary judgment evidence on June 8, 2015. The material facts regarding the amendment procedures taken by the associations and the language in the declaration and association by-laws pertaining to meetings and voting were not in dispute at the time of the motion hearing. Based on the undisputed material facts, the court denied the defendants’ motion and deemed the May 2010 amendments to the declaration invalid. The court found that the Club memberships were “appurtenances to the condominium units” and thus subject to section 718.110(4), Florida Statutes. Under that statute, amendments that materially modify or alter “the appurtenances to the unit” require approval of “all the record owners of all other units in the same condominium.” Because individual votes were not cast by.all condominium unit owner's, the court found against the associations as a matter of law on the validity of the'amendment.

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Related

Volusia County v. Aberdeen at Ormond Beach
760 So. 2d 126 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2000)
Downey v. JUNGLE DEN VILLAS REC. ASS'N
525 So. 2d 438 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1988)
Thiess v. Island House Association, Inc.
311 So. 2d 142 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1975)
Shores of Panama Club, LLC v. Shores of Panama Resort Community Ass'n
204 So. 3d 541 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2016)

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Bluebook (online)
230 So. 3d 157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/silver-beach-towers-property-owners-assn-v-silver-beach-investments-of-fladistctapp-2017.