Southern Creosoted Lumber Co. v. Morales

113 So. 2d 425, 1959 Fla. App. LEXIS 2613
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJune 26, 1959
DocketNo. 1099
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 113 So. 2d 425 (Southern Creosoted Lumber Co. v. Morales) 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
Southern Creosoted Lumber Co. v. Morales, 113 So. 2d 425, 1959 Fla. App. LEXIS 2613 (Fla. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

ALLEN, Judge.

This is an appeal by a defendant in a mortgage foreclosure case from a final decree entered against it in favor of Eduardo Morales, as Trustee, who was the plaintiff below.

A companion case to this action has been decided by the Supreme Court of Florida and is reported as Central Bank & Trust Co. v. Davis, Fla.1958, 102 So.2d 600. The instruments involved in this cause arise out of the same transactions referred to in the cited case. This cause was filed in the Supreme Court since it involved similar questions as the cited case but was transferred to this court.

The history of the background and events leading up to the execution and delivery of the mortgage sought to be foreclosed is as follows:

[427]*427Florida-Carolina Lumber Co. was engaged in the wholesale lumber business in Miami, Florida. Central Bank and Trust Company advanced various sums of money to Florida-Carolina Lumber Co. The loans were secured by the note of Florida-Carolina, guaranteed by P. J. Davis and Blanche Davis, his wife, together with an assignment of an account receivable in favor of Florida-Carolina against Rose Saxon Lumber Company. There was a default in the note as well as in the payment of the account receivable. Central Bank filed suit and on August 27, 1956, recovered a judgment against Florida-Carolina and the two Davises.

During the course of its operation Florida-Carolina had obtained financing from the three appellee-banks, to-wit: Dania Bank, Bank of Miami Beach, and Pan American Bank of Miami. In order to obtain such financing Florida-Carolina would order a shipment of lumber. Accompanying the shipment would be a sight draft with a bill of lading attached. On receipt of the sight draft the bank involved would advance the funds to meet the draft and hold the bill of lading as security. On arrival of the lumber in Miami, Florida-Carolina would obtain the bill of lading from the bank under a trust receipt. When the lumber was unloaded it would be placed under a warehousing arrangement with Lawrence Warehousing Company, which would in turn issue warehouse receipts for the lumber. These warehouse receipts would then be delivered to the lending bank and substituted in lieu of the trust receipts.

The effect of this transaction with the three appellee-banks was to give them a lien or charge against the lumber for the various amounts advanced by them for the purchase of the lumber. In June, 1956, due to deterioration of lumber, wastage and other causes, the three appellee-banks were notified that there was not sufficient lumber in the warehouse to meet the obligations which they held against it. The banks became dissatisfied with the management of Florida-Carolina and threatened suit.

In order to forestall the filing of suit, P. J. Davis, Charles H. Alcock and Clarence E. Hood, Jr., who owned all of the stock of Florida-Carolina, resigned as officers and directors of Florida-Carolina and placed all of their stock with a board of trustees selected by the three appellee-banks. These same three individuals owned all of the outstanding stock of Southern Creosoted Lumber Co., Inc., a separate corporation. They likewise agreed to establish a voting trust of their stock in Southern and at the same time Southern executed the mortgage in the instant case on certain of its property in Hillsborough County and guaranteed the obligations of Florida-Carolina to the three appellee-banks. These trust agreements and other security instruments were executed on or about June 30, 1956, approximately two months before the recovery of the above judgment.

The financial status of Southern Creosoted, due to the common stock ownership, was closely tied in with the financial status of Florida-Carolina. The assets of Southern Creosoted were already encumbered by a first mortgage and assignments of accounts receivable, and it was also apparent that the banks would have to continue financing Southern Creosoted, or the additional security of a second mortgage would be worthless.

The banks agreed to forego legal action for a period of six months in return for the second mortgage which necessarily entailed continued financing of Southern Creosoted by the banks. The plaintiff, Eduardo Morales, was one of the three trustees appointed to operate Southern Creosoted for the three banks involved. The banks [428]*428did not bring any legal action until July 17, 1957.

For approximately six weeks after execution of the voting trusts, C. E. Hood, one of the former stockholders, had charge of the sales of lumber from the Florida-Caro-liná lumber yard. According to the record, he also had the discretion to determine the price at which the lumber was to be sold, arid was paid a 7% commission on the gross sales. Due to deterioration of the lumber and mounting rental expenses, it appeared best to dispose of the remaining lumber in a bulk sale. After lengthy negotiations, and proper notice was given to all interested parties, a sale in bulk was made tb Lumber Sales, Inc. The net proceeds of the sale were applied against the indebtedness held by the three banks.

After the maturity of the mortgage sought to be foreclosed in this cause, the Bank of Miami Beach, at the insistence of the Federal Bank Examiners, assigned all of its rights in and to the obligations secured by the mortgage to certain individuals who were formerly directors of the Bank of Miami Beach.

After several hearings, the lower court announced that it was ready to enter a final decree. The defendant, Southern Creosoted Lumber Co., Inc., objected and asked for an accounting on the basis that Eduardo Morales, one of the trustees operating Southern Creosoted, was a mortgagee in possession. The defendant also alleged that the trustee had caused a $75,000 loss while operating the business, and that during operation of Southern Creosoted by plaintiff, costs of production went up while the price of raw materials went down.

At this stage of the proceeding the lower court appointed a special master to take testiriiony on the issue of an accounting. The special master in his report found that appellee. Morales, was not a “mortgagee in possession,” and that the appellant, Southern Creosoted, was not entitled to any credit against the mortgage indebtedness. The lower court entered a final decree in accord with the special master’s findings, granting foreclosure. From this decree, this appeal is taken.

Several points are stated by the appellant in its brief, only one of which we deem it necessary to discuss.

Point V, as stated by the appellant, is as follows:

“A mortgagee in possession of real property is bound to manage the property in a reasonably prudent and careful manner so as to keep it in a state of good preservation and make it productive.”

The appellant has stated the above point in such a manner as to assume that the ap-pellee was a “mortgagee in possession” and therefore subject to the standard of conduct cast by law upon a mortgagee in possession.

This foreclosure action arose out of certain instruments executed on June 28, 1956. The record shows that a Voting Trust Agreement was made and executed by P. J. Davis, Clarence E. Hood, Jr., and Charles H. Alcock, as first, second and third parties, respectively, Southern Creosoted Lumber Co., Inc., as fourth party, “and Eduardo Morales, Seymour B.

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Related

Coleman v. Alcock
272 F.2d 618 (Fifth Circuit, 1960)

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Bluebook (online)
113 So. 2d 425, 1959 Fla. App. LEXIS 2613, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-creosoted-lumber-co-v-morales-fladistctapp-1959.