Stettner v. Richardson

143 So. 3d 987, 2014 WL 3456201, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 10906
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 16, 2014
Docket14-0261 & 13-2925
StatusPublished

This text of 143 So. 3d 987 (Stettner v. Richardson) 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
Stettner v. Richardson, 143 So. 3d 987, 2014 WL 3456201, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 10906 (Fla. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

EMAS, J.

BACKGROUND

In this consolidated appeal, Brett J. Stettner (“Stettner”) appeals two trial court orders: (1) denying his motion to set aside clerk’s default, to vacate default final judgment and to quash a writ of garnishment; and (2) denying his motion to set aside sheriffs sale. For the reasons that follow, we reverse both orders.

On May 14, 2012, Stettner filed a Petition for Injunction for Protection against Repeat Violence against Alan Richardson (“Richardson”), alleging he had been physically threatened and harassed by Richardson. In his sworn petition, Stettner averred he resided at 1800 NE 114 Street #2005, Miami, Florida (hereinafter “the Miami condo”). Although a temporary injunction was entered, the petition was ultimately dismissed. Thereafter, on October 18, 2012, Richardson filed a lawsuit against Stettner, alleging malicious prosecution, abuse of process, defamation per se, and destruction of property. In his complaint, Richardson alleged that Stettner resided outside Florida and that the court had long-arm jurisdiction over him.

When Stettner failed to file a responsive pleading in the malicious prosecution case, Richardson moved for a clerk’s default, attaching a verified return of service which stated that on November 27, 2012, substitute service was effectuated on Stettner by delivering the summons and complaint to his sister, Tiffany Stettner, at the Miami condo. 1 The clerk’s default was entered and thereafter, the trial court entered a default final judgment against Stettner in the amount of $100,840.35. Richardson then proceeded with efforts to collect on his final judgment by seeking a writ of garnishment. The garnishment notice was mailed to Stettner at the Miami condo.

On June 20, 2013, Stettner filed a motion to set aside the clerk’s default, to vacate the default final judgment and to quash the writ of garnishment. Stettner asserted that he is a Texas resident, that his business address is in New York, and that the Miami condo was an investment property. He also asserted that he was never served, and that his sister Tiffany resided *989 in California at the time of the alleged substitute service and was only in Florida to visit their hospitalized grandfather. Attached to the motion were affidavits from Stettner and his sister. In his affidavit, Stettner averred that he first became aware of the Richardson lawsuit when his father checked the mail at Stettner’s Miami condo and found documents related to the case. Stettner’s sister, Dr. Tiffany Stettner, averred in her affidavit that at all relevant times she resided in California and was in Miami visiting her hospitalized grandfather on November 27, 2012, when an individual arrived at her brother’s apartment with papers for her brother. She averred that she put the papers in a drawer to run to the hospital and forgot to tell her brother about them.

In response, Richardson filed the affidavit of the process server, who averred that he spoke to Tiffany Stettner, that she confirmed she resided at the service address with her brother, that the process server instructed Tiffany to give the documents to Stettner, and that she confirmed the process server’s understanding that he had effectuated proper substituted service.

After a hearing, the trial court denied Stettner’s motion without prejudice, but indicated “additional evidence is needed to make a full and final determination of the ... motion,” and allowed Stettner twenty days to produce supplemental documents to demonstrate Stettner’s and his sister’s usual place of abode from November 27, 2011 to November 27, 2012, and to prove that Stettner’s grandfather was in the hospital on or about November 27, 2012.

In compliance with the court’s order, Stettner filed and served several additional documents. The court reviewed the documents and ordered the parties to conduct further limited discovery. The court also granted Stettner’s emergency motion to stay the sheriffs sale of his Miami condo in order to give Stettner an opportunity to conduct the limited discovery within thirty days. The order indicated that the sale would not be rescheduled for at least thirty days and in a later-filed companion order, the court ordered that if discovery had not begun by the thirtieth day, Stett-ner was required to file a responsive pleading.

Stettner’s sister filed an additional affidavit, in which she denied telling the process server she lived at the Miami condo or that she was authorized to accept documents on her brother’s behalf. She also reaffirmed that she lived in California and was only visiting Florida to see her hospitalized grandfather and that she put the papers in a drawer and forgot to tell Stett-ner. Stettner’s sister also filed additional documents in support of her contention that she resided in California, not Florida, on the date of service, including her California drivers’ license issued in May of 2011, monthly gas and electric bills (and payments thereon) reflecting utility service to her California address from February 2011 through December 2012; Los Ange-les County annual property tax bills for fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013; and federal income tax returns listing her Los Angeles address. Stettner’s sister also provided copies of hospital records from Aventura Hospital, indicating that her grandfather was admitted to the hospital on November 23, 2012 and discharged December 7, 2012.

Stettner also filed an additional affidavit, attaching copies of: his Texas driver’s license, issued in May of 2012; a letter from a Texas utility company confirming he received gas service at his Houston, Texas address from 2000 through July 2013; his voter’s registration card, valid from January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2013 and listing his Texas address; and several property appraisals of his claimed-Texas residence, containing tax assessments and *990 providing homestead exemptions for that property from 2010-2013.

At a subsequent hearing, where no live testimony was taken, the court considered argument- by the parties and reviewed the documentation. The court also took judicial notice of Stettner’s petition for injunction (filed six and one-half months before the service date at issue in this case) wherein he stated that he lived at the Miami condo address.

The court denied Stettner’s motion to set aside and vacate, finding, in relevant part, that because Stettner filed a sworn pleading in an unrelated proceeding, more than six months earlier, he was judicially estopped from contending that his usual place of abode was not the Miami condo address. The order indicated that “execution shall be forthwith.”

Stettner appealed the order denying his motion on November 18, 2013. During the pendency of the appeal, Stettner’s condominium was sold at a sheriffs sale on January 15, 2014. Stettner filed an emergency motion to vacate the sheriffs sale, asserting he had not been given proper notice of the sheriffs sale as required by section 56.21, Florida Statutes (2009). Richardson had filed an affidavit pursuant to section 56.27, Florida Statutes, for issuance of the notice of sheriffs sale, but listed only the Miami condo as Stettner’s address.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
143 So. 3d 987, 2014 WL 3456201, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 10906, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stettner-v-richardson-fladistctapp-2014.