Trintec Const., Inc. v. COUNTRYSIDE VILL. CONDO., ASS'N, INC.

992 So. 2d 277, 2008 WL 4058013
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 3, 2008
Docket3D08-516
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 992 So. 2d 277 (Trintec Const., Inc. v. COUNTRYSIDE VILL. CONDO., ASS'N, INC.) 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
Trintec Const., Inc. v. COUNTRYSIDE VILL. CONDO., ASS'N, INC., 992 So. 2d 277, 2008 WL 4058013 (Fla. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

992 So.2d 277 (2008)

TRINTEC CONSTRUCTION, INC., Petitioner,
v.
COUNTRYSIDE VILLAGE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC., Respondent.

No. 3D08-516.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

September 3, 2008.
Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied October 31, 2008.

Elder & Lewis and David R. Elder and Kerry H. Lewis, Coconut Grove, for petitioner.

Peter V. Fullerton, for respondent.

Before RAMIREZ and SALTER, JJ., and SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.

SALTER, J.

Trintec Construction, Inc. seeks certiorari from a circuit court order discharging its recorded mechanic's lien claim. We grant the writ, quash the order below, and thereby reinstate Trintec's claim of lien.

I. The Roof Work and the Lawsuit

The respondent, a condominium association, contracted with Trintec for roof repairs to multi-unit buildings in thirteen separately-declared, but collectively-managed, condominiums. The written contract between Trintec and the Association included a recital that the Association was the governing body for all of the affected buildings, and the contract was signed by the president of the Association.

In April 2006, Trintec claimed non-payment and default, and it recorded a claim of lien for approximately $1.3 million the following month. The property description *278 within the lien identified the entirety of each of the thirteen condominiums by recorded declaration, rather than the individual units and common area parcels in the condominium buildings where the work was performed. In late 2006, Trintec filed a lien foreclosure complaint and lis pendens against the Association and the property as identified in the claim of lien.

The trial court initially granted the Association's motion to dismiss the complaint without prejudice, allowing Trintec twenty days within which to amend. That order did not identify any deficiency in, or grant any relief regarding, the recorded claim of lien. The Association then sought and obtained an emergency hearing to "clarify" the trial court's ruling as it pertained to the lien.[1] The Association persuaded the trial court to enter a further order dismissing and discharging the lien "without prejudice." The trial court accepted the Association's argument that the individual unit owners were indispensable parties to the lien foreclosure action, and that Trintec's statutory mechanic's lien claim could not proceed without the joinder of those unit owners.

Trintec's motion for clarification and to vacate the further order discharging Trintec's lien was denied in February 2008, and Trintec then filed its petition here.

II. Analysis

This Court initially denied the petition without prejudice to Trintec's right to amend its complaint, claim of lien, and lis pendens to conform to a more specific property description as detailed in Royal Ambassador Condominium Ass'n v. East Coast Supply Corp., 495 So.2d 932, 935 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986). Trintec moved immediately for clarification of that order, however, based on its concern that by statute it could no longer amend its recorded claim of lien. We then directed the Association to file a response to Trintec's petition and its motion for clarification.

The parties' written submissions disagree regarding the primacy of the condominium law provision regarding mechanic's liens, see section 718.121, Florida Statutes (2006), versus section 713.08, Florida Statutes (2006), the mechanic's lien law requirements themselves. In essence, the question is whether the "owner," for purposes of the lien law's application to a condominium property and improvements to its common elements, is: (a) each and every unit owner in the condominium; or (b) the condominium association created by the declaration. The Association argues that the mechanic's lien law's use of "owner" means each individual condominium unit owner, such that those owners are indispensable parties.

We consider in turn section 718.121(2) of the Florida Statutes; the applicable provisions of Chapter 713; Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.221, entitled "Homeowners' Associations and Condominium Associations"; and the decisional law regarding these provisions, in order to harmonize all of them in a fair and practicable way.

A. Section 718.121(2)

Section 718.121, entitled "Liens," protects unit owners by limiting the manner in which liens may be imposed upon condominium property after the declaration of condominium has been recorded. First, section 718.121(1) requires the unanimous consent of all unit owners for the imposition of any lien against "the condominium property as a whole," and it further provides that "liens may arise or be created *279 only against individual condominium parcels." This affords a basis, for example, for an individual unit owner to record a mortgage lien over his or her unit.

Section 718.121(2) addresses mechanic's liens in particular and under the scenario involved here:

Labor performed on or materials furnished to the common elements are not the basis for a lien on the common elements, but if authorized by the association, the labor or materials are deemed to be performed or furnished with the express consent of each unit owner and may be the basis for the filing of a lien against all condominium parcels in the proportions for which the owners are liable for common expenses.

Finally, section 718.121(3) confirms that if a valid lien encumbers multiple condominium parcels, each owner of an encumbered parcel may exercise the rights of a property owner under Chapter 713[2] "or by payment of the proportionate amount attributable to his or her condominium parcel" (entitling the payor to a lien release for that parcel).

In this case, clearly the Association authorized Trintec to provide the labor and materials for the roof work. The express consent of each unit owner is thus "deemed" to have been given, and Trintec could properly file a lien against all condominium parcels in the proportions for which the owners are liable for common expenses. See § 718.121(2).

B. Chapter 713

Turning next to the mechanic's lien law itself, we consider the validity and enforceability of the actual claim of lien filed by Trintec. Sections 713.08(1)(d) and (e) specify that a recorded claim of lien "shall" state a description of the real property sufficient for identification and the name of the owner. Trintec's claim of lien described the entire condominium by identifying each declaration of condominium in its entirety, and it identified the owner as "Countryside Village Property Owners Assoc[iation]" at the address of the Association's designated representative identified in the contract.

Section 713.08(4)(a) provides that an omission or error within a claim of lien "shall not, within the discretion of the trial court, prevent the enforcement of such lien as against one who has not been adversely affected by such omission or error." The Association's response commendably concedes that it cannot show any such adverse effect in this case.[3] Section 713.08(4)(b) permits the amendment of a lien "during the period allowed for recording such claim of lien, provided that such amendment shall not cause any person to suffer any detriment by having acted in good faith in reliance upon such claim of lien as originally recorded." Because that period had expired,[4] Trintec could not record an amended claim of lien adding the unit owners at the time the trial court discharged Trintec's lien.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
992 So. 2d 277, 2008 WL 4058013, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trintec-const-inc-v-countryside-vill-condo-assn-inc-fladistctapp-2008.