HENRY J. ROLFS, APPELLANT,
v.
FIRST UNION NATIONAL BANK OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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In consolidated appeals, the court affirmed the trial court's denial of a mortgagor's motion to vacate a foreclosure judgment and his objection to the foreclosure sale. The mortgagor challenged the foreclosure on the ground that the original promissory note and mortgage were not presented at the summary judgment hearing, but the court found the challenge was an improper attempt to use post-judgment relief as a substitute for direct appeal.
The court held that the foreclosure judgment is not void based on this alleged defect. The mortgagor's failure to object at the summary judgment hearing waived the defense, and any error in the trial court's procedures was reviewable by direct appeal, not through post-judgment relief under Rule 1.540.
[1] A party cannot use a motion to vacate a judgment as a substitute for a plenary appeal from the final judgment.
[2] A motion to vacate a judgment under Rule 1.540(b) is not appropriate when the alleged error is reviewable by appeal.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the note and mortgage were produced pretrial at appellant's request and there were no defenses directed to said instruments”
Establishes that appellant had access to the original documents and failed to challenge them, undermining his later claim that their absence at summary judgment was error.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceFirst Union National Bank filed a foreclosure complaint against Henry Rolfs on a $640,000 promissory note, alleging default in payment due January 8, …
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DOWNEY, Judge.
In these consolidated appeals appellant seeks review of two post-judgment orders of the trial court. One order denied appellant’s motion to vacate a final judgment of foreclosure and the other denied appellant’s objection to the foreclosure sale.
Appellee filed a complaint to foreclose its mortgage which secured a promissory note in the amount of $640,000. It was alleged that appellant had defaulted on the note and mortgage by failing to pay the full amount of the note due and owing on January 8, 1990, and for failing to pay the real estate taxes due on the property. Appellant requested and received pretrial production of the original documents involved. At the hearing on a motion for summary judgment, appellee presented the original documents for the trial court’s inspection; however, said original documents were not retained by the court.
Nevertheless, no objection was registered by appellant and summary judgment was, in due course, entered in favor of appellee. Over two months later, on August 9, 1991, appellant filed a motion to vacate the final judgment of foreclosure pursuant to Rule 1.540(b)(4) and (5), Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, on the grounds that the final judgment of foreclosure was void for failure to file the original note and mortgage at the hearing on the motion for summary judgment. Said motion was heard on August 12, 1991, at which time appellee filed the original documents with the court. The motion to vacate was denied and the matter proceeded to sale on August 12th. Thereafter, on August 22, 1991, appellant filed an “Objection to the Foreclosure Sale Under Florida Statute 45.031,” which set forth as grounds therefor that the trial court had altered or amended the final judgment of foreclosure by accepting the filing of the note and mortgage with the court. Said objection was overruled, and separate notices of appeal were filed and consolidated.
Appellee presents several reasons why appellant can not prevail on his first appellate point, i.e., charging error in denying his motion to vacate the judgment of foreclosure, which appellant contends was void for failure to file the original note and mortgage at the summary judgment hearing. The first reason is that appellant failed to preserve the alleged error by objecting in the trial court. See Coquina v. East West Company, 255 So. 2d 279 (Fla. 4th DCA1971). It appears evident from the record that this defense was a stall, since there was no real contest on the facts of the case; appellant was simply in default and refused to pay.
Furthermore, the note and mortgage were produced pretrial at appellant’s request and there were no defenses directed to said instruments.
Finally, the error, if any, was reviewable by plenary appeal from the final judgment. Resort to Rule 1.540 was not appropriate as a substitute for appeal. DeMendoza v.
First Federal Savings & Loan Association, 585 So. 2d 453 (Fla. 4th DCA1991). See also: Metropolitan Dade County v. Certain Lands Upon Which Assessments are Delinquent, 471 So. 2d 191 (Fla. 3d DCA1985); Fiber Crete Homes, Inc. v. Division of Administration, 315 So. 2d 492 (Fla. 4th DCA1975).
We have also considered appellant’s second appellate point and find no merit therein.
Accordingly, the orders appealed from are affirmed.
ANSTEAD, J., and WALDEN, JAMES H., Senior Judge, concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Glynn v. First Union Nat'l Bank, 912 So. 2d 357 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005)…Glynn also argues fraud as a ground to set aside the final judgment. The first time this argument is raised on the record is in his initial appellate brief. This issue may not be raised for the first time on appeal. Rolfs v. First Union Nat’l Bank, 604 So. 2d 1269, 1270 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992). The order denying Glynn’s objection to clerk’s sale and motion to vacate is affirmed. STONE, SHAHOOD and MAY, JJ., concur.…
Authorities Cited
- Fiber Crete Homes, Inc. v. Division OF Administration, 315 So. 2d 492 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975)
- Coquina Ridge Props. v. E. W. Co., 255 So. 2d 279 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971)
- Metro. Dade Cnty. v. Certain Lands Upon Which Assessments Are Delinquent, 471 So. 2d 191 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)
- DeMENDOZA v. First Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n OF THE Palm Beaches, 585 So. 2d 453 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991)