SUZANA POPESCU, PETITIONER,
v.
LAGUNA MASTER ASSOCIATION, INC., ST. MICHAEL PROPERTIES, LLC, SUPREME ESCROW AND TITLE, INC., AND FAY S. MORRISON, RESPONDENTS

Fla. 4th DCA | 2013-11-13
No. 4D13-1203
WARNER, TAYLOR and MAY, JJ„ concur.
126 So. 3d 449 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2013) Positive Treatment
Cited by 5 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Suzana Popescu seeks prohibition to prevent the circuit court from exercising jurisdiction over a motion for rehearing in a post-judgment foreclosure action. The court denies the petition, holding that the order denying motions to vacate the foreclosure sale constituted a discrete final order properly subject to rehearing under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.530.


Holding

The circuit court had jurisdiction to entertain the motion for rehearing. The order denying the motions to vacate the foreclosure sale was a discrete final order, separate from the original lien foreclosure judgment, and constituted a final adjudication of distinct issues properly subject to a motion for rehearing under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.530.


Headnotes

[1] A motion for rehearing may be entertained from a post-judgment order that is dispositive of a separate issue not addressed in the original final judgment.

[2] An order denying a motion to vacate a foreclosure sale and certificate of title, which adjudicates rights distinct from the original foreclosure judgment, is a final post…

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

Key Quotes

“The circuit court's order denying the motions to vacate the foreclosure sale was a discrete final order, separate from the final lien foreclosure judgment. This order was a final adjudication of the parties' rights on issues distinct from those before the court prior to the lien foreclosure judgment.”

Establishes that the order denying motions to vacate constitutes a separate discrete final order properly subject to rehearing

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Laguna Master Association obtained a foreclosure judgment against Fay Morrison for unpaid homeowner association dues. Popescu purchased the property a…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Suzana Popescu (Popescu) seeks prohibition to bar the Palm Beach Circuit Court from exercising jurisdiction over a motion for rehearing in a post-judgment foreclosure action. We deny the petition for reasons which follow.

Respondent Laguna Master Association, Inc. (Association) sued Fay Morrison (Morrison) for unpaid homeowner’s association dues and obtained a final judgment against her for $8,244.02. At the foreclosure sale of the property, Popescu was the highest bidder. After the certificate of title was recorded, the Association filed a motion to vacate the foreclosure sale and certificate of title, and to refund the purchase price to the purchaser. The motion alleged that the subject property had been sold by Morrison to St. Michael Properties, LLC. (St. Michael) prior to the lien foreclosure sale and that the Association had mistakenly failed to cancel the foreclosure sale. The Association alleged mistake, accident and redemption. St. Michael and Supreme Title & Escrow, Inc. (Supreme Title) moved to intervene, to vacate the foreclosure sale and certificate of title, and to refund the purchase price to the purchaser.

The circuit court heard argument and denied the motions to vacate. The court ruled that Morrison had not retained title *450to the property when she purportedly sold it to St. Michael. Further, the court ruled that because there had been no redemption, it was without jurisdiction to vacate the foreclosure sale or certifícate of title. The Association, St. Michael, and Supreme Title moved for rehearing of the order denying their motions to vacate. The circuit court granted rehearing in an order which it later clarified, allowing all parties and purchasers requesting rehearing to be heard by another judge due to the original judge’s unavailability.

Popescu filed an emergency motion to reconsider and/or vacate the order granting rehearing, in which she argued that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to entertain rehearing of an order denying a motion to vacate. The judge then presiding denied the motion, relying essentially on Clearwater Federal Savings & Loan Assn. v. Sampson, 336 So.2d 78 (Fla.1976). There, the Supreme Court of Florida held that a postforeclosure judgment order which was dispositive of a separate issue, entitlement to money paid to a receiver, constituted a “final post decretal order,” from which a motion for rehearing could lie. Id. at 79. The court ruled that the order on entitlement to money paid to a receiver was a distinct adjudication on an issue which had not been addressed in the original mortgage foreclosure final judgment. Id,. As such, it was “so final in nature as to partake of the character of a final decree. A petition for rehearing could properly be addressed to it as one could be addressed to any final decree.” Id. at 80.

In this petition for writ of prohibition, Popescu argues that once the original judge denied the motions to vacate foreclosure sale, the circuit court lost jurisdiction to consider a motion for rehearing. She also argues that the order denying the motions to vacate the foreclosure sale was non-final in nature, such that rehearing could not lie. We disagree. The circuit court’s order denying the motions to vacate the foreclosure sale was a discrete final order, separate from the final lien foreclosure judgment. This order was a final adjudication of the parties’ rights on issues distinct from those before the court prior to the lien foreclosure judgment. As such, it was properly the subject of a motion for rehearing under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.530. See Clearwater, 336 So.2d at 79-80; see also Remington v. Remington, 705 So.2d 920, 922 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997); Francisco v. Victoria Marine Shipping, Inc., 486 So.2d 1386, 1390 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986).

Petition denied,.

WARNER, TAYLOR and MAY, JJ„ concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • U.S. Bank, N.A. v. Vogel, 137 So. 3d 491 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)
    …vacate. Reversed and Remanded. DAMOORGIAN, C.J., and LEVINE, J„ concur. . Because the order is appealable as a discrete final order, we have jurisdiction under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.030(b)(1)(A). See Popescu v. Laguna Master Assn, 126 So. 3d 449, 450 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013).…
  • Drouin v. Stuber, 168 So. 3d 305 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015)
    …djudicated in the original final judgment.” Clearwater Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n v. Sampson, 336 So. 2d 78, 79-80 (Fla.1976). The trial court’s initial ruling denying the mother’s rule 1.540 motion was such an order. Cf. Popescu v. Laguna Master Ass’n, 126 So. 3d 449, 450 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013) (holding that order denying a motion to vacate a foreclosure sale and certificate of title was properly the subject of a motion for rehearing as it was a “discrete final order, separate from the final lien foreclosure judgme…
  • Popescu v. Laguna master Ass (9th Cir. Ct. App. Div. 2017)
    …however, Mr. Jackson stopped paying both his Lender and his HOA assessments which caused each to separately file suit to foreclose his interest in Breezeway. On November 20, 2014, the Lender was first to file 1 Popescu v. Laguna master Ass’n, Inc. 126 So. 3d 449, 450 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013) citing Clearwater Federal Savings & Loan Ass’n. v Sampson, 336 So,2d 78, 79 (Fla. 1976) (“[A] postforeclosure judgment order which was dispositive of a separate issue, entitlement to money paid to a receiver, constituted a ‘…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw