Ag Group Investments, LLC v. All Realty Alliance Corp.
Ag Group Investments, LLC v. All Realty Alliance Corp.
Opinion of the Court
In 2001, All Realty Alliance Corp. (All Realty) purchased real property located at 3265 N.E. 167th Street in North Miami Beach (the Property). In 2003, All Realty obtained a mortgage on the Property "with Globex Lending Corp., who then assigned the mortgage to Bank United FSB (Bank
In October 2006, Appellant initiated foreclosure proceedings against All Realty. Bank United initiated separate foreclosure proceedings two months later, naming both All Realty and Appellant as defendants. On May 1, 2007, the trial court entered a summary final judgment of foreclosure in favor of Bank United. The judgment of foreclosure included the following language:
On filing the Certificate of Sale ... [Appellant and all other junior hen holders] are forever barred and foreclosed of any and all estate, equity, claim or right of redemption in and to the property, and the purchaser at the sale shall be let into possession of the property.
A foreclosure sale of the Property was scheduled for August 2007, but days before the sale was to take place, Pinnacle Three Corp. (Appellee) paid all sums due to Bank United under the final judgment.
In July 2010, Appellee brought suit to establish and foreclose its equitable lien on the Property, and named Appellant as a defendant. Arguing that Appellant had no legal or equitable interest in the Property, Appellee moved for final summary judgment. At the hearing on Appellee’s motion, Appellant argued that its interest in the Property was not extinguished because the foreclosure sale had not taken place. In support of its position, Appellant cited section 45.0315, Fla. Stat. (2007) (the Statute), which states in pertinent part:
At any time before the later of the filing of a certificate of sale by the clerk of the court or the time specified in the judgment ... of foreclosure, the mortgagor or the holder of any subordinate interest may cure the mortgagor’s indebtedness and prevent a foreclosure sale by paying the amount of moneys specified in the judgment.
The trial court granted Appellee’s motion, and this appeal followed.
Before the Statute was enacted in 1993, the common law rule provided that a junior mortgagee’s lien was extinguished at the entry of the final judgment of foreclosure. See, e.g., Abdoney v. York, 903 So.2d 981 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005); Islamorada Bank v. Rodriguez, 452 So.2d 61 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984); Shipp Corp. v. Charpilloz, 414 So.2d 1122 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). Under the common law, the granting of the final summary judgment of foreclosure to Bank United would have eliminated Appellant’s interest in the property.
Furthermore, the language of the summary judgment expressly indicates that the junior lien is not extinguished by the foreclosure judgment alone. The order states, in pertinent part, that “[o]n filing of the Certificate of Sale ... [Appellant is] forever barred and foreclosed of any and all estate, equity, claim or right of redemption in and to the property, and the purchaser at the sale shall be let into possession of the property.” (emphasis added). The judgment of foreclosure itself clearly provided that the junior mortgage will be extinguished only upon the filing of the certificate of sale, which has not yet happened.
As there has been no foreclosure sale and no certificate of sale has been issued, the trial court erred when it found that Appellant has no interest in the subject property.
Reversed.
. Appellant also secured additional mortgages with other parties, none of which are relevant to the instant appeal.
. Pinnacle Three Corp. and Appellant had each brought separate actions against All Realty, and the cases were consolidated for this appeal. As Pinnacle Three Corp.’s motion for final summary judgment serves as the basis for this appeal, it will be identified as Appel-lee, despite not being named in the case caption.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.