HSBC MORTGAGE CORPORATION (USA) v. JACK TOWNSEND III, TRUSTEE

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
FOURTH DISTRICT
HSBC MORTGAGE CORPORATION (USA),
as successor by merger to
REPUBLIC CONSUMER LENDING GROUP, INC.,
Appellant,
v.
JACK TOWNSEND III, TRUSTEE,
C.F. BOX, TRUSTEE, MARIA T. BOWMAN,
and THE RIVER RIDGE
HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION OF MARTIN COUNTY, INC.,
Appellees.
No. 4D23-200
[May 10, 2023]
Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit,
Martin County; Elizabeth A. Metzger, Judge; L.T. Case No.
432002CA000491.
Zachary Ullman of Aldridge Pite, LLP, Delray Beach, for appellant.
Peter W. Wildman, Jupiter, for appellee C.F. Box.
PER CURIAM.
This partition case began over twenty years ago as a quiet title action.
This appeal is unusual because both parties who have appeared—HSBC
Mortgage Corporation (USA) and C.F. Box, Trustee—agree that the case
should be reversed. A third party with some interest in the property has
ceased participating in the circuit court litigation and has made no
appearance in this appeal.
In a partition action, the circuit court has broad powers to “determine
as incidental to the main relief such questions of right as may have risen
out of the relations existing between [the parties] at the time the incidents
occurred giving rise to differences between them.” Lockwood v. Walker,
172 So. 359, 362 (Fla. 1937). The property at issue has been condemned
as unsafe and has accrued substantial fines.
We reverse the final judgment of partition for the entry of an amended
final judgment which makes provisions for HSBC and Box to access the
property to perform repairs and make improvements in preparation for a
partition sale. Such rights of access directly impact the partition because
it will enhance the property’s value and the ability to sell the property.
Consistent with the parties’ arguments below, the amended final
judgment shall also provide that the property be sold by a private sale
conducted by a special magistrate after the completion of repairs. In the
event that the private sale is not completed within 180 days after the
completion of repairs, the amended judgment shall provide that the
property be sold at a public auction by the clerk of the court.
Reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this
opinion.
GROSS, MAY and FORST, JJ., concur.
* * *
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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