Evins v. Gainesville Nat. Bank

Decision Date26 June 1920
PartiesEVINS v. GAINESVILLE NAT. BANK et al.
CourtFlorida Supreme Court

Appeal from Circuit Court, Alachua County; J. T. Wills, Judge.

Suit by Mary W. Evins against the Gainesville National Bank and others. Demurrer was sustained, and complainant appeals. Affirmed.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

An execution issued on a judgment, called a 'writ of fieri facias,' is a lien upon the personal property of the defendant in execution from the time such writ shall be delivered to the sheriff.

Lands and tenements, goods and chattels, equities of redemption in real and personal property, and stock in corporations, are subject to levy and sale under execution.

A mortgage, in this state, is a specific lien upon property and is not, of itself, a conveyance of the legal title.

A mortgagee, either before or after default in payment, has no title by virtue of his mortgage to the mortgaged real estate. His interest is simply a specific lien for the security of the debt mentioned in the mortgage, and he can acquire the legal title as against the mortgagor, or his grantees, only by outbidding every other person at the foreclosure sale.

A mortgage of real estate is regarded as an accessory to the debt secured by the mortgage, and the assignment of the debt ipso facto carries with it the mortgage security.

As a general rule, the lien of an execution operates upon and binds all property, real or personal, which is the subject of levy and sale in obedience to its mandate.

An execution is a lien only upon such property as the writ may be levied upon; and under the statute only 'lands and tenements, goods and chattels, equities of redemption in real and personal property and stock in corporations,' are subject to levy and sale under executions. Therefore, a mortgage upon real estate, being merely a contract lien upon the land, is not subject to levy, and consequently not subject to the lien of an execution.

COUNSEL Thomas W. Fielding, of Gainesville, for appellant.

W. S Broome and Robert E. Davis, both of Gainesville, for appellees.

OPINION

WHITFIELD J.

The bill of complaint herein in substance alleges that appellant here recovered a judgment against Ferdinand Bayer, upon which an execution was issued and placed in the hands of the sheriff, due notations thereof being made in the public records; that Bayer is insolvent and has no property upon which the execution may be levied; that, subsequent to the issue and delivery to the sheriff of the execution parties who were indebted to Bayer executed to him a mortgage deed upon described real estate, which mortgage it is alleged became subject to the indebtedness due the complainant as evidenced by her judgment and execution; that the mortgage deed was by Bayer assigned to the Gainesville National Bank, which 'took the said mortgage deed from the said Ferdinand Bayer subject to the lien and indebtedness of oratrix against the said Ferdinand Bayer, as evidenced by her aforesaid judgment and execution mentioned in the first folio of this bill, and the said defendant, the Gainesville National Bank, a corporation, now holds the said mortgage deed in trust for oratrix to the extent of the sum of the indebtedness due to her by the said Ferdinand Bayer, as set forth in folio 1 of this bill.'

The prayer is that the complainant be decreed to be 'the owner of the mortgage deed' to the extent of the sum of money, with interest and costs, that is due to her by her judgment and execution against the said Ferdinand Bayer; that a decree be rendered adjudging that the defendant, the Gainesville National Bank, a corporation, is a trustee for oratrix of the mortgage deed * * * to the extent of the sum of the indebtedness due to oratrix by the said Ferdinand Bayer; and that when the said mortgage deed becomes due and enforceable the said defendant, the Gainesville National Bank, a corporation, be required to enforce and collect same and pay to oratrix the sum of money due to her, with interest and costs thereon; that if the said defendant, the Gainesville National Bank, a corporation, should, for any cause, refuse or neglect to enforce the said mortgage deed when it becomes due and enforceable, or should neglect or refuse to pay oratrix the sum of money due to her under her said judgment and execution, that oratrix may have a decree authorizing her to proceed to enforce and collect said mortgage deed, by proper suit in her name, and sell the lands covered by said mortgage deed to pay her said judgment and execution; that oratrix...

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27 cases
  • Jacksonville Bulls Football, Ltd. v. Blatt
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • December 13, 1988
    ...time the writ of execution is delivered to the sheriff in the county where the personal property is located. Evins v. Gainesville National Bank, 80 Fla. 84, 85 So. 659 (1920); Love v. Williams, 4 Fla. 126 (1851); Steinbrecher v. Cannon, 501 So.2d 659; Accent Realty of Jacksonville, Inc. v. ......
  • United States v. Cohen
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida
    • July 13, 1967
    ...law, an equitable interest in a mortgage is intangible personal property, which may be reached by a creditor. Evins v. Gainesville National Bank, 80 Fla. 84, 85 So. 659 (1920); Ratliff v. Nowery, 102 Fla. 1072, 136 So. 895 (1931); Thalheimer Bros. v. Tischler, 55 Fla. 796, 46 So. 514, 17 L.......
  • Shavers v. Duval County
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Florida
    • June 11, 1954
    ...lands, by virtue of his mortgage, but is merely the owner of a chose in action creating a lien on the property. Evins v. Gainesville National Bank, 80 Fla. 84, 85 So. 659; Waldock v. Iba, 114 Fla. 786, 150 So. 231, 803, 153 So. 915. Therefore, whatever the rule may be elsewhere, we think it......
  • Martyn v. First Federal Sav. & Loan Ass'n of West Palm Beach
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • December 15, 1971
    ...the same direction.'--Section 511 (Emphasis supplied.) Several Florida cases have made noises in this direction. Evins v. Gainesville Nat. Bank, 1920, 80 Fla. 84, 85 So. 659, in discussing the statute of frauds, said that lands and tenements are subject to levy and sale under execution 'the......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 books & journal articles
  • The Florida Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act: What time limit applies?
    • United States
    • Florida Bar Journal Vol. 74 No. 9, October 2000
    • October 1, 2000
    ...[5] FLA. STAT. [sections] 55.081. [6] FLA. STAT. [sections] 55.10. [7] FLA. R. CIV. P. 1.550. [8] See Evins v. Gainesville Natl. Bank, 80 Fla. 84, 85 So. 659, 660 (1920); Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Daniel, 72 Fla. 489, 73 So. 592, 593 (1916); Accent Realty of Jacksonville, Inc. v. Cr......

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