Kelly v. Green Tree Servicing, LLC
| Decision Date | 29 July 2020 |
| Docket Number | No. 4D19-1454,4D19-1454 |
| Citation | 300 So.3d 244 (Mem) |
| Parties | Laurel KELLY, as Martin County Property Appraiser, and Ruth Pietruszewski, as Martin County Tax Collector, Appellants, v. GREEN TREE SERVICING, LLC, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Gaylord A. Wood Jr. and J. Christopher Woolsey of Law Offices of Wood & Stuart, P.A., Bunnell, for appellants.
Marc James Ayers of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP, Birmingham, Alabama, and Tara M. Petzoldt of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP, Tampa, for appellee.
In this case, we are asked to consider a question of statutory interpretation regarding section 197.122(1), Florida Statutes (2018), and priority of liens. The Martin County Property Appraiser and the Martin County Tax Collector ("appellants") claim that a tax lien has priority over appellee Green Tree Servicing's prior recorded mortgage. We find that, under the clear and unambiguous plain language of section 197.122(1), Green Tree's prior recorded mortgage was superior to the tax lien because the taxes were not assessed against the subject property as required under section 197.122(1). Therefore, we affirm the trial court's judgment in favor of Green Tree.
A non-party to this appeal improperly received a homestead exemption on property he owned in Martin County. After he sold the Martin County property, on May 16, 2011 appellants recorded a tax lien on another property he owned in St. Lucie County. The tax lien was based entirely on the improper homestead exemption he had received on the Martin County property.
Subsequently, Green Tree foreclosed on the St. Lucie County property based on a mortgage it had recorded on March 25, 2004. Because Green Tree failed to name appellants as parties in the foreclosure action, it filed a complaint against appellants to quiet title and to compel redemption on the St. Lucie County property. Green Tree claimed that its interest in the property was superior to appellants’ tax lien. Appellants filed a counterclaim to foreclose a lien for unpaid property taxes, claiming that the tax lien was superior to Green Tree's mortgage.
Following cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court entered a judgment in favor of Green Tree. From this judgment, appellants appeal.
"The construction of a statute is an issue of law subject to de novo review." Aramark Unif. & Career Apparel, Inc. v. Easton , 894 So. 2d 20, 23 (Fla. 2004).
The trial court entered a judgment for Green Tree, stating that:
According to the unambiguous text of section 197.122(1), Florida Statutes (2018), a tax lien is a first lien only on the "property against which the taxes have been assessed ...." Because the subject taxes were not assessed against the St. Lucie Property, the subject tax lien does not have priority over Green Tree's prior recorded mortgage which Green Tree seeks to enforce in this suit.
The trial court got it right.
When we engage in statutory analysis, "we must look first to the language of the statute and its plain meaning." Hill v. Davis , 70 So. 3d 572, 575 (Fla. 2011) (citation omitted). That is because "the statute's text is the most reliable and authoritative expression of the Legislature's intent." Id. (citation omitted). When the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, a court may not resort to the rules of statutory construction. Rollins v. Pizzarelli , 761 So. 2d 294, 297 (Fla. 2000). Rather, "the statute must be given its plain and obvious meaning." Holly v. Auld , 450 So. 2d 217, 219 (Fla. 1984). Courts "are not at liberty to add words to the statute that were not placed there by the Legislature" and must reject an interpretation that "adds an exclusion to [a] statute that the statute does not provide." Lawnwood Med. Ctr., Inc. v. Seeger , 990 So. 2d 503, 512 (Fla. 2008) (citation omitted); Boulis v. Blackburn , 16 So. 3d 186, 189 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009).
We are governed initially by "[t]he well-established rule governing priority of lien interests [that] ‘the first in time is the first in right." ’ Bank of S. Palm Beaches v. Stockton, Whatley, Davin & Co. , 473 So. 2d 1358, 1360 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985). Pursuant to this rule, an earlier recorded instrument takes priority over a later recorded instrument. § 695.11, Fla. Stat. (2018). "The Legislature has, however, provided separately for the priority of certain liens over the priority established under chapter 695." City of Palm Bay v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. , 114 So. 3d 924, 928 (Fla. 2013). Significantly, in the instant case, Green Tree's mortgage was recorded on March 25, 2004, approximately seven years prior to appellants’ tax lien, which was recorded on May 16, 2011. Thus, Green Tree's mortgage has priority unless a specific statutory exception applies.
(emphasis added). Appellants emphasize the portion of the statute which makes tax liens "a first lien, superior to all other liens." However, the statute also expressly limits its application to provide priority to tax liens only with regard to "property against which the taxes have been assessed." Here, the subject taxes were assessed against the Martin County property, not the St. Lucie County property. Therefore, the exception set forth in section 197.122(1) does not apply. Because...
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Lovelace v. G4S Secure Solutions (USA), Inc.
...effectuate its plain and obvious meaning and may not add an exclusion that the statute does not provide. Kelly v. Green Tree Servicing, LLC , 300 So. 3d 244, 245-46 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020).This interpretation is consistent with other cases that have considered the application of subsections (5)......