Mcdonald Mortgage & Realty Co. v. Tax Securities Corporation

• Decision Date: 10 November 1933
• Citation: Mcdonald Mortgage & Realty Co. v. Tax Securities Corporation, 151 So. 896, 112 Fla. 622 (Fla. 1933)
• Parties: McDONALD MORTGAGE & REALTY CO. v. TAX SECURITIES CORPORATION.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

151 So. 896

112 Fla. 622

McDONALD MORTGAGE & REALTY CO. v. TAX SECURITIES CORPORATION.

Florida Supreme Court, Division B.

November 10, 1933

Suit by the Tax Securities Corporation, etc., against the McDonald Mortgage & Realty Company, etc. From an order denying a motion to dismiss the bill of complaint, defendant appeals.

Reversed and remanded, with directions. Appeal from Circuit Court, Pinellas County; T. F. Hobson, judge.

COUNSEL

Kelly &amp Casler, of Clearwater, for appellant.

Edwin Brobston, of Tampa, for appellee.

McMullen, McMullen & Pogue, of Clearwater, amici curiae.

OPINION

BUFORD Justice.

The appellant was defendant in a suit brought by the appellee in the court below to foreclose two municipal tax certificates purported to have been issued by the city of Largo.

The bill alleges that the complainant purchased from the city of Largo, and that the city of Largo sold to the complainant certain lands within such municipality for the unpaid and delinquent taxes thereon. There were two certificates, one marked Exhibit A and the other marked Exhibit B, each embracing different lands and each made a part of the bill of complaint. Exhibit A recites that the tax collector sold the lands therein described at a tax sale to the city of Largo Fla. The certificate requires the payment of $162.15 for taxes, costs, and charges, together with interest at 25 per cent. for the first year from the date of the certificate and 8 per cent. per annum thereafter. The certificate shows the sale was made August 5, 1929. Attached to the certificate is a purported assignment from one Finley McMullen who describes himself as city manager and clerk under his signature. The assignment purports to convey the certificate issued August 5, 1929, to Tax Securities Corporation, and the assignment is dated November 24, 1930.

Exhibit B is certificate dated August 4, 1930, and recites that on that date the lands therein described were sold to the city of Largo, Fla., for the sum of $102.52 for the unpaid and delinquent taxes and costs, etc., and further recites 'The City of Largo, Florida, or his assigns will therefore be entitled to a deed of conveyance of such lands in accordance with the law, unless the same shall be redeemed by the payment of such amount and within such period of time as are provided by law.' The certificate is signed 'Finley McMullen, Tax Collector for City of Largo, Florida.' The assignment is dated November 24, 1930, and purports to be the assignment from Finley McMullen, city manager and clerk. The assignment did not purport to be executed by the city of Largo.

The exhibits made a part of the bill of complaint contradict the allegations of the bill of complaint.

Motion was made to dismiss the bill of complaint, which was denied, and defendant appealed.

In some respects this case involves the same questions which were involved in the case of State ex rel. Dofnos Corporation v. Lehman et al., 100 Fla. 1401, 131 So. 333, because it is an effort to apply chapter 14572, Acts 1929 (Ex. Sess.) to municipal taxes and certificates. In that case we held:

'Chapter 10040, Acts of 1925, Laws of Florida, and chapter 14572, Acts of 1929 (Ex. Sess.), Laws of Florida, apply only to state and county taxes and have no relation whatever to municipal taxes and certificates.'

The appellee relies upon the case of Ranger Realty Co. et al v. Miller, 102 Fla. 378, 136 So. 546, for an affirmance of the order of the circuit court. Some of the facts in this case are not unlike the facts in the case of Ranger Realty Co. et al. v. Miller. We think that, under the rule as enunciated in that case, as well as in the case of State v. Goodgame, 91 Fla. 871, 108 So. 836, 47 A. L. R. 118, and in the case of Greer v. Farrington, 86 Fla. 243, 97 So. 384, under the charter provisions of the city of Largo, together with the general statutes which are applicable to that municipality in connection with its charter provisions, the city of Largo may enforce its tax collections by the sale of property for unpaid and delinquent taxes and may issue certificates to the purchasers of such property, and that by proper ordinance the city may provide for such sale and execution and delivery of certificates, and that the purchaser of the certificate at a tax sale, or assignee of the certificate which has been purchased by the city, or other person or corporation, may foreclose the lien evidenced by the certificate as the owner and holder thereof in a court of equity to enforce the payment of the amount of taxes, costs, charges, and interest, and thereby satisfy and discharge the lien. See Ranger Realty Co. et al. v. Miller, supra. But in this case the...