A. F. BROWN, APPELLANT,
v.
LEE RUSSO, APPELLEE
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Brown, as assignee of a judgment, appealed the trial court's order discharging the debtor Russo from payment because Russo paid the judgment to the original creditor (Virginia National Bank) before receiving notice of the assignment. The court affirmed, holding that a debtor is discharged when payment is made to the assignor before notice of assignment is received.
The debtor Russo was discharged from the judgment obligation because he made payment to the Bank before receiving actual or implied notice of the assignment to Brown. A debtor pays and is discharged on the date payment is made to the assignor when no notice of assignment has been received.
[1] A debtor is discharged from paying a judgment to the assignor if the debtor pays the amount of the judgment to the assignor without notice of the assignment.
[2] Payment made by a debtor to the original creditor before receiving notice of an assignment of the debt discharges the debtor.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“where the debtor pays the assignor before receiving notice of the assignment to the assignee, the debt will be discharged”
Establishes the controlling legal rule that discharge occurs when payment is made to the original creditor without notice of assignment
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceVirginia National Bank obtained a judgment against Russo in October 1975. In May 1981, Brown, who held a second mortgage on Russo's property, obtained…
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MILLS, Judge.
Brown, assignee of a judgment, appeals an order of the trial court discharging Russo, the debtor, from paying the judgment because Russo had paid the amount of the judgment to Virginia National Bank, the assignor, without notice of the assignment. We affirm.
On 15 October 1975, Virginia National Bank obtained a judgment against Russo in the amount of $9,325. No action was taken to collect the judgment. In November 1980, Brown filed suit against Russo to foreclose on a second mortgage which he held on a parcel of property owned by Russo. Brown attempted to secure an assignment of the Bank’s prior judgment because it was superior to his mortgage. On 29 May 1981, Lipman, an attorney for the Bank, executed an assignment on behalf of the Bank and recorded it in Escambia County on the same day. The Bank executed an assignment to Brown on 5 June 1981, but this assignment was not recorded until 30 June 1981.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to refinance another parcel of his property, Russo contacted the Bank to inquire about the satisfaction of the 1975 judgment. He was told that if he would send $1,000 down and a note for $2,000 payable in installments the Bank would execute a satisfaction of the judgment. Russo sent the $1,000 on or about 24 June 1981, and he sent the note approximately one day thereafter. On 28 June 1981, Russo, for the first time, received actual notice of the Bank’s prior assignment of the judgment to Brown. On 29 June 1981, the Bank executed a satisfaction of the judgment which was recorded on 6 July 1981. Thereafter, Brown attempted to levy on Russo’s property pursuant to his judgment. The trial court quashed the assignment of judgment and writ of execution, holding that because Russo had made payment before receiving actual or implied notice of the assignment, he was discharged.
There is no dispute that Russo received actual notice of the assignment after actual payment had been made but before a satisfaction of judgment had been formally executed by the Bank. In Boulevard National Bank of Miami v. Air Metals Industries, Inc., 176 So. 2d 94 (Fla.1965), the Florida Supreme Court quoted with approval the general rule that where the debtor pays the assignor before receiving notice of the assignment to the assignee, the debt will be discharged. See also, 32 A.L.R. 1021 and cases cited therein.
Russo was discharged on the date he paid the judgment to the Bank.
AFFIRMED.
BOOTH and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Boulevard Nat'l Bank OF Miami v. AIR Metal Indus., Inc., 176 So. 2d 94 (Fla. 1965)
- Burton R. Signer and David Marks v. Odell, 176 So. 2d 94 (Fla. 1965)