GENE SOUTHARDS AND KATHLEEN SOUTHARDS, APPELLANTS,
v.
MOTEL MANAGEMENT COMPANY, N/K/A B & M MANAGEMENT COMPANY, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, HARRY F. KNIGHT, TAX COLLECTOR, MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA, APPELLEES
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Interval owners of a condominium unit who paid their share of property taxes sought a temporary injunction to prevent a tax deed sale after the managing entity failed to pay the majority's delinquent taxes and the tax collector refused to allocate collected funds to protect owners who had paid. The appellate court reversed the trial court's denial of the injunction, finding the owners demonstrated irreparable harm and likelihood of success on the merits.
The appellate court held that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the temporary injunction because appellants demonstrated prima facie irreparable harm from impending loss of their property interests, an inadequate remedy at law, and a likelihood of probable success on the merits. The court reversed and remanded with instructions to issue the temporary injunction upon posting of only a nominal bond rather than a bond commensurate with the full property value, given appellants' small fractional ownership and payment of their proportionate taxes.
[1] A temporary injunction may be warranted when a party demonstrates a prima facie showing of irreparable harm, an inadequate remedy at law, and a likelihood of probable suc…
[2] A trial court abuses its discretion by failing to issue a temporary injunction when the movant has demonstrated a prima facie case for injunctive relief.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Finding that appellants demonstrated a prima facie showing of irreparable harm from the impending loss of their property interests, an inadequate remedy at law, and a likelihood of probable success on the merits of their action”
Establishes the three-part test for granting a temporary injunction and that appellants met all elements.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellants owned an interval ownership condominium unit and regularly paid their annual assessed taxes. Most other interval owners did not pay their t…
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PER CURIAM.
Appellants own an interval ownership condominium unit. Each year since purchasing their interest, Appellants have regularly paid the building’s managing entity their annual assessed taxes on the property. Unfortunately, the majority of the interval owners of the building did not pay their assessed taxes. Rather than pay the tax collector part of the taxes owed on the building or advancing the sum on its own, the managing entity simply failed to pay the taxes assessed on the condominium building. As a result, the taxes on the building became delinquent.
The condominium association challenged the amount of the tax assessments on the building and deposited in escrow the amount required by section 194.171, Florida Statutes. Included in that deposit were the taxes paid by appellants. At the conclusion of the litigation, the tax collector applied the money held in escrow as partial payment for over one million dollars of delinquent taxes on the building. The condominium association objected on the basis that the tax collector had sold tax certificates on land on which the taxes had already been paid; the association demanded that the tax collector allocate the partial tax payments to the interval unit owners who paid their taxes so that their interests would not be sold in the event of a tax deed application. The tax collector refused.
Subsequently, Motel Management Company purchased the tax certificates and applied for a tax deed. To satisfy the tax certificates, the building must be sold at public sale. Threatened with the loss of their property interests, Appellants moved for a temporary injunction to bar the public sale until the trial court is able to conduct a hearing and rule upon their prayer for equitable relief. The trial court refused to issue the temporary injunction. Appellants instituted this appeal. We reverse.
Finding that appellants demonstrated a prima facie showing of irreparable harm from the impending loss of their property interests, an inadequate remedy at law, and a likelihood of probable success on the merits of their action, Oxford Int’l Bank & Trust, Ltd. v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 374 So. 2d 54 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979), cert. dismissed, 383 So. 2d 1199 (Fla.1980); see Parker Tampa Two, Inc. v. Somerset Dev. Corp., 544 So. 2d 1018 (Fla.1989), we hold that the trial court abused its discretion in failing to issue a temporary injunction.
The equities of this case are such that the injunction should be issued without bond; however, Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.610(b) requires that a movant post bond before a temporary injunction may be issued. It would be inequitable to require appellants to post a bond in an amount commensurate with the value of the building when they own approximately a four thousandth interest in the property and have paid their proportionate share of taxes. Thus, we require appellants to post only a nominal bond for the issuance of a temporary injunction. Accordingly, we instruct the trial judge to issue the temporary injunction upon posting of a nominal bond.
Reversed and remanded with instructions.
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Cited By
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Southards v. Motel Mgmt. Co., 610 So. 2d 524 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)…ndominium building. We reversed the trial court’s denial of an injunction to halt the pending sale of the building and remanded with instructions to conduct a hearing on the appellants’ claims for equitable relief. Southards v. Motel Management Co., 567 So. 2d 523 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990). This appeal follows that hearing. Three important points are conceded by the appellees: (1) appellants’ time-share fee ownership is a fundamental property right expressly protected by article I, sections 2 and 9 of the Florida C…
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Milton v. Sakolsky, 623 So. 2d 640 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993)…PER CURIAM. Affirmed. Southards v. Motel Management Co., 567 So. 2d 523 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); World Sec. Fund v. Schmidt, 406 So. 2d 511 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), rev. denied, 413 So. 2d 877 (Fla.1982); Hurt v. Lenckuk, 223 So. 2d 350 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969).…
Authorities Cited
- Parker Tampa TWO, Inc. v. Somerset Dev. Corp., 544 So. 2d 1018 (Fla. 1989)
- Oxford Int'l Bank & Tr., Ltd. v. Merrill Lynch, 374 So. 2d 54 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979)
- Harris v. Fla. Dep't OF Labor & Emp. Sec., 374 So. 2d 54 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979)