ROBERT VOCISANO, APPELLANT,
v.
GEORGE M. VEGA, AS TRUSTEE OF LAND TRUST, # 5002, FRANK D'AGOSTINO, ANTONIO D'AGOSTINO AND BARNETT BANK OF NAPLES, APPELLEES

Fla. 2d DCA | 1992-07-17
No. 91-02908
SCHOONOVER, Acting C.J., and ALTENBERND, J., concur.
602 So. 2d 680 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1992)

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Robert Vocisano appeals the trial court's denial of his motion to intervene in a foreclosure action brought by Barnett Bank against defendants including Vocisano's co-beneficiary in a land trust. The court reversed, holding that Vocisano has a direct and immediate interest in the litigation sufficient to warrant intervention for the limited purpose of supporting the defendants' reformation claim.


Holding

The court held that Vocisano has a direct and immediate interest in the litigation sufficient to warrant intervention, but only for the limited purpose of assisting in asserting the defendants' claim that the real property was never intended to be security for the mortgage. The trial court abused its discretion by denying the motion to intervene.


Headnotes

[1] A party seeking to intervene in litigation has a direct and immediate interest when the outcome of the litigation will directly affect their property rights.

[2] A beneficiary of a land trust has a direct and immediate interest in a foreclosure action concerning the trust property, particularly when the foreclosure seeks to satisf…

Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“Because Vocisano has a direct and immediate interest in the litigation, we reverse.”

The court's statement of the dispositive issue and result regarding the intervention motion.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Vocisano and D'Agostino are beneficial owners of land trust #5002, with Vocisano owning 32% and D'Agostino owning 52%. Barnett Bank seeks to foreclose…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
BLUE, Judge.

BLUE, Judge.

Robert Vocisano (Vocisano) appeals the trial court’s denial of his motion to intervene in a foreclosure action in which the appellee, Barnett Bank of Naples (Barnett), is the plaintiff and George M. Vega, as trustee of land trust # 5002 (Vega), and Frank D’Agostino and Antonio D’Agostino (D’Agostino) are the defendants. Because Vocisano has a direct and immediate interest in the litigation, we reverse.

Vocisano and D’Agostino are two of three beneficial owners of land trust # 5002. Vocisano is the owner of a 32% interest, and D’Agostino is the owner of a 52% interest. The subject of the trust is a section of land in Collier County. Barnett seeks to foreclose a mortgage on the trust property in order to satisfy a $3,952,000 debt of D’Agostino.

Vega and D’Agostino have each filed pleadings in the foreclosure action, which seek to reform the mortgage and which allege that only D’Agostino’s 52% interest in the trust was intended to be pledged as security. Vocisano requests the right to intervene, claiming a direct and immediate interest in the litigation as a result of the claim for reformation. If the request for reformation is successful, Vocisano will retain his 32% beneficial interest in land trust # 5002. If it is unsuccessful and the foreclosure proceeds, Vocisano’s beneficial interest will be sold to satisfy the debts of his cobeneficiary, D’Agostino.

We understand Barnett’s fear that the controversy between Vocisano, on the one hand, and Vega and D’Agostino, on the other, may become the focal point of the litigation and unduly delay and complicate the foreclosure action. We feel certain this was a factor in the trial court’s discretionary denial of intervention. If the purpose of intervention was to allow litigation of all claims among Vocisano, Vega, and D’Agos-tino, we would agree with the trial court. We conclude, however, that the trial court erred in failing to allow Vocisano to intervene for the limited purpose of pursuing the claims already asserted by the defendants, Vega and D’Agostino.

We hold that under the peculiar facts of this case, the trial court abused its discretion by denying Vocisano’s motion to intervene for the limited purpose of assisting in asserting Vega and D’Agostino’s claim that the real property which was the subject of land trust # 5002 was never intended to be the security for the mortgage. To this extent only, Vocisano will gain or lose by the direct legal operation and effect of the judgment. See Buerki v. Lochner, 570 So. 2d 1061 (Fla.2d DCA 1990).

Accordingly, we reverse and remand this matter to the trial court to allow Vocisano to intervene for the limited purpose set forth in this opinion.

SCHOONOVER, Acting C.J., and ALTENBERND, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw