PERDIDO BAY PARTNERSHIP, AND LACOUR INVESTMENTS, INC., APPELLANTS,
v.
BOBBY WARNER, 10 CORPORATION OF PENSACOLA, AND JAMES WHIGHAM, APPELLEES
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Perdido Bay Partnership and Lacour Investments appealed a judgment awarding parcels of land to Bobby Warner and 10 Corporation of Pensacola in a tax deed sale. The court affirmed, holding that when multiple offers to purchase tax-sale property are submitted, the clerk may accept them on a first-come, first-served basis regardless of whether later offers cover the full opening bid amount.
The court affirmed the trial court's judgment, holding that the clerk was not required by statute to disregard earlier offers simply because a later offer covered the entire opening bid amount. The clerk may accept offers on a first-come, first-served basis.
[1] A clerk of court may accept offers to purchase tax-delinquent property in the sequence in which they are submitted, absent statutory provisions to the contrary.
[2] The statutory scheme for the sale of tax-delinquent property does not preclude a clerk from accepting offers on a first-come, first-served basis.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the clerk must make the property available for public purchase for the amount equivalent to the "opening bid" described in subsection (6)(a) thereof, which, for county-held, non-homestead property, consists of "the sum of the value of all outstanding [tax] certificates against the land, plus omitted years' taxes, delinquent taxes, interest, and all costs and fees paid by the county."”
Establishes the statutory framework governing the opening bid amount in tax sales
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe Clerk of the Circuit Court offered 145 parcels of land in Escambia County for public purchase under Florida's tax sale statute. Appellees submitte…
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PER CURIAM.
Appellants, Perdido Bay Partnership and Lacour Investments, Inc., appeal a final judgment determining that appellees, Bobby Warner and 10 Corporation of Pensacola, and/or James Whigham, were entitled to purchase 145 parcels of land in Escambia County from the Clerk of the Circuit Court. Appellants contend that although they submitted their offer to purchase the property after appellees, appellants’ application took precedence, because appellants tendered the full amount while appellees tendered only a partial amount. We affirm, because we find nothing in the statute precluding the clerk from accepting the parties’ offers to purchase in the sequence in which they were submitted to the clerk.
Section 197.502(7), Florida Statutes (2000), provides that once a county declines to purchase property on its list of “lands, available for taxes,” the clerk must make the property available for public purchase for the amount equivalent to the “opening bid” described in subsection (6)(a) thereof, which, for county-held, non-homestead property, consists of “the sum of the value of all outstanding [tax] certificates against the land, plus omitted years’ taxes, delinquent taxes, interest, and all costs and fees paid by the county.” A representative of the clerk’s office testified that it accepts offers to purchase on a first-come, first-served basis, and thereafter it calculates the amount of the opening bid and informs the applicant of the amount due. The trial court decided from the evidence that all three parties were ready, willing and able to pay the total amount, although the clerk’s calculation of the price later showed that only Perdido Bay’s tender exceeded the total amount due.
The trial court held that the clerk was not required by the statute to disregard the earlier offers simply because Perdido Bay’s offer covered the entire amount. We agree. Because there is nothing in the statute or pertinent rules that outlines the procedure the clerk must follow when offering land for sale under section 197.502(7), the interpretation the lower court placed on the statute does not ap pear at variance with such provisions. Accordingly, the order appealed is
AFFIRMED.
ERVIN, BOOTH and BROWNING, JJ., concur.
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Turner v. Jordan, 117 F.4th 1289 (11th Cir. 2024)…ago, that the opening bid is calculated after a property is included on the “lands available for taxes” list and approved of a county's calculating the opening bid after it received offers for purchase on the property. Perdido Bay P’ship v. Warner, 837 So.2d 1154, 1154 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. [fn 18]: The homestead exemption statute “provided for an enhanced property tax exemption for homeowners who had been permanent residents of . . . Florida for five consecutive years prior to claiming an exemption.” Winick…