KATE E. HARPER, JOINED BY HER HUSBAND AND NEXT FRIEND, THOMAS J. HARPER, APPELLANTS,
v.
W. A. GREEN AND MAY GREEN, HIS WIFE, AYLETT L. WOOD AND HER HUSBAND, L. P. WOOD, RALPH C. BULLOCK AND JOSEPHINE A. BULLOCK, HIS WIFE, CHARLES BARROW, A. PHILLIPS, KELLY INVESTMENT COMPANY, A FLORIDA CORPORATION, BANK OF BAY BISCAYNE, A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLEES

Fla. | 1930-06-06
Whitfield, P. J., and Strum, J., concur., Terrell, C. J., and Ellis, J., concur in the opinion and judgment., Brown, J., disqualified.
99 Fla. 1309 Florida Supreme Court (1930) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 128 So. 827
Cited by 36 cases

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

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of a mortgage foreclosure bill because the original note was lost and not re-established, preventing the complainants from proceeding with foreclosure.


Holding

Yes, the dismissal of the bill of complaint was proper. The complainants failed to re-establish the lost note, which is a prerequisite for foreclosing on the mortgage.


Key Quotes

“Upon final hearing the chancellor dismissed the-bill without prejudice.”

Describes the outcome in the lower court.

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Facts & Procedural History

Appellants filed a bill of complaint to foreclose a mortgage. The original note, which the mortgage secured, was lost due to a hurricane. The complain…

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Opinion of the Court
Bupord, J.

Bupord, J.

In this case the appellants filed bill of complaint to foreclose mortgage. Upon final hearing the chancellor dismissed the-bill without prejudice. The bill was dismissed because the complainants failed to introduce in evidence the original note to secure the payment of which the mortgage was given. It may be inferred from the evidence that the note was lost. In fact, the witness testified that the note and mortgage were in a desk on his front porch when the hurricane of 1926 tore up his desk and blew away his papers.

The bill of complaint did not contain apt allegations, nor a prayer upon which to base an order re-establishing the lost papers.

There was no evidence in the record to show that any proceedings had been had re-establishing the lost papers.

Under this state of facts, the chancellor entered the proper order in dismissing the bill of complaint without prejudice, the effect of which was to give the complainants the opportunity of re-establishing their lost papers and then proceeding in a legal and orderly manner to foreclose the same.

The decree of the chancellor should be affirmed and it is so ordered.

Affirmed.

Whitfield, P. J., and Strum, J., concur. Terrell, C. J., and Ellis, J., concur in the opinion and judgment.

Brown, J., disqualified.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (19 total)

  • Masser v. The London Operating Co., 106 Fla. 474 (Fla. 1932)
    …ail to pay the rent at the time it becomes due, the lessor may immediately thereafter enter and take possession of the property so leased or rented.” Section 5398 (3534), Compiled General Laws of Florida, 1927. In Baker vs. Clifford, 99 Fla. 1229, 128 So. 827, we said that the Legislature, in enacting this statute, “intended that it should be read into every contract calling for the payment of rent though it should not be set out in haec verba.” If a lessee withholds possession of property from lessor a…
  • Am. Fire & Cas. Co. v. Collura, 163 So. 2d 784 (Fla. 2d DCA 1964)
    …equirement will involve extreme forfeiture or penalty. Restatement of Contracts, § 302. Forfeitures are not favored either in law or equity, and the courts should avoid them if possible. Accord: Baker v. Clifford-Mathew Inv. Co., 1930, 99 Fla. 1229, 128 So. 827; Hemphill v. Pesat, 1929, 98 Fla. 124, 123 So. 561. Considering the circumstances in the Ranson case, the proposition was correctly stated there, that where the policy contains a clause requiring that notice of an accident be given “as soon as pract…
  • DeVORE v. LEE, 158 Fla. 608 (Fla. 1947)
    …only is this view sustained by some of the authorities we’ have already cited, but it is also bolstered by the following decisions of this court: Rogers v. Martin, 87 Fla. 204, 99 So. 551; Baker v. Clifford- Mathew Investment Company, 99 Fla. 1229; 128 So. 827; Gibson v. Longino, 111 Fla. 533, 149 So. 592. [*612] The decree of the Chancellor should be reversed, with directions to proceed in accordance with the above views. And we recede from anything said in Dundee v. Lee to the contrary. It is so ordere…

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