ANNA ROBERTS, AS EXECUTRIX OF THE ESTATE OF CORA ROBERTS, DECEASED, APPELLANT,
v.
LLOYD BASS ET AL., APPELLEES
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.
This case addresses the priority of rights between an estate claiming equitable ownership based on a secret collateral agreement and a mortgagee who relied on public record title. The court held that the grantor in possession is estopped from claiming superior rights against a bona fide mortgagee when the collateral agreement was not recorded.
The court held that the grantor in possession is estopped from disputing the record title in the absence of actual notice to a bona fide purchaser for value. The failure to record the collateral agreement constitutes negligence per se, and when two innocent parties must suffer, the one whose negligence caused the other's misfortune must bear the burden.
“in the absence of actual notice to a bona fide purchaser for value, the grantor in possession is estopped from disputing the record title in his grantee because, by his own negligence, he has caused the title so reflected by the public record to be held out to the world as being good and sufficient in his grantee.”
Establishes the core principle of estoppel preventing the grantor from challenging record title against a bona fide purchaser without actual notice.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceCora Roberts conveyed real property to Lloyd Bass by recorded deed but retained possession under an unrecorded collateral agreement limiting Bass's ri…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Bona Fide Purchaser cases and more on FLexlaw
We consider a question of priority between the estate of Cora Roberts, deceased, who was the equitable owner and occupant of real property at a time when the record title holder to whom she had conveyed, one Lloyd Bass, mortgaged it to appellee E. L. Phillips, Jr. It is admitted that the mortgagee had no knowledge of a collateral agreement existing between Cora Roberts and her grantee, Lloyd Bass, at the time the deed passed or at any critical time thereafter, which agreement was later reduced to writing but was never recorded, limiting said grantee’s rights under the deed. It is also admitted that the mortgagee made no examination of the premises to ascertain the rights of the occupants but in granting the mortgage loan relied on the title as shown by the public records which *456reflected Cora Roberts’ unconditional conveyance to Bass, the mortgagor.
In Reasoner v. Fisikelli, 114 Fla. 102, 153 So. 98, it was held that in the absence of actual notice to a bona fide purchaser for value, the grantor in possession is estopped from disputing the record title in his grantee because, by his own negligence, he has caused the title so reflected by the public record to be held out to the world as being good and sufficient in his grantee. That case also held that failure to record a written instrument expressing a collateral agreement made contemporaneously with a deed that is recorded constitutes negligence per se, placing it within the power of the grantee to sell or otherwise deal with the land to the prejudice of a searcher of the public records, so that in the absence of actual notice to the contrary one who relies on the public record is entitled to regard the grantor’s deed as correctly defining the state of his grantee’s title. It was also held that the fact that the grantor retains possession of the premises gives rise to no more superior equity than if he had remained in possession with the acquiescence or permission of his grantee. It distinguished that holding from the rule of law which holds that possession implies actual notice of an adverse right, by pointing out that the latter is designed to protect the possessor from the acts of those who do not derive their title from him but not to protect him against his own acts, such as where he claims under a secret instrument against his own deed that was executed as part of the same transaction. Finally, the Fisikelli case holds that where one or two innocent parties must suffer, the one whose negligence was the cause .of the other’s misfortune must bear the burden.
Each of the elements of the cited case was present in the case on appeal and in reliance thereon the Chancellor granted the appellee-mortgagee's motion to dismiss. His action was correct.
Appellant insists that the facts in this case warrant an exception to the rule announced in the Fisikelli case in that the length of time during which Cora Roberts remained in possession — some four and a half years after her deed to Bass — renders the rule inoperative. A review of the cases cited and relied on by the Supreme Court in the Fisikelli case indicates that no such exception is recognized, and we can see no logical reason why it should be.
Affirmed.
CARROLL, DONALD and WIGGIN-TON, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Weislo v. First Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n OF Martin Cnty., 240 So. 2d 69 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970)…PER CURIAM. Affirmed on the authority of Reasoner v. Fisikelli, 1934, 114 Fla. 102, 153 So. 98, and Roberts v. Bass, Fla.App.1959, 111 So. 2d 455. McCAIN and OWEN, JJ-, and DRIVER, B. J., Associate Judge, concur.…
-
Am. Metro. Mortg., Inc. v. Melva Maricone, 423 So. 2d 396 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982)…ding that each mortgagee had notice of appellee’s interest since she continued to reside on the property when the mortgages were given. The court overlooked the decisions in Reasoner v. Fisikelli, 114 Fla. 102, 153 So. 98 (1934), and Robert v. Bass, 111 So. 2d 455 (Fla. 1st DCA 1959), which hold that an equitable owner who creates record title in another while retaining possession is estopped from disputing record title in the absence of express actual notice to the contrary. An officer of Central Plaza dro…
-
Iva Danner v. Kitimat Corp., 133 So. 2d 570 (Fla. 2d DCA 1961)…PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Reasoner v. Fisikelli, 1934, 114 Fla. 102, 153 So. 98, and Roberts v. Bass, Fla. App.1959, 111 So. 2d 455. KANNER, Acting C. J., WHITE, J., and FUSSELL, CARROLL W., Associate Judge, concur.…
Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Reasoner v. Fisikelli, 114 Fla. 102 (Fla. 1934)