PEDRO J. GARCIA, ETC., ET AL., APPELLANTS,
v.
DADELAND STATION ASSOCIATES, LTD., APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 2017-05-03
No. 3D16-1698
Before LAGOA, SALTER and FERNANDEZ, JJ.
218 So. 3d 474 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2017) Caution
Cited by 2 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

Miami-Dade County appealed a summary judgment in favor of Dadeland Station, which sought recovery of property taxes the County improperly assessed on leased land. The court affirmed, holding that the County misapplied the Florida Supreme Court's Accardo decision and that Dadeland Station's 90-year lease lacked the indicia of equitable ownership necessary to justify taxation on the underlying land.


Holding

The court held that Dadeland Station is not the equitable owner of the leased land and therefore should not be taxed on it. The County's interpretation of Accardo was an overreach, as Accardo's equitable ownership doctrine applies only to leases with perpetually renewable provisions, nominal purchase options, or similar indicia of perpetual dominion, none of which exist in Dadeland Station's 90-year lease.


Headnotes

[1] A lessee is considered the equitable owner of land held pursuant to a "perpetually renewable" lease if the lessee's interest is not materially different from the interest…

[2] A lease lacking a nominal purchase option or perpetual rights of renewal does not create equitable ownership in the lessee for property tax purposes.

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Key Quotes

“Accardo held that a lessee is considered the equitable owner of land held pursuant to a "perpetually renewable" lease, because the lessee's interest under such a lease "is not materially different from the interest of a lessee under a lease for a term of years providing the right for the lessee to obtain title for nominal consideration upon the termination of the lease."”

Establishes the narrow scope of equitable ownership doctrine from Accardo, limited to perpetually renewable leases and those with nominal purchase options.

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Facts & Procedural History

Dadeland Station leased land from Miami-Dade County in 1994 under a 90-year lease. Dadeland Station constructed substantial improvements on the land, …

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Opinion of the Court
SALTER, J.

SALTER, J.

Miami-Dade County, its Property Appraiser, and its Tax Collector (collectively, the “County”), appeal an adverse final summary judgment in favor of Dadeland Station Associates, Ltd. (“Dadeland Station”) regarding the County’s property tax assessment of the land (“Land”) leased by Dadeland Station from the County in 1994. We affirm the trial court’s determination that the County improperly assessed and collected property taxes from Dadeland Station on the Land based on the County’s flawed extrapolation from controlling precedent.

Dadeland Station constructed substantial buildings and other improvements on the Land leased from the County, but those improvements have continuously been separately assessed and taxed by the County. In the present case, the County apparently sought to modify well-settled law by asserting a claim that Dadeland Station was the “equitable owner” of the Land beneath the improvements, such that Dadeland Station should be taxed on the Land as well as the improvements.

From 1994 until 2014, the Land was assessed in the County’s name and was immune from property tax. In 2014, however, the Supreme Court of Florida issued its opinion in Accardo v. Brown, 139 So.3d 848 (Fla. 2014). Accardo held that a lessee is considered the equitable owner of land held pursuant to a “perpetually renewable” lease, because the lessee’s interest under such a lease “is not materially different from the interest of a lessee under a lease for a term of years providing the right for the lessee to obtain title for nominal consideration upon the termination of the lease.” Id. at 856. Concluding that the Accardo decision broadly expanded the reach of “equitable ownership,” the County issued an assessment to Dadeland Station for 2015 property taxes on the Land. Dadeland Station paid the taxes under protest and filed a suit to recover the payment under section 194.171, Florida Statutes (2015).1

The County’s interpretation overreached. Accardo did not expand “equitable ownership” in terms that would apply to Dadeland Station’s 90-year lease of the *476Land. That lease did not include a nominal purchase option or perpetual rights of renewal. After Accardo, a circuit court in Escambia County found equitable ownership by a lessee under a 99-year lease that included a .right to negotiate a renewal on terms mutually agreeable to the parties, but the First District reversed that decision:

¡This is not a case entailing the taxation .of land where the lessee has the right to the perpetual renewal of its lease, the lessee has the right to purchase the property for nominal consideration at the end of the lease, the lessor holds legal title merely as security, or the lessee otherwise has perpetual dominion over the property.

Island Resorts Invs., Inc. v. Jones, 189 So.3d 917, 922 (Fla. 1st DCA), review denied, SC16-1007, 2016 WL 3961178 (Fla. July 21, 2016).

Dadeland Station’s lease of the Land also lacks the indicia of equitable ownership described in Island Resorts Investments, ' Inc, and Accardo. The trial court correctly entered a final summary judgment in favor of Dadeland Station.

Affirmed.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Beach Club Towers Homeowners Ass'n, Inc. v. Jones, 231 So. 3d 566 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017)
    …roperty in Island Resorts was unimproved. . The Constitutional provision of homestead exemption and, therefore, equitable ownership, for leaseholds initially in excess of 98 years negates any reliance on Garcia v. Dadeland Station Associates, Ltd., 218 So. 3d 474 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017). Garcia does not analyze benefits and burdens of ownership, but the court there concluded that a lease without perpetual renewabilily or a nominal purchase option, and an initial term of 90 years, was not equitable ownership.…

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