DADE COUNTY, A POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION, A CORPORATION ORGANIZED UNDER AN ACT OF CONGRESS AND EXISTING PURSUANT TO THE FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION CHARTER ACT, APPELLEE
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Dade County appealed a mortgage foreclosure judgment in which the trial court held that the county's waste collection lien was subordinate to the mortgagee's prior mortgage lien. The court affirmed, finding that an ordinance creating special assessment liens for unpaid waste fees did not have retroactive effect to past-due charges and therefore the lien attached only upon recording on November 30, 1962, after the mortgage was already recorded.
The court held that Ordinance 62-33 should not be construed as having retroactive effect to past-due fees. The waste lien attached only upon recording on November 30, 1962, and therefore is subordinate to the mortgagee's mortgage recorded on December 9, 1958. The court did not decide whether garbage collection charges could properly be made a special assessment lien or whether the ordinance itself was effective to create such liens.
“The waste fees covered by the waste lien filed by Dade County Waste-Division on November 30, 1962, and recorded on said date in Waste Docket Book 1, Page 241, Public Records of Dade County, Florida, did not become a lien upon and against the mortgaged property and premises until the recording date, November 30, 1962”
Trial court's key finding that the lien attached only upon recording, establishing its subordinate status to the prior mortgage
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellee Federal National Mortgage Association recorded a mortgage on December 9, 1958. Dade County passed ordinances in 1959 and 1962 authorizing was…
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This appeal by Dade County grows out of a mortgage foreclosure in which the County was made defendant because of a claimed lien for garbage collection. The question presented arises out of the following finding contained in the final decreet
“10. The waste fees covered by the waste lien filed by Dade County Waste-Division on November 30, 1962, and recorded on said date in Waste Docket Book 1, Page 241, Public Records of Dade County, Florida, did not become a lien upon and against the mortgaged property and premises until the recording date, November 30, 1962; and accordingly, the waste lien of the Defend*256ant, DADE COUNTY, aforesaid is inferior, subordinate and subject to the Plaintiff’s said mortgage lien.”
The essential chronology of pertinent facts is as follows:
(1) Appellee’s mortgage was recorded on December 9, 1958.
(2) On June 9, 1959, the Board of County Commissioners of Dade County passed Ordinance No. 59-12. This ordinance authorized the Director of Public Works to establish waste collection and disposal services in Dade County, and authorized the collection of fees therefor. The ordinance further provided that unpaid waste fees would become delinquent 30 days after due date and would become a lien against the property provided that a notice of lien was filed.
(3) On July 31, 1962, the Board of 'County Commissioners of Dade County passed Ordinance 62-33, which provided among other things, that all waste fees due and unpaid for the period of July 1, 1959, to July 1, 1962, should constitute special assessment liens against the improved property for which the waste collection and disposal services were provided or made available. This ordinance further provided that the waste fees which had become due and unpaid prior to July 1, 1962, should constitute special assessment liens only if the Waste Division filed in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Dade County, Florida, on or before December 1, 1962, a notice of lien.
(4) A notice of waste lien upon the property involved was recorded November 30, 1962, for delinquent waste fees maturing prior to July 1, 1962, and after January 1, 1960.
(5) The appellee filed its complaint for mortgage foreclosure on February 4, 1963.
The appellant-County maintained that Ordinance 62-33 creates a superior lien not only as to delinquent fees accruing after July 1, 1962, but also as to past due fees, even though no record thereof appeared until Nov. 30, 1962. If such position were sustained it would give retrospective effect to the ordinance as to past due fees and, accordingly, the county a lien superior to that of the plaintiff’s mortgage.
We hold that a fair reading of the ordinance in question sustains the construction given to the ordinance by the chancellor. The claimed retroactive effect should not be implied and does not clearly appear from the ordiance. See: In Re Seven Barrels of Wine, 79 Fla. 1, 83 So. 627; Chiapetta v. Jordan, 153 Fla. 788, 16 So.2d 641, Larson v. Independent Life & Accident Ins Co., 158 Fla. 623, 29 So.2d 448; State ex rel. Riverside Bank v. Green, Fla.1958, 101 So. 2d 805.
We do not decide appellee’s contention that the charges for garbage collection may not properly be made a special assessment lien, nor do we consider his argument that the ordinance itself was ineffective to create special assessment liens.
Affirmed.
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Gleason v. Dade Cnty., 174 So. 2d 466 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965)…en”. In other words, the statute has to set forth the priority of the special assessment liens over other liens or encumbrances, either expressly or by implication. This court in Dade County v. Federal National Mortgage Ass’n, Fla.App.1964, [*469] 161 So. 2d 255, considered the effect of Ordinance 62-33, wherein Dade County asserted a lien for past due and unpaid waste collection fees in a mortgage foreclosure suit. Judge Tillman Pearson for the court held that a retroactive effect of a special assessment l…
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City OF N. BAY Vill. v. City OF Miami Beach, 365 So. 2d 389 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)…f Miami Beach were actually conducted, a fair reading of that County Ordinance reflects that a retroactive affect does not clearly appear from the Ordinance and, therefore, should not be implied. Dade County v. Federal National Mortgage Association, 161 So. 2d 255 (Fla. 3 DCA, 1964); Heberle v. P.R.O. Liquidating Company, 186 So. 2d 280 (Fla. [App.] 1st Dist. 1966); 30 Fla.Jur.Statutes, Sec. 151. Since the basis for the retrospective interpretations suggested by Plaintiffs is not unequivocal and since there i…
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Wright v. Brown c.t.a., 29 Fla. Supp. 117 (Pinellas Cty. Cir. Ct. 1967)…2d 575 (Fla. 1945); Larson v. Independent Life and Accident Ins. Co., 158 Fla. 623, 29 So. 2d 448 (Fla. 1947); Indemnity Ins. Co. v. Brooks-Fisher Insulating Co., 140 So. 2d 613 (Fla. App. 2nd 1962); Dade County v. Federal National Mortgage Ass’n., 161 So. 2d 255 (Fla. App. 3rd 1964); Heberle v. P.R.O. Liquidating Co., 186 So. 2d 280 (Fla. App. 1st 1966). Applying the foregoing rules to the act in question, the court can find no language expressing — clearly or otherwise — any intention that the act was inte…
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
- In re Seizure of 7 Barrels of Wine, 79 Fla. 1 (Fla. 1920)
- Chiapetta v. Jordan, 153 Fla. 788 (Fla. 1943)
- Larson v. THE Indep. Life & Accident Ins. Co., 158 Fla. 623 (Fla. 1947)
- State v. Green, 101 So. 2d 805 (Fla. 1958)