WILL A. NASON, AS ASSIGNEE OF BELLHOUSE, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
POLO WATER COMPANY, A FLORIDA CORPORATION, M. J. ZMISTOWSKI AND D. L. ZMISTOWSKI, HIS WIFE, MARTIN M. KELLENBERGER, AS SHERIFF OF PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA; AND M. M. HOYT, AS DEPUTY SHERIFF OF PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA, APPELLEES

Fla. 2d DCA | 1964-07-15
No. 4694
SMITH, C. J., and WHITE, J., concur.
166 So. 2d 691 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1964) Positive Treatment
Cited by 3 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

A judgment creditor obtained a writ of execution and directed a sheriff's sale of property belonging to the judgment debtor. The sheriff deposited the sale proceeds in the court registry after learning of a potentially prior judgment lien. The court held that a junior lienor is entitled to the full proceeds of an execution sale conducted under its judgment, even when the property was sold subject to prior liens, and the senior lienor's remedy is to conduct its own execution sale.


Holding

The junior lienor is entitled to the full proceeds of the execution sale without regard to any senior liens, and the senior lienor's remedy is to enforce its lien through its own execution sale. This rule applies to both real and personal property in Florida.


Key Quotes

“where the sale is had under a junior judgment and execution subject to prior existing judgment liens, the proceeds belong entirely to the creditor in the junior writ under which the sale was had; the senior creditors cannot share therein, their remedy being to enforce their unimpaired liens by selling the property again under executions issued on the senior judgments.”

Establishes the core rule that junior lienors receive all proceeds from their execution sale, while senior lienors must conduct their own execution sales.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Nason obtained a final judgment against Polo Water Company and its owners and received a writ of execution in 1960. In 2013, the sheriff levied on the…

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.


Opinion of the Court
SHANNON, Judge.

SHANNON, Judge.

The plaintiff entered an interlocutory appeal from a stay order issued in this cause by the trial court on October 25, 1963, which ordered that certain money deposited in the registry of the court was to remain there pending the outcome of another case. The record shows that several years ago the plaintiff obtained a final judgment against the Polo Water Company, M. J. Zmistowski and D. L. Zmistowski, his wife. On September 30, 1960, a writ of execution was issued on this judgment and placed in the hands of the sheriff in Palm Beach County, Florida. On August 5, 1963, plaintiff’s writ was levied on certain real and personal property of the defendant, Polo Water Company. On October 18, 1963, after due advertising, the personal property was sold for $110.00 and the real property for $30,123.00. Prior to the sale the plaintiff paid the real property taxes and the costs involved, and gave the sheriff his receipt for the taxes. In the notice of sale given by the sheriff were the words, “Said property will be sold subject to all prior liens, if any.”

After this sale the attorney for the purchaser of the property stated to the sheriff that he also represented one M. B. Frank who was the assignee of a different judgment against the Polo Water Company, and that this judgment was a lien prior to the one on which execution was brought, and therefore this lien should be paid out of the proceeds before the subsequent lien. This attorney then advised the sheriff that if the sheriff would deposit this money in the registry of the court he would file an appropriate action to determine the priority of these liens. The plaintiff contended that the property was sold subject to all prior liens and that the proceeds were payable to the plaintiff.

The sheriff deposited the monies in the registry of the court and subsequently the plaintiff filed a motion for an order requiring the clerk to pay out of the registry of the court the proceeds of the sale. The sheriff filed a motion in this cause stating that a controversy existed herein concerning the priority of liens, the said controversy being evidenced in Chancery Case No. 63 C 2215-B, and asked that a stay be made of this cause until there was a full and complete adjudication of this matter. To this motion of the sheriff the plaintiff filed a motion to strike, and the court entered a stay order which provided that the proceeds of the sale should remain in the registry of the court subject to the outcome of the chancery case.

The appellant takes the position that the money coming into the sheriff’s hands, or in this case, into the registry of the court, should be paid to him irrespective of wheth*693er or not he is a junior lien holder on the property sold. Although the court’s stay order mentions a pending chancery suit, the record in this cause is silent as to the various claims which have been made in said cause. For the purpose of this opinion we will assume that the chancery case may show that there is a lien prior to the lien of the plaintiff who brought the execution sale. Of course this assumption has no hearing on the chancery case as we do not know the facts of that case. The question presented is whether a senior lienor is entitled to be paid before a junior lienor out of the proceeds realized from a sale of real and personal property under a levy of execution brought by the junior lienor.

23 C.J., Executions, Sec. 350, 33 C.J.S. § 127, says with regard to real property:

“* * * [W] here the sale is had under a junior judgment and execution subject to prior existing judgment liens, the proceeds .belong entirely to the creditor in the junior writ under which the sale was had; the senior creditors cannot share therein, their remedy being to enforce their unimpaired liens by selling the property again under executions issued on the senior judgments.”

We are not without precedent on this question in the State of Florida. In Watson v. Jones, 1899, 41 Fla. 241, 25 So. 678, a judgment creditor, not a party to the foreclosure proceeding, demanded that a judgment be paid from the proceeds of the foreclosure sale. The Court, in denying his claim, stated:

“ * * * The judgment creditor was a prior encumbrancer, whose rights were paramount to that of the mortgage plaintiff. The purchaser at the foreclosure sale could only take what title the parties to the suit had, and the prior judgment creditor, not being a party to the foreclosure proceedings, could enforce his lien by selling the property under his execution, even in the hands of such purchaser. * * * The master’s sale could give nothing but a title subject to the Bear judgment, and the judgment creditor could, therefore, have no interest in, or right to, any of the proceeds of such sale.”

The Court then cited the Alabama case of Caldwell v. Houser, 1896, 108 Ala. 125, 19 So. 796. The facts in that case are on all fours with the facts in the present case, and it was held that a senior judgment lien- or is not entitled to have the proceeds of an execution sale, brought by the junior lienor subject to the senior lien, applied to satisfy the senior judgment lien. In both of these cases the property was realty.

As to the personal property which was sold under execution in this case, in one of Florida’s earliest cases, Love v. Williams, 1851, 4 Fla. 126, two separate executions were given to the sheriff. The sheriff executed the one which he received last, and the plaintiff who had delivered his writ of execution to the sheriff first, demanded the money from the sale of the personal property. The Court held that the proceeds of the sale would go to the plaintiff in the writ under which the sale was made, and further held that the plaintiff who delivered his writ first to the sheriff had his remedy, if any, against the sheriff.

33 C.J.S. Executions § 248, states that generally the sale of personal property under an execution discharges prior liens and therefore the prior liens must first be satisfied from the proceeds of the individual sale. However, it cites Florida as being in a minority of jurisdictions which hold to the contrary, as evidenced by the Love case, supra. Nevertheless, the law remains the same in Florida.

We reverse the trial court insofar as the stay order is concerned, and direct that the court strike the motion of the sheriff and grant the motion of the plaintiff for the payment of the money in satisfaction of his *694execution. This decision is only upon the record of this cause and does not take into consideration any phases of Chancery Case No. 63 C 2215-B.

SMITH, C. J., and WHITE, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • First Nat'l Bank & Tr. Co. of Riviera Beach v. Berry, 44 Fla. Supp. 159 (Palm Beach Cty. Ct. 1976)
    …dered to be in the custody of the court and it must logically follow that the sheriff cannot be considered a proper party to an action under §78.055. Midland’s position is somewhat similar to the sheriff’s. Relying upon Nason v. Polo Water Company, 166 So. 2d 691 (2d Fla. App. 1964), Midland argues that the sheriff’s sale should go forward and the fact that the property is sold “subject to all prior liens” assures adequate protection to the secured creditor. ii There are a number of pre-code cases which ad…
  • Zimmer v. Kellenberger, 27 Fla. Supp. 74 (Palm Beach Cty. Cir. Ct. 1966)
    …was received. The sheriff through his deputies breached the duty owed to the senior incumbrancer and thus must be held liable for damages caused the plaintiff by the wrongful execution and sale. Love v. Williams, 4 Fla. 126; Nason v. Polo Water Co., 166 So. 2d 691. It is therefore, upon consideration, ordered and adjudged that the plaintiff do have and recover of and from the defendant the sum of $1,600, together with interest thereon at the rate of 6 [*76] percent per annum from and after November 9, 1964,…
  • Will A. Nason v. Sullivan, 169 So. 2d 859 (Fla. 2d DCA 1964)
    …le was made for the benefit of judgment creditors in the order in which their writs of execution were delivered to the sheriff. This matter was before this court in an appeal of a stay order in the case of Nason v. Polo Water Company, Fla.App.1964, 166 So. 2d 691. The court, in its opinion in said case, reversing the order granting the stay order, set forth very clearly the Florida law regarding execution sales of real and personal property and who is entitled to-the proceeds obtained therefrom. Accordingly…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw