WHITEFIELD CITRUS PRODUCTS CORPORATION
v.
CITY OF BRADENTON, MANATEE RIVER BANK & TRUST COMPANY AND DOUGLAS GUARDIAN WAREHOUSE CORPORATION
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.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed a lower court's decision to overrule a motion to dismiss a tax lien foreclosure bill. While affirming, the court suggested better practice would involve alleging the specific ordinance and law under which the tax was levied.
No, the bill does not strictly need to allege the specific ordinance and law, but it is better practice to do so. The existing allegations were sufficient to uphold the chancellor's decree.
“The vital question urged for reversal is whether or not the bill to foreclose should allege with certainty the ordinance and law under which the tax was levied and the lien accrued.”
This quote states the central legal issue on appeal.
Previewing 1 of 2 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe City of Bradenton filed a bill of complaint to foreclose municipal tax liens. The property owner filed a motion to dismiss and for compulsory amen…
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.
The City of Bradenton filed its bill of ■ complaint to foreclose certain municipal tax liens against improved properties located within the City. A motion to dismiss and for compulsory amendment of the bill were overruled and this appeal was prosecuted.
The vital question urged for reversal is whether or not the bill to foreclose should allege with certainty the ordinance and law under which the tax was levied and the lien accrued.
The chancellor answered this question in the negative relying on Trust Company of Florida, et al., v. City of Tampa, 103 Fla. 628, 138 So. 73. The bill of complaint is shown to contain a copy of the tax roll with date of the certificates being foreclosed together with other allegations sufficient to uphold it in view of the chancellor’s decree, but the better practice is to allege the law under which the tax was levied and the lien accrued. Parker v. Town of Callahan, 115 Fla. 266, 156 So. 334.
The judgment is accordingly affirmed but with directions to permit amendment of the bill to conform to’ the better practice.
Affirmed.
Brown, Buford and Chapman, J. J., concur.
Thomas, J., concurs in part and dissents in part.
Justice Whitfield not participating as authorized by Section 4687. Compiled General Laws of 1927, and Rule 21-A of the Rules of this Court.
I think the order should be affirmed without directions to amend.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Tr. Co. of Fla. v. City of Tampa, 103 Fla. 628 (Fla. 1931)
- Parker v. Town oe Callahan, 115 Fla. 266 (Fla. 1934)