REGAL WOOD PRODUCTS, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
FIRST WISCONSIN NATIONAL BANK OF MILWAUKEE, AND VISTANA, INC., ETC., ET AL., APPELLEES

Fla. 4th DCA | 1977-05-20
No. 76-2475
CROSS and DAUKSCH, JJ., concur.
347 So. 2d 643 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1977) Caution
Cited by 14 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.


Holding

The court held that an amended cross-claim seeking to enforce a claim of lien against a transfer bond does not relate back to the original cross-claim if the original claim of lien had already expired.


Headnotes

[1] A statutory right of action created by a mechanics' lien statute, which is not recognized at common law, is extinguished if an action to enforce the lien is not commenced…

[2] A claim of lien under Florida Statutes Section 713.22(1) is extinguished if an action to enforce the lien is not commenced within one year of the claim's recording.

Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

A subcontractor filed an action on a transfer bond more than one year after recording its claim of lien, but within one year of filing an original cro…

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
ALDERMAN, Judge.

ALDERMAN, Judge.

This is a mechanics’ lien case in which a subcontractor appeals an order dismissing with prejudice its action against a general contractor and its surety. The subcontractor’s action on a Section 713.24, Florida Statutes (1975), Transfer bond was filed as part of an amended cross-claim two years after the subcontractor’s claim of lien was recorded. This was the first action by the subcontractor to enforce its claim of lien, although it had, within one year of recording its claim of lien, filed its original cross-claim seeking a money judgment against the general contractor for the amount of its claim. The determinative issue is whether the amended cross-claim, under Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.190 1, relates back to the filing of the earlier cross-claim so as to satisfy the time requirement of Sections 713.21(3)2, 713.-22(1)3, 713.24(4)4, Florida Statutes (1975). We hold that it does not and affirm.

In this ease the subcontractor never filed an action to enforce its claim of lien against the owner. More than fifteen months after the subcontractor recorded its claim of lien, the general contractor caused the claim of lien to be transferred to a bond pursuant to Section 713.24, Florida Statutes (1975). Nine months later the subcontractor filed an amended cross-claim and third party complaint seeking to enforce its claim of lien against the bond.

The Mechanics’ Lien statute created for subcontractors a new right of action that did not exist in the common law, and expressly provided that no mechanics’ lien shall continue for a longer period than one year after the claim of lien has been recorded unless within that time an action to enforce the lien is commenced. Section 713.22(1). This is not like an ordinary statute of limitation affecting merely the remedy, but it enters into and becomes a part of the right of action itself, and if allowed to elapse without the institution of the action, such right of action becomes extinguished and is gone forever. Compare Fowler v. Matheny, 184 So. 2d 676 (Fla. 4th DC A 1966). The subcontractor, having failed to bring an action to enforce its lien within one year after the claim of lien was recorded, no longer has a right of action on its claim of lien.

The subsequent Section 713.24 transfer bond provided by the general contractor does not change the situation. The condition of this bond was to “ . . . pay any judgment or decree which may be rendered for the satisfaction of the lien for which said claim of lien was recorded . . . This condition is not an assumption of a new and additional liability on the part of the general contractor and its surety. They agreed only to pay any judgment or decree which may be rendered for the satisfaction of the lien. There could be no such judgment in this case because as a matter of law the lien no longer existed. The Section 713.24 transfer bond did not give the lien claimant any additional rights; it simply created an alternate fund from which the claim of lien could be satisfied, if in fact it was a valid lien. Resnick Developers South, Inc. v. Clerici, Inc., 340 So. 2d 1194 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976).

There is no way that the subcontractor can now foreclose its claim of lien against the owner, and since the liability of the general contractor and its surety under the Section 713.24 transfer bond is no greater than that of the owner for whose benefit the bond is provided, we conclude that the claim of lien cannot be resurrected by the application of Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.190(c).

AFFIRMED.

CROSS and DAUKSCH, JJ., concur. . Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.190(c) provides:

When the claim or defense asserted in the amended pleading arose out of the conduct, transaction or occurrence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading, the amendment shall relate back to the date of the original pleading.

. Section 713.21, Florida Statutes (1975), provides:

A lien properly perfected under this chapter may be discharged by any of the following methods:
(3) By failure to begin an action to enforce the lien within the time prescribed in this part I.

. Section 713.22(1), Florida Statutes (1975), provides:

No lien provided by part I of this chapter shall continue for a longer period than 1 year after the claim of lien has been recorded unless within that time an action to enforce the lien is commenced in a court of competent jurisdiction.

.Section 713.24(4), Florida Statutes (1975), provides:

If no proceeding to enforce a transferred lien shall be commenced within the time specified in s. 713.22 or if it appears that the transferred lien has been satisfied of record, the clerk shall return said security upon request of the person depositing or filing the same, or the insurer.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • N. Am. Speciality Ins. Co. v. Bergeron Land Dev., Inc., 745 So. 2d 359 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)
    …. Maddox, 60 So. 2d 158, 159 (Fla.1952). North American counters that compliance with the limitations period is a prerequisite to instituting any action under section 713 .23. See Regal Wood Products, Inc. v. First Wisconsin Nat’l Bank of Milwaukee, 347 So. 2d 643 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977). In Regal Wood Products, this court, in affirming dismissal, said: This is not like an ordinary statute of limitation affecting merely the remedy, but it enters into and becomes a part of the right of action itself, and if allo…
  • Scarfone v. Marin, 442 So. 2d 282 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983)
    …relate back to the date of the amended complaint and the court accordingly erred in sustaining the appellees’ defense of the statute of limitations. The appellees’ reliance on the case of Regal Wood Products, Inc. v. First Wisconsin National Bank, 347 So. 2d 643 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977), is misplaced. In that case the subcontractor involved never filed any type of action against the owner of the property subject to the original lien. Accordingly, his claim of lien had expired before he attempted to sue the gener…
  • Hiller v. Phoenix Assocs. OF S. Fla., Inc., 189 So. 3d 272 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016)
    …ainst the surety within a certain time period after the transfer results in the extinguishment of the right to make a claim on the bond. See N. Am. Speciality, 745 So. 2d at 361 (quoting Regal Wood Prods., Inc. v. First Wis. Nat’l Bank of Milwaukee, 347 So. 2d 643, 644-45 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977) (“This is not .like an ordinary statute of limitation affecting merely the remedy, but it enters into and becomes a. part of the right of action itself, and if allowed to elapse without the institution of the action, such…

Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw