Joseph Battaglia
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You Didn’t Get Served – Mattress One v. Sunshop Properties
I’m sure you all remember the 2004 smash hit and box office success, You Got Served. The film’s depth of plot is rivaled only by its extravagant choreography and magnificent soundtrack. Aside from its Oscar-worthy qualities, this film will stand, for eternity, as a cautionary tale of why one should never work for a drug…
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I surrender. Take my house. Actually, on second thought…
The Second District Court of Appeal issued an October 2019 opinion which bolsters creditors’ rights in the recently-developing interplay of federal bankruptcy law and Florida state foreclosure laws. Specifically, the opinion addressed the effect that a bankruptcy debtor’s surrender of collateral real property has on the debtor’s ability to defend a foreclosure. A Final Summary…
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2d DCA: Florida Statutes Section 732.507 Inapplicable Following Divorce When the Will was Executed Prior to Marriage
Here’s the Story Here’s the story, of a man named Priever, who, in 2005, executed a will devising real property in Florida to a woman named Gordon. This marked the beginning of a fact pattern which culminated in a 2018 opinion out of the Florida Second District Court of Appeal. Priever and Gordon were unmarried…
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Conflict Alert: Prevailing consumer in account stated action may not be able to recover attorney’s fees and costs from a losing debt buyer
Does conflict make the world go ’round? No, according to The Stylistics (save a click: according to The Stylistics, people do). But conflict sure keeps things interesting, and it undoubtedly also keeps attorneys and their clients on their toes. In a recent decision,[note]Ham v. Portfolio Recovery Assocs., LLC, 2018 WL 6253294, ___ So. 3d ___…
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Short selling your home? Here’s a tip: start the process well in advance of a scheduled foreclosure sale
A September, 2018 opinion from Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals provides guidance on what is not a “lawful, cognizable basis” for cancelling, rescheduling, or continuing a judicial foreclosure sale date, in the absence of an agreement from the plaintiff (lender). In the case below, thirteen days before a foreclosure sale was set to occur,…
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Debt-buyer can be liable to prevailing consumer for attorney’s fees on account stated lawsuit filed over defaulted credit card
In a 2018 case, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeals has held that a consumer who successfully defended a lawsuit filed over a defaulted Amazon.com credit card debt may recover her attorney’s fees from the creditor who did the suing. After retaining an attorney and opposing the debt buyer’s allegations, the debt buyer chose to…
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A creditor by any other name: Avant Capital, LLC v. Gomez
“A rose lender by any other a slightly different name would smell as sweet still be able to foreclose.” Shakespeare 4th DCA (more or less) Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeals has held that the omission of the word “corporation” from a corporation’s name as it appears on various mortgage loan documents, did not render…
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No Contract, No Fees, No, Really
Want it all? Well, you can’t have it all. This should not be news to you. This has been idiomized in countless ways over the years: Wait, say what? You haven’t heard of that last one? Well, you’re forgiven because it’s fairly recent, originating from the 2018 4th DCA case, Torres v. Bank of New…
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Self Help Not Allowed in Florida, Even if Commercial Lease Says So
If you are a commercial landlord in Florida, your written commercial lease agreement likely contains a provision stating something to the effect that, if your tenant is in default and has not timely cured such default, then you may terminate the tenancy, and be entitled to immediate possession of the premises. In enforcing such a…