HSBC MORTGAGE CORPORATION (USA) v. JACK TOWNSEND III, TRUSTEE

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FOURTH DISTRICT

HSBC MORTGAGE CORPORATION (USA), as successor by merger to REPUBLIC CONSUMER LENDING GROUP, INC., Appellant,

v.

JACK TOWNSEND III, TRUSTEE, C.F. BOX, TRUSTEE, MARIA T. BOWMAN, and THE RIVER RIDGE HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION OF MARTIN COUNTY, INC., Appellees.

No. 4D23-200

[May 10, 2023]

Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, Martin County; Elizabeth A. Metzger, Judge; L.T. Case No. 432002CA000491.

Zachary Ullman of Aldridge Pite, LLP, Delray Beach, for appellant. Peter W. Wildman, Jupiter, for appellee C.F. Box.

PER CURIAM.

This partition case began over twenty years ago as a quiet title action. This appeal is unusual because both parties who have appeared—HSBC Mortgage Corporation (USA) and C.F. Box, Trustee—agree that the case should be reversed. A third party with some interest in the property has ceased participating in the circuit court litigation and has made no appearance in this appeal.

In a partition action, the circuit court has broad powers to “determine as incidental to the main relief such questions of right as may have risen out of the relations existing between [the parties] at the time the incidents occurred giving rise to differences between them.” Lockwood v. Walker, 172 So. 359, 362 (Fla. 1937). The property at issue has been condemned as unsafe and has accrued substantial fines.

We reverse the final judgment of partition for the entry of an amended final judgment which makes provisions for HSBC and Box to access the property to perform repairs and make improvements in preparation for a partition sale. Such rights of access directly impact the partition because it will enhance the property’s value and the ability to sell the property.

Consistent with the parties’ arguments below, the amended final judgment shall also provide that the property be sold by a private sale conducted by a special magistrate after the completion of repairs. In the event that the private sale is not completed within 180 days after the completion of repairs, the amended judgment shall provide that the property be sold at a public auction by the clerk of the court.

Reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

GROSS, MAY and FORST, JJ., concur.

• • * * Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.