This is a foreclosure case. The lender, IndyMac Federal Bank FSB ("the Bank"), foreclosed on and subsequently purchased Kevin J. Hagan and Monica P. Hagan's (collectively, "the Hagans") property at a foreclosure sale. After the clerk issued a certificate of sale, the Hagans filed a motion which they characterize as both an objection to the foreclosure sale and motion to vacate the final judgment of foreclosure. Over the Bank's objection, the trial court set the motion for an evidentiary hearing. Before the evidentiary hearing was conducted, however, the Bank filed a motion for the issuance of a certificate of title to the subject property. The trial court entered an interlocutory order — from which this appeal is taken — declining to issue the certificate of title prior to resolving the Hagans' objection to the foreclosure sale and motion to vacate the final judgment. We have jurisdiction. See Fla. R.App. P. 9.130(a)(3)(C)(ii). Because the (1) objection to the foreclosure sale was facially deficient and (2) the motion to vacate the final judgment was time-barred, there was no valid basis for declining to issue the certificate of title sought by the Bank. We therefore reverse and remand for the immediate issuance of the certificate of title.
On May 11, 2006, the Bank issued the Hagans a $484,000 loan that was secured by a note and mortgage on their property. On October 1, 2008, the Hagans discontinued remitting their monthly mortgage payments and thereby defaulted on the terms of their loan. As a result, the Bank filed this action on February 3, 2009, seeking to foreclose on the Hagans' property.
On May 26, 2009, the Bank filed a motion for summary judgment. On September 30, 2009, after conducting a hearing, the trial court entered final judgment of foreclosure in favor of the Bank. In the final judgment, the trial court ordered that the Hagans' property be publicly auctioned and that the subsequent purchaser must file a certificate of title prior to taking possession of the property. The Hagans did not file a motion for rehearing or appeal the final judgment.
On February 23, 2011, the Bank purchased the subject property at the foreclosure sale. The clerk thereafter issued the Bank a certificate of sale on March 2, 2011. Two days later, on March 4, 2011, the Hagans filed their objection to the foreclosure sale and motion to vacate the final judgment. In the motion, the Hagans did not challenge any conduct that occurred at, or which related to, the foreclosure sale. Rather, the Hagans alleged that the judgment of foreclosure must be set aside because the Bank committed a fraud on the trial court in two respects.
First, the Hagans noted that the Bank had filed the Hagans' original note and mortgage on the day of the summary judgment hearing. Thus, the Hagans argued that those items of evidence were untimely under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.510(c), and that the Bank committed a fraud on the trial court by relying on them without alerting the trial court to their untimeliness.
Second, the Hagans argued that the Bank had attached a fraudulent affidavit of indebtedness, executed by Ms. Ericka Johnson-Seck, to its summary judgment motion. In the affidavit, Ms. Johnson-Seck stated that she was the Bank's custodian of records; alleged that the Bank was the holder of the Hagans' note and mortgage; confirmed that the Hagans were in default; and specified the amounts due
In further support of their fraud allegations, the Hagans noted that on December 29, 2010, after the final judgment was entered, but prior to the foreclosure sale, the Bank filed an affidavit executed by Ms. Sonja Stevens, the custodian of records for the Successor Bank. The notice of filing stated that Ms. Stevens's affidavit was intended to "correct the form" of Ms. Johnson-Seck's previously filed affidavit "without altering [its] substantive content." In the newly-filed affidavit, however, there was no explanation of the errors in the "form" of Ms. Johnson-Seck's affidavit that warranted correction. Ms. Stevens merely stated that the Successor Bank was the then-current holder of the Hagans' note and mortgage, and confirmed that all of the information in Ms. Johnson-Seck's affidavit pertaining to the Hagans' default, including the amounts due and owing, was correct. Thus, the Hagans advanced the inference that the "form" intended to be corrected by Ms. Stevens's affidavit was the fraud allegedly committed by the Bank in proffering Ms. Johnson-Seck's affidavit.
The trial court conducted a hearing on the Hagans' objection to sale and motion to vacate, but deferred ruling pending an evidentiary hearing at which Ms. Johnson-Seck was to appear personally. The Bank filed a motion for reconsideration, arguing against further delay on the basis that the objection to the foreclosure sale was facially deficient and that the relief sought was time-barred. That motion was denied.
Thereafter, on February 28, 2010, the Bank filed a motion for the issuance of the certificate of title. The trial court denied the motion, indicating that it would not issue the certificate of title prior to conducting an evidentiary hearing and ruling on the Hagans' objection to the foreclosure sale and motion to vacate the final judgment. The evidentiary hearing occurred on April 11, 2012, but Ms. Johnson-Seck did not appear. Before the trial court ruled on the Hagans' objection to the foreclosure sale and motion to vacate the final judgment, the Bank filed this appeal from the denial of its motion for the issuance of the certificate of title.
On appeal, the Bank contends that only a facially cognizable objection to a foreclosure sale warrants a delay in the issuance of a certificate of title to resolve the objection. On this reasoning, the Bank argues that the Hagans' motion, although partially titled "objection to the foreclosure sale," was facially deficient because it did not challenge any conduct that occurred at, or which related to, the foreclosure sale. According to the Bank, when the substance, rather than the title, is considered, the Hagans' motion is merely a time-barred motion to vacate the final judgment. Thus, the Bank contends that the trial court erred in delaying the issuance of the
The procedures governing judicial sales are outlined in section 45.031, Florida Statutes (2012). With respect to the issuance of a certificate of title, section 45.031(5) provides, in pertinent part, that "[i]f no objections to the sale are filed within 10 days after filing the certificate of sale, the clerk
In determining whether a document constitutes an objection to a foreclosure sale, a trial court may not merely rely on the title of the document. With respect to the characterization of motions, Florida courts place substance over form. In other words, "if the motion is mislabeled, the court will look to the substance of the motion, not the label." Indus. Affiliates, Ltd. v. Testa, 770 So.2d 202, 204 n. 1 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000); see also Fire & Cas. Ins. Co. of Conn. v. Sealey, 810 So.2d 988, 992 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002) ("We agree that the true nature of a motion must be determined by its content and not by the label the moving party has used to describe it."). Thus, to justify a delay in the issuance of a certificate of title, the substance of the filing must constitute an objection to the foreclosure sale.
Florida case law is clear that the substance of an objection to a foreclosure sale under section 45.031(5) must be directed toward conduct that occurred at, or which related to, the foreclosure sale itself. As this Court has noted, the purpose of allowing an objection to a foreclosure sale "is to afford a mechanism to assure all parties and bidders to the sale that there is no
Under this standard, the Hagans' purported objection to the foreclosure sale was facially deficient as a matter of law. Although partially titled "objection to the foreclosure sale," the substance of the Hagans' motion did not challenge any conduct that occurred at, or which related to, the foreclosure sale itself. Instead, the Hagans argued that the Bank engaged in fraudulent conduct
Nor did the Hagans' motion to vacate the final judgment provide a justification for the delay in the issuance of the certificate of title. As we explained above, the Hagans' allegations are accurately construed as a challenge to intrinsic fraud. Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540 provides that a party may seek relief from a final judgment on the basis of intrinsic fraud, but must do so within one year from the date the judgment is entered:
See also Parker, 950 So.2d at 391 ("Under rule 1.540(b), relief from a judgment based on intrinsic fraud must be sought by motion within one year of its entry.").
In this case, the Hagans filed their motion to vacate the final judgment outside the one-year window set forth in rule 1.540(b). Because the trial court entered final judgment on September 30, 2009, the Hagans' opportunity to seek relief from the final judgment on intrinsic fraud grounds expired on September 30, 2010. The Hagans, however, did not file their motion to vacate the final judgment until March 4, 2011, approximately five months too late. As a result, the Hagans' motion was time-barred, and should have been summarily denied by the trial court.
Finally, we reject the Hagans' contention that the Bank's filing of Ms. Stevens's affidavit on December 29, 2010, "reopened the door" to an intrinsic fraud challenge. To begin with, the Hagans have cited no authority to support this theory. More importantly, the Hagans did not allege, and do not contend, that Ms. Stevens's affidavit itself contained any fraudulent information. At best, they argue that Ms. Stevens's affidavit merely supports an inference that Ms. Johnson-Seck's affidavit, which
The trial court's justification for delaying the issuance of the certificate of title beyond the ten-day statutory period was legally without merit. The Hagans' purported objection to the foreclosure sale did
Reversed and remanded.