Filed: May 11, 2016
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida Opinion filed May 11, 2016. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing. _ No. 3D14-1407 Lower Tribunal No. 12-44686 _ Carl Arnoux, Appellant, vs. Bank of New York, etc., et al., Appellees. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Rosa I. Rodriguez, Judge. Korte & Wortman, P.A., and Scott J. Wortman (West Palm Beach), for appellant. Lapin & Leichtling, LLP, and Justin G. Prociv and Jeffrey S. Lapin, for appellees
Summary: Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida Opinion filed May 11, 2016. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing. _ No. 3D14-1407 Lower Tribunal No. 12-44686 _ Carl Arnoux, Appellant, vs. Bank of New York, etc., et al., Appellees. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Rosa I. Rodriguez, Judge. Korte & Wortman, P.A., and Scott J. Wortman (West Palm Beach), for appellant. Lapin & Leichtling, LLP, and Justin G. Prociv and Jeffrey S. Lapin, for appellees...
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Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed May 11, 2016.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
________________
No. 3D14-1407
Lower Tribunal No. 12-44686
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Carl Arnoux,
Appellant,
vs.
Bank of New York, etc., et al.,
Appellees.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Rosa I.
Rodriguez, Judge.
Korte & Wortman, P.A., and Scott J. Wortman (West Palm Beach), for
appellant.
Lapin & Leichtling, LLP, and Justin G. Prociv and Jeffrey S. Lapin, for
appellees.
Before LAGOA, SALTER and SCALES, JJ.
SCALES, J.
Carl Arnoux, the plaintiff below, appeals an order of the Miami-Dade
Circuit Court dismissing, with prejudice, Arnoux’s declaratory judgment and quiet
title action, which Arnoux brought against his mortgage lender, Bank of New York
(the “Bank”), among others. Based on this Court’s recent en banc decision in the
case of Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas v. Beauvais, we affirm.
I. Facts
On March 31, 2006, Arnoux obtained a mortgage from a predecessor of the
Bank. The mortgage, encumbering a Miami residential property, secured a
promissory note in the principal amount of $354,445 (the “Mortgage”). The note
required Arnoux to make monthly installment payments until the maturity date of
April 1, 2036. Arnoux failed to make the installment payment that was due on
April 1, 2007, placing the Mortgage and underlying promissory note into default.
The Bank filed its first foreclosure action in circuit court on September 4,
2007. The Bank alleged payment defaults from April 2007 through September
2007. The Bank’s complaint in this 2007 action reflects that, pursuant to the note’s
acceleration provision, the Bank accelerated Arnoux’s indebtedness.
On the Bank’s own motion, the trial court, on April 12, 2012, dismissed the
Bank’s 2007 foreclosure action without prejudice.
Then, on November 14, 2012, Arnoux filed a complaint seeking both to
obtain declaratory relief and to quiet title to real property. In his lawsuit against the
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Bank, Arnoux alleged that the Bank, in its 2007 foreclosure suit, had exercised its
contractual right to accelerate the amounts due under the note and Mortgage;
therefore, as Arnoux further alleged, the running of the five-year statute of
limitations barred the Bank’s enforcement of the note and Mortgage.1
The trial court granted the Bank’s motion to dismiss Arnoux’s complaint,
allowing Arnoux leave to file an amended complaint. Arnoux amended his
complaint,2 which was met again by the Bank’s motion to dismiss for failure to
state a cause of action. On May, 14, 2014, the trial court dismissed Arnoux’s
amended complaint with prejudice. This appeal ensued.
II. Analysis
We review a trial court’s dismissal of a complaint for failure to state a cause
of action under a de novo standard. Wallace v. Dean,
3 So. 3d 1035, 1045 (Fla.
2009).
Our decision is governed by this Court’s recent en banc decision in
Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas v. Beauvais, No. 3D14-575 (Fla. 3d
DCA April 13, 2016).
1 We note that, on February 28, 2013, the Bank filed another foreclosure action. In
this second foreclosure action, the Bank alleged payment defaults from February
2008 through February 2013.
2 The amended complaint alleges, with greater specificity than what was set forth
in the initial complaint: (i) the Bank’s September 1, 2007 acceleration of Arnoux’s
full debt; and (ii) the Bank’s second foreclosure action of February 28, 2013,
which was filed more than five years after Arnoux’s initial default.
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In the Beauvais case, this Court held that the five-year statute of limitations
in foreclosure actions does not bar a second foreclosure lawsuit filed on a
subsequent payment default if that subsequent default occurred within the five-year
period preceding the commencement of the second foreclosure lawsuit.
Arnoux’s action against the Bank was founded exclusively upon Arnoux’s
assertion that the Bank was precluded from enforcing the note and Mortgage
because of the running of Florida’s statute of limitations. Our decision in Beauvais
disposes of this assertion. Therefore, we affirm the dismissal of Arnoux’s lawsuit.
Affirmed.
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