Thanks for visiting! Welcome to a new way to research case law. You are viewing a free summary from Descrybe.ai. For citation and good law / bad law checking, legal issue analysis, and other advanced tools, explore our Legal Research Toolkit — not free, but close.
Lake Charleston Homeowners Ass'n v. Haswell
Citations: 77 So. 3d 922; 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 984; 2012 WL 204469Docket: No. 4D10-4974
Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida; January 24, 2012; Florida; State Appellate Court
The plaintiff association, known as Lake Charleston Maintenance Association, Inc., appealed a circuit court order that granted the defendant's motion for relief from a final judgment of foreclosure due to a misnomer in the affidavit supporting the association's motion for summary judgment. The defendant claimed that the association's counsel committed fraud by misidentifying the association as Lake Charleston Homeowners Association, Inc., and argued that this misrepresentation warranted relief under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b)(3). The association contended that the misnomer was merely a clerical error and filed a motion to correct it under Rule 1.540(a), asserting that the correct name was included in the claim of lien attached to the complaint. The circuit court initially denied the association's motion to correct the misnomer without explanation but later held a hearing on the defendant’s motion for relief. The court acknowledged that the affidavit was erroneous but concluded there was no intent to defraud, ultimately granting relief based on the false affidavit. The association appealed this decision. The appellate court reviewed the circuit court's order for abuse of discretion, recognizing broad discretion in such motions but applying a de novo standard for legal conclusions. The appellate court determined that the circuit court misapplied its findings, as the error was clerical rather than fraudulent. Consequently, the court should have denied the defendant’s motion and granted the association's request to correct the misnomer. The appellate court reversed the circuit court's order, remanding the case with directions to reinstate the association's final judgment and correct the clerical error in the final judgment as permitted under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(a).