PEREZ v. JAIMOT (2021)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.2021-08-11No. No. 3D21-1302

Summary · law.co

Holding. The appeal is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction because the partition decree became final when the lower court originally directed the sale of the property, and the subsequent order scheduling a sale date is merely an administrative step in executing that final judgment, which cannot revive Perez's untimely appellate rights.

Lisonel Perez appealed an order setting a public auction date for real property that was the subject of a partition-by-sale judgment rendered nearly eighteen months earlier. The lower court had found that Perez and the Jaimots each owned a fifty percent undivided interest in the property and ordered it sold by a special magistrate. Perez had previously filed two related appeals in this matter, both of which were dismissed for failure to prosecute.

The court determined it lacked jurisdiction to hear the current appeal. Under established Florida precedent, a partition decree becomes final when the court directs that the property be sold—a moment that occurred in the original judgment, not in the later order merely scheduling a sale date. Because the final judgment was rendered nearly eighteen months prior and Perez failed to timely appeal it, the current appeal cannot serve as a vehicle to revive his lost appellate rights. Additionally, the order scheduling the sale date is characterized as a purely administrative, interlocutory step in the judicial sales process, which is neither an appealable non-final order nor grounds for extraordinary relief by certiorari.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

When a partition decree becomes final for appellate review purposes
Whether a later order scheduling a sale date restarts the time to appeal an underlying final partition judgment
Whether an order setting a judicial sale date is an appealable order or subject to certiorari review

Procedural posture

Perez appealed an order scheduling a public auction sale of partitioned property, following two earlier abandoned appeals related to the same partition judgment.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion · public domain

ON MOTION TO DISMISS

Through this appeal, appellant, Lisonel Perez, seeks review of a nonfinal order scheduling the sale of property ordered partitioned pursuant to a final judgment executed nearly eighteen months ago. Appellees, Pedro and Marilyn Jaimot, urge dismissal, contending this appeal is essentially an untimely challenge to that judgment, and no other means of review are available. Concluding we lack jurisdiction, we dismiss.

This is the third time this dispute has been before us for review. In the early part of 2020, the lower tribunal rendered a summary final judgment on a multi-count complaint and counterclaim, finding appellant and appellees each owned a fifty percent undivided interest as tenants in common in certain indivisible real property located in Homestead, Florida. The court awarded monetary damages in favor of appellees and against appellant and ordered partition by sale, appointing a special magistrate to sell the property. The magistrate was empowered to elect between conducting a private sale or public auction, as provided in section 64.071, Florida Statutes. Appellant timely appealed the judgment, but we dismissed the appeal for failure to prosecute.

A second appeal, challenging an order requiring cooperation with the special magistrate in effectuating the sale, followed on the heels of the first. The appeal was ostensibly abandoned, as it suffered the same fate as the first. The lower court then scheduled a date for public auction, pursuant to the provisions of section 45.031, Florida Statutes, and the instant appeal ensued.

A well-developed body of precedent holds that an order of partition is final at such time as the court directs the sale of the property.

See Camp Phosphate Co. v. Anderson, 48 Fla. 226, 37 So. 722, 726 (1904) (holding that a decree which decides the right of the property at issue is considered final when an order directs the sale of land “and the complainant is entitled to have such decree carried immediately into execution”) (citation omitted); Lovett v. Lovett, 93 Fla. 611, 112 So. 768, 783 (1927) (“The final decree in the present case is a decree of the court dated September 30, 1925, confirming the report of the commissioners that there could be no partition, ordering a sale of the lands, and appointing commissioners to make such sale.”); Morris v. Garcia, 185 So. 3d 678, 679 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016) (“[W]e conclude the partition order will not become final until such time as the court directs the sale of the property.”) (citations omitted).

Here, the contested order merely fixed a sale date. The previously appealed final judgment, however, already ordered partition, assigned the title and interests of the parties in the disputed property, and directed the special magistrate to sell the property. Hence, adhering to our precedent, we conclude the prior decree was final, rendering it ripe for appellate review.

As Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.110(b) requires the filing of a notice of appeal within thirty days of the rendition of a final order and the earlier appeals were long abandoned, it is axiomatic this proceeding cannot be used as a vehicle for reviving the appellate rights exercised in the earlier related appeals. See Campos v. Campos, 230 So. 3d 553, 555 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017) (“[F]ormer husband could have appealed the July 20, 2016 order denying reunification if he had done so timely; but the trial courts repeating the same ruling in the later order denying the motion to vacate cannot revive an appeal period.”) (citation omitted); Caldwell v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 980 So. 2d 1226, 1229 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008) (“An untimely appeal cannot be revived by obtaining a new order to the same effect as the original and then filing the notice of appeal within thirty days of the more recent order.”) (citations omitted); Gen. Motors Corp. v. Strickland, 913 So. 2d 1227, 1228 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005) (dismissing appeal where “Final Judgment for Attorney Fees and Costs was a mere republication of the earlier order and did not restart the time for filing an appeal”) (citation omitted).

Finally, we find no alternative mechanism for review. We have held that an order scheduling a judicial sale date is “a purely administrative, interlocutory step in the judicial sales process,” thus neither constitutes an “appealable, non-final order under rule 9.130” nor rises to the level of irreparable harm required to establish the jurisdictional threshold in certiorari. Venezia v. Wells Fargo Bank, 258 So. 3d 539, 541 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018) (quoting Pridgen v. First Union Bank, 879 So. 2d 21, 21 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004)). Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.

Appeal dismissed.

FOOTNOTES

. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.110.

MILLER, J.