Brannock Berman & Seider Upholds Summary Judgment in Real Estate Dispute

After careful review, the Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed summary judgment for Brannock Berman & Seider’s client in a messy quiet title action involving an invalid deed to property in Sumter County.

The property has a confusing and unusual history. Over the last decade, eight individuals and entities have been named on a recorded deed. The relevant saga began when the original owner, Suggs, deeded the property to his company, Premier. Premier later deeded the property to Brannock Berman & Seider’s client. But in the interim, despite having already conveyed the property to Premier, the original owner Suggs tried to convey the same property to a different company, CCF. This CCF deed was signed only by the original owner Suggs, not the company Premier that now owned the property. Later, the different company, CCF—which acquired its interest from the invalid deed signed by the original owner Suggs but not the current owner Premier—tried to deed the property to the defendant. The defendant then argued that he was the rightful owner of the property.

The trial court rejected this argument and quieted title in favor of Brannock Berman & Seider’s client. On appeal, the defendant claimed that the trial court should have looked behind the face of the invalid CCF deed, which did not comply with the statutes for a corporate real estate conveyance, and instead consider Suggs’ intent in executing the deed. In an extensive written brief, Brannock Berman & Seider explained why the defendant’s position was unsupported by Florida law and would cause chaos in real estate transactions.  Ultimately, the Fifth District agreed. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s decision that, because Suggs had already transferred his interest in the property to Premier, he had no interest left to convey to CCF. Thus, because the CCF deed was invalid, the defendant here had no rightful claim to the property, which belongs solely to Brannock Berman & Seider’s client.