Appeals court reverses summary judgment against homeowner
Florida Record
by Sara McCleary
09 May 2017
SARASOTA – Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeal has reversed a lower
court’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of a homeowners’
association.
The appeals court ruling follows a July 2016 decision by the 12th
Judicial Circuit Court. The circuit court granted the Southfield
Subdivision Maintenance and Property Owners’ Association’s motion for
summary judgment against homeowner Toni Sexton, also awarding it
reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
The homeowners’ association had filed its complaint against Sexton in
June 2014, alleging she was in violation of the association’s bylaws
because “shrubbery on the property is overgrown, the trees need to be
trimmed, a piece of the facia needs to be painted and there are cars
parked on the lawn and the curb,” the complaint said.
The plaintiff sought an order requiring Sexton to perform the necessary
repairs and maintenance to make her property comply with the
association’s rules, along with its court costs and attorney’s fees.
In an opinion filed April 19, however, the appeals court reversed the judgment and remanded the case.
“At the time of the summary judgment motion’s hearing, the court had
before it affidavits from both the association and Ms. Sexton… Although
succinct in their respective renderings of the facts, these conflicting
affidavits clearly evinced disputed issues about the condition of
Ms. Sexton’s property and her compliance with the association’s
recorded restrictions," the court wrote.
In its motion for summary judgment, the association had argued that
although Sexton had addressed most of the violations of which she was
accused, since the plaintiff had filed its lawsuit, “such violations
are capable of repetition, (so) the Association is entitled to the
entry of an injunction, requiring that Sexton continue to comply with
the Governing Documents as to the issues raised in the Complaint.”
With its motion, the association included affidavits claiming that
since cleaning up her property after the initial complaint filling, she
had “again allowed the property to fall into a state of violation of
the Governing Documents.”
Sexton, meanwhile, provided a separate affidavit certifying that all of
the alleged violations had been resolved “and are maintained on a
consistent basis.”
summary judgment should not be granted unless the facts are so clear and undisputed that only questions of law remain
In its opinion, the appeals court quoted the decision from Dade County
School Board v. Radio Station WQBA, noting that “It is a well-settled
principle of Florida jurisprudence that summary judgment should not be
granted unless the facts are so clear and undisputed that only
questions of law remain.”
The decision cites several other cases that found that conflicting
affidavits are enough reason to deny a motion for summary judgment,
therefore the court concluded “Ms. Sexton’s argument that the circuit
court improvidently entered summary judgment against her is well taken.”
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