Florida Senate - 2009                             CS for SB 1552
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Judiciary; and Senator Bennett
       
       
       
       
       590-02982-09                                          20091552c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to lis pendens; amending s. 48.23,
    3         F.S.; permitting property to be sold exempt from
    4         claims asserted in an action when the lis pendens has
    5         expired or been withdrawn or discharged; requiring a
    6         notice of lis pendens to include the date of the
    7         action or the case number of the action; extending the
    8         time in which the holder of an unrecorded interest or
    9         lien may intervene in a pending action; providing for
   10         the control and discharge of a lis pendens that no
   11         longer affects the property; providing an effective
   12         date.
   13  
   14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   15  
   16         Section 1. Section 48.23, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   17  read:
   18         48.23 Lis pendens.—
   19         (1)(a) An No action in any of the state or federal courts
   20  in this state operates as a lis pendens on any real or personal
   21  property involved therein or to be affected thereby only if
   22  until a notice of lis pendens the commencement of the action is
   23  recorded in the official records office of the clerk of the
   24  circuit court of the county where the property is located and
   25  such notice has not expired pursuant to subsection (2) or been
   26  withdrawn or discharged., which notice contains
   27         (b)1.An action that is filed for specific performance or
   28  that is not based on a duly recorded instrument has no effect,
   29  except as between the parties to the proceeding, on the title
   30  to, or on any lien upon, the real or personal property unless a
   31  notice of lis pendens has been recorded and has not expired or
   32  been withdrawn or discharged.
   33         2.Any person acquiring for value an interest in the real
   34  or personal property during the pendency of an action described
   35  in subparagraph 1., other than a party to the proceeding or the
   36  legal successor by operation of law, or personal representative,
   37  heir, or devisee of a deceased party to the proceeding, shall
   38  take such interest exempt from all claims against the property
   39  that were filed in such action by the party who failed to record
   40  a notice of lis pendens or whose notice expired or was withdrawn
   41  or discharged, and from any judgment entered in the proceeding,
   42  notwithstanding the provisions of s. 695.01, as if such person
   43  had no actual or constructive notice of the proceeding or of the
   44  claims made therein or the documents forming the causes of
   45  action against the property in the proceeding.
   46         (c)1. A notice of lis pendens must contain the following:
   47         a. The names of the parties.,
   48         b. The date time of the institution of the action or the
   49  case number of the action.,
   50         c. The name of the court in which it is pending.,
   51         d. A description of the property involved or to be
   52  affected., and
   53         e. A statement of the relief sought as to the property.
   54         2. In the case of any notice of lis pendens filed on the
   55  same date as the pleading upon which the notice is based, the
   56  clerk’s notation of the date of receipt on the notice shall
   57  satisfy the requirement that the notice contain the date of the
   58  institution of the action.
   59         (d)(b) Except for the interest of persons in possession or
   60  easements of use, the recording filing for record of such notice
   61  of lis pendens, provided that during the pendency of the
   62  proceeding it has not expired pursuant to subsection (2) or been
   63  withdrawn or discharged, constitutes shall constitute a bar to
   64  the enforcement against the property described in the said
   65  notice of lis pendens of all interests and liens, including, but
   66  not limited to, federal tax liens and levies, unrecorded at the
   67  time of recording the filing for record such notice of lis
   68  pendens unless the holder of any such unrecorded interest or
   69  lien intervenes shall intervene in such proceedings within 30 20
   70  days after the filing and recording of the said notice of lis
   71  pendens. If the holder of any such unrecorded interest or lien
   72  does not intervene in the proceedings and if such proceedings
   73  are prosecuted to a judicial sale of the property described in
   74  the said notice of lis pendens, the property shall be forever
   75  discharged from all such unrecorded interests and liens. If the
   76  In the event said notice of lis pendens expires or is withdrawn
   77  or discharged by order of the court, the expiration, withdrawal,
   78  or discharge of the notice does same shall not in any way affect
   79  the validity of any unrecorded interest or lien.
   80         (2) A No notice of lis pendens is not effectual for any
   81  purpose beyond 1 year from the commencement of the action and
   82  will expire at that time, unless the relief sought is disclosed
   83  by the pending initial pleading to be founded on a duly recorded
   84  instrument or on a lien claimed under part I of chapter 713
   85  against the property involved, except when the court extends the
   86  time of expiration on reasonable notice and for good cause. The
   87  court may impose such terms for the extension of time as justice
   88  requires.
   89         (3) When the pending initial pleading does not show that
   90  the action is founded on a duly recorded instrument or on a lien
   91  claimed under part I of chapter 713 or when the action no longer
   92  affects the subject property, the court shall may control and
   93  discharge the recorded notice of lis pendens as the court would
   94  may grant and dissolve injunctions.
   95         (4) This section applies to all actions now or hereafter
   96  pending in any state or federal courts in this state, but the
   97  period of time specified in subsection (2) above-mentioned does
   98  not include the period of pendency of any action in an appellate
   99  court.
  100         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.