"BEWARE REAL PROPERTY LITIGATORS" warns a former chair
of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of the Florida
Bar.
This advice, given in response to a new appellate ruling
blunting the protections of Florida's lis pendens statute,
signals the potential apocalyptic impact of a decision by the
Fourth District Court of Appeal in Ober v. Town of
Lauderdale-By-The-Sea. While this decision marks a win for
municipalities around the state dealing with unoccupied
"zombie" properties, it could haunt the foreseeable
future for lenders, borrowers, and junior lien-holders.
Under Florida law, a lis pendens provides formal notice to all
interested parties of an pending legal action to enforce a lien
encumbering a given property. Florida's lis pendens statute
states that the recording of a lis pendens effectively bars the
enforcement of any subsequently recorded liens against the property
unless the lienholder intervenes in the proceedings within 30 days.
The statute
