Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC v. Michael Tessenear, Cary L. Tessenear, and Steven K. Jonas, as Trustee of the 4785 Oakfield Circle Trust, Dated February 28, 2006
The Fifth DCA reversed the dismissal of a mortgagee's reformation claim as time-barred, holding that an equitable action to reform a written instrument is not governed by the five-year statute of limitations in section 95.11(2)(b), Florida Statutes. Because reformation is a long-established equitable action to correct a mutual mistake rather than an action to enforce the terms of a written instrument, it is governed by the equitable doctrine of laches absent statutory modification.
Key facts
- Carrington Mortgage Services, as successor mortgagee, filed a two-count amended complaint in Hernando County seeking foreclosure of a mortgage and reformation of the property description to add a metes and bounds legal description.
- Steven K. Jonas, as trustee of the 4785 Oakfield Circle Trust, defended and argued the reformation count was time-barred by the five-year limitations period in section 95.11(2)(b), Florida Statutes, governing actions on written instruments.
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Holdings
- An equitable claim to reform a written instrument on grounds of mutual mistake is not subject to the five-year statute of limitations in section 95.11(2)(b), Florida Statutes, which applies…
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Why it matters
This opinion matters to every lender, title insurer, and real property litigator dealing with a defective or incomplete legal description in a recorded instrument. Trial courts have routinely dismissed stale reformation… — full analysis with a trial
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