Warner v. Hillsborough County Clerk of Courts
A tenant deposited $3,600 of rent into the Hillsborough County court registry under Fla. Stat. § 83.60 during an eviction case; after the case was dismissed, the Clerk mailed notice to an address that had already generated 13 return-to-sender notices and published notice in a primarily Spanish-language newspaper reaching under 0.2% of the county, then forfeited the funds to the county's fine and forfeiture fund under Fla. Stat. § 116.21. The Eleventh Circuit held § 116.21 is not facially invalid, but that the Clerk's application of it violated procedural due process because neither the letter nor the publication was reasonably calculated to reach Warner when his e-mail, phone, and a good mailing address were available in the state e-filing system, and that the resulting forfeiture was an uncompensated taking because abandonment could not be inferred from a failure to respond to constitutionally deficient notice. Judge Luck dissented as to the takings holding, reading Texaco v. Short to permit escheat of property abandoned by nonuse.
Key facts
- Tenant Warner deposited $3,600 of rent into Hillsborough County court registry during an eviction case under Florida Statute § 83.60; after the case was dismissed, the Clerk mailed notice to an address that had generated 13 prior return-to-sender notices and published notice in a primarily Spanish-language newspaper.
- The Clerk forfeited the unclaimed registry funds to the county's fine and forfeiture fund under Fla. Stat. § 116.21 without obtaining individualized notice reasonably calculated to reach Warner, despite having access to his valid e-mail address, phone number, and good mailing address in the state e-filing system.
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Why it matters
This is the first published Eleventh Circuit treatment of Fla. Stat. § 116.21, and it substantially limits how Florida clerks may sweep court registry and other unclaimed funds into county fine and forfeiture funds… — full analysis with a trial
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