Does Dismissal of a Foreclosure Decelerate the Loan?

Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal Will Hold an En Banc Rehearing of Deutsche Bank v. Beauvais To Answer

In Deutsche Bank v. Beauvais, the Third District Court of Appeal (DCA) held that Deutsche Bank’s second $650,000 foreclosure case against Beauvais was barred by the statute of limitations. Deutsche Bank’s first foreclosure case was filed more than 5 years before the second foreclosure case. The first case was dismissed by the trial court for failure to attend a case management conference. When the trial court dismissed the second case on grounds that the 5 year statute of limitations had run, Deutsche Bank appealed to the Third DCA.

The appeals court held in its original opinion that the first case started the statute of limitations running on the full accelerated debt, and the dismissal did nothing to decelerate the debt. That was the Court’s original opinion, issued by a 3-judge panel. Deutsche Bank filed a Motion for Rehearing En Banc “because this case and related issues are of exceptional importance.” The Third DCA agreed.

Now all 10 judges of the Third DCA will re-hear the case. The Third DCA has invited the parties to brief the issue of whether the parties treated the dismissal of the first case as restoring the debt to its installment status, or decelerated the debt. The Court also invited 6 outside groups to weigh in by filing amicus curiae briefs on 6 specific legal questions relevant to their determination of the case on rehearing.

Oral argument is scheduled for November 12, 2015. A copy of the order is available by clicking this link.