March 3, 2010 Update

Circuit Court Judge Michael Jones presided over a hearing on March 1^st involving a motion for rehearing. Danny Kepner, representing the leaseholders in this case, made the argument that in deciding the Court was obligated to follow the holding in Ward v. Brown, the Judge overlooked the fact that among the “rights and duties” enjoyed by the plaintiffs in the Santa Rosa County case was the right to renew their leases perpetually. That is not the case with Pensacola Beach leases. According to the majority opinion in Ward v. Brown, perpetual leases make Navarre Beach leases equivalent to ownership. Mr. Kepner contended that the Court was not bound by stare decisis (it has already been decided) to follow the holdings of Ward v. Brown, but rather stare decisis should have bound the judge to follow the ruling in the Bell v. Bryan case.

Tom Findley, the Tallahassee attorney representing Chris Jones and Janet Holley, argued the technicalities under which a judge can grant a motion for rehearing. Judge Jones denied the motion for rehearing. The Final Summary Judgment entered by Judge Jones on December 18, 2009 will be appealed to the First District Court of Appeal. The appeal must be filed within 30 days after Judge Jones signs a final written order, which will probably happen next week.

The hearing on March 1^st also involved certain enforcement provisions that our attorney felt needed to be included in that final order. Judge Jones agreed to the two provisions.

1. Florida law prohibits the sale of tax certificates on government owned property. Judge Jones agreed that while it is his opinion that leaseholders have “beneficial ownership” of their leasehold improvements that Escambia County still has “legal ownership”. The tax collector will not be able to sell tax lien certificates on plaintiffs’ leasehold improvements. In the event that ad valorem taxes are upheld on appeal and any plaintiff does not pay the taxes, the tax collector will be required to go through another legal process and get a judgment for the collection of taxes.

2. The legal interest rate on contested taxes is 12 percent. Anyone who chooses to pay the taxes, before all appeals are exhausted, will pay 12 percent interest on overdue taxes. The Tax Collector’s office has forced some plaintiffs to pay the delinquent tax rate of 18 percent. The Tax Collector, Janet Holley, agreed that those parties would be refunded any amount over 12 percent paid. This refund is the responsibility of the Janet Holley, Escambia County Tax Collector. If you are due a refund, contact the Tax Collector’s Office at (850) 438-6500.

The final order will be submitted to Judge Jones after it is reviewed by attorneys from both sides. If you are a plaintiff in this case and have any questions, please address them to the liaison committee at beachtaxes@gmail.com