The Florida 5th District Court of Appeals recently clarified an issue regarding foreclosure statute of limitations in U.S. Bank v. Bartram, 2014 WL 1632138. In that case the Bank filed a foreclosure action in 2006. Then, the case was dismissed in 2011. The Obligors argued that when the Bank filed that foreclosure action it accelerated all amounts. Thus, the statute of limitations period (5 years) had now expired for all payments. The Court agreed and entered a judgment that the Bank was barred from foreclosing its mortgage and/or attempting to collect the unpaid portion of the note.

The Bank appealed. The Appellate Court considered equitable results and concluded that when the foreclosure action is dismissed in most instances it places the parties back in the same contractual relationship with the same continuing obligations. Thus, the Bank could still move forward on the obligations and bring an action for new defaults that were not time barred. The Appellate Court did, however, also certify the issue to the Supreme Court as a matter of great public importance.

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