Florida – Standing In Real Property Suit

In a lawsuit filed by a former owner of property against the City of Dunedin for tort claims and declaratory relief regarding the City’s handling of permitting and zoning for improvements to the property, the Trial Court granted a summary judgment filed by the City alleging that the Plaintiff had no standing because it no longer owned the property made subject of the lawsuit, having transferred the property to another entity.

On appeal, the former property owner argued that the law did not require it to have a present interest in the property for it to sustain its tort claims and that it had an interest sufficient to support its standing to maintain the declaratory claims because it was the new property owner’s authorized agent.

The 2nd DCA reversed the trial court’s summary judgment award reasoning that the Appellant did have standing to maintain the lawsuit at hand because 1) it is not required that the Plaintiff remain owning the subject property to recover economic damages caused by the City’s tortious acts that occurred prior to property changing hands and 2) a party may have standing to maintain a suit where the party represents another person or entity who has the required interest in the lawsuit.

Pirate’s Treasure, Inc. v. City of Dunedin, Florida and Matthew Campbell (Appeal from Pinellas Circuit Court: 2D18-2774)

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