Sam Bloom v. G.P.F

Appellants are various mortgagees, who purchased certain notes and mortgages, and Sun Mortgage Co. (Sun), the mortgage company which originated and brokered these instruments to them. The mortgagees sought to foreclose their mortgages against appellee G.P.F., S. A., a foreign corporation which ultimately held title to certain properties encumbered by the mortgages at issue. G.P.F., in turn, filed a third-party action against Sun seeking indemnity, and alleging negligence on the part of Sun's attorney and slander of title. In this appeal, the mortgagees and the mortgage company challenge the trial court's final judgment after nonjury trial denying foreclosure of the mortgages, declaring the mortgages null and void, and finding that the mortgage company slandered G.P.F.'s title and was negligent. We affirm in part and reverse in part. Foreign investors, acting through G.P.F. and a local real estate broker unconnected with Sun, purchased various residential real properties using attorney Nelson Resnick, referred by the real estate broker, to handle the various closings. The investors ""checked out"" Resnick's firm, and satisfied themselves that the firm was a reputable one, in good standing with the Florida Bar. Upon finding that they could not immediately sell the properties at a profit as they had intended, the investors and G.P.F. entered into a management agreement with Resnick, and signed broad powers of attorney in his favor, so as to enable him to sell, lease or otherwise manage the properties. These powers did not originally include the power to mortgage the property, but, at some point after they were signed, Resnick surreptitiously modified them so that they did contain such a provision. Resnick recorded these powers and thereafter mortgaged the properties through Sun. Certain of the property owners, thereafter, transferred their titles to G.P.F., with Resnick handling the transfers as attorney-in-fact. With each transfer of title to G.P.F., Resnick sent to G.P.F. powers of attorney which, as the original ones, did not contain the provision allowing him to mortgage the properties. G.P.F. signed. Thereafter, Resnick modified these powers, as he had the earlier ones, to include granting him the power to mortgage these properties, and again mortgaged these properties, again through Sun, which ultimately sold the mortgages to the mortgagees herein. Resnick retained the proceeds of the mortgages, for which he was ultimately convicted and incarcerated.