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On March 25, we reported on a recent appellate case in which the court refused to recognized the “superpriority” status of code enforcement liens established by a local ordinance. We indicated that a motion was pending to certify the case to the Florida Supreme Court. In a recent ruling on that motion, the 5th District Court of Appeal certified the following question to the Florida Supreme Court as one of great public importance:

Whether … a municipality has the authority to enact an ordinance stating that its code enforcement liens, created pursuant to a code enforcement board order and recorded in the public records of the applicable county, shall be superior in dignity to prior recorded mortgages?” 

City of Palm Bay v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 36 Fla. L. Weekly  D630a (Fla. 5th DCA March 25, 2011). 

We will report further on this case as it progresses.