Case Name: Loralee BUCHANAN, as personal representative of the Estate of Morton Adler, Appellant, v. Howard GAINES and Katherine J. Gaines, Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1989-04-25
Citations: 545 So. 2d 311
Docket Number: No. 88-2595
Parties: Loralee BUCHANAN, as personal representative of the Estate of Morton Adler, Appellant, v. Howard GAINES and Katherine J. Gaines, Appellees.
Judges: Before HUBBART, BASKIN and COPE, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 545
Pages: 311–311

Head Matter:
Loralee BUCHANAN, as personal representative of the Estate of Morton Adler, Appellant, v. Howard GAINES and Katherine J. Gaines, Appellees.
No. 88-2595.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
April 25, 1989.
Rehearing Denied July 15, 1989.
Herbert A. Warren, Miami, for appellant.
Howard W. Mazloff, Miami, for appel-lees.
Before HUBBART, BASKIN and COPE, JJ.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
"Payments in reduction of an indebtedness on a prior mortgage, made by foreclosure purchaser after decree and foreclosure sale, are not recoverable from the mortgagor." Miller v. Stavros, 174 So.2d 48 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965); see Patron v. American Nat'l Bank of Jacksonville, 382 So.2d 156 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980); Horne v. Smith, 368 So.2d 392 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979); Provident Nat'l Bank v. Thunderbird Assoc., 364 So.2d 790 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). We therefore reverse the final judgment. Reversed and remanded.
. The trial court attempted to distinguish Miller v. Stavros, 174 So.2d 48 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965), on the ground that the purchaser in this case was a party to the foreclosure action while the successful bidder in Miller was a stranger to the action. The final judgment states "[t]his is not a situation where a bidder, who was not otherwise a party acquired property at a foreclosure sale and was prevented from recovering sums which he paid on a prior mortgage after the sale." That the purchaser in this case is a creditor does not distinguish Miller from the case before us. "When the judgment creditor purchases property at sheriffs sale under execution, . he stands in the same position and acquires the same rights and protections which a stranger to the record would acquire by being the successful bidder and purchaser at such sale." City of Sanford v. Ashton, 131 Fla. 759, 762-63, 179 So. 765, 767 (1938).