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[1] COURT
OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA, THIRD DISTRICT
[13] The appellant
Carlos A. Romero (hereinafter "Romero") is a homeowner in and member of
the Shadywood Villas Homeowners Association. The appellee Shadywood Villas
Homeowners Association (hereinafter "Shadywood") is a non-profit corporation
organized to do business under Chapter 617 of the Florida Statutes. Romero
filed an action for injunctive relief against Shadywood to require it to
deliver a financial report to each member of the association pursuant to
Florida Statute, Section 617.1605. Shadywood refused to comply with Romero's
request, claiming that its financial reporting requirements were not governed
by Section 617.1605, but were instead governed by Florida Statutes, Section
617.303(4)(i), a section of the Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act
dealing specifically with homeowners' associations. Shadywood, therefore,
moved to dismiss Romero's Complaint for failure to state a cause of action.
The trial court granted Shadywood's motion and dismissed Romero's Complaint,
but gave Romero thirty days to file an amended complaint. Romero filed
an Amended Complaint once again seeking injunctive relief under Section
617.1605. Shadywood moved for dismissal of the Amended Complaint, and the
trial court granted the motion, dismissing Romero's Amended Complaint with
prejudice. ( X 1 ) Romero appeals the dismissal
of his Amended Complaint.
[17] (i) Accounting records for the homeowners' association and separate accounting records for each parcel, . . . The accounting records shall be open to inspection by parcel owners or their authorized representatives at reasonable times. The accounting records shall include, but are not limited to: [18] 1. Accurate, itemized and detailed records of all receipts and expenditures. . . 3. All audits, reviews, accounting statements, and financial reports of the homeowners' association. [19] § 617.303(4), (4)(i), Fla. Stat. (1993) (emphasis added). One year after the Legislature enacted Section 617.303(4), it enacted Section 617.1605, which specifies that non-profit corporations organized under Chapter 617 must deliver to each of its members a complete financial report within a certain time frame. See Ch. 92-49, § 617.303(4), Laws of Fla.; Ch. 93-281, § 617.1605, Laws of Fla. Section 617.1605 provides, in pertinent part, as follows: [20] Within 60 days following the end of the fiscal or calendar year or annually on such date as is otherwise provided in the bylaws of the corporation, the board of directors shall mail or furnish by personal delivery to each member a complete financial report of actual receipts and expenditures for the previous 12 months. [21] § 617.1605, Fla. Stat. (1993) (emphasis added). At the same time that the Legislature enacted Section 617.1605, it also enacted Florida Statutes, Section 617.2103(1) which, among other things, exempts certain non-profit corporations from complying with the delivery and reporting requirements of Section 617.1605. Specifically, Section 617.2103(1) states that, "No corporation described in s. 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, shall be subject to the provisions of . . . s. 617.1605. . . unless the articles of incorporation or bylaws provide otherwise." § 617.2103(1), Fla. Stat. (1993) (emphasis added). It is undisputed that homeowners' associations such as Shadywood do not qualify for the exemption provided for by Section 617.2103. [22] Both Section
617.303(4) and Section 617.1605 deal with obligations concerning disclosure
of financial reports. However, each section, creates a different obligation
with regard to the maintenance and/or dissemination of the financial report.
Section 617.303(4), requires the homeowners' association to maintain its
accounting records, including its records of receipts and expenditures
and its financial reports, open to inspection by the members of the association.
Section 617.1605, on the other hand, requires the board of directors of
the non-profit corporation to mail or personally delivery a copy of the
financial reports of actual receipts and expenditures to the members of
the non-profit corporation. The question then is whether homeowners' associations
organized under Chapter 617 are required to comply with the added requirement
of delivering financial reports to its members, as required by Section
617.1605, or whether these associations are only required to keep financial
reports open for inspection, as required by Section 617.303(4)(i).
[24] Applying these rules of construction to the present case, we find that the requirements of Section 617.303(4) and Section 617.1605 are consistent with, and complimentary to, each other. We therefore conclude that the Legislature intended that homeowners' associations should be bound by the provisions of Section 617.1605 and the provisions of Section 617.303(4). This conclusion is supported by the familiar doctrine of "expressio unius est exclusio alterius", which provides that the express mention of one thing implies the exclusion of another. See Thayer v. State, 335 So.2d 815, 817 (Fla. 1976); Dobbs v. Sea Isle Hot., 56 So.2d 341, 342 (Fla. 1952); Moonlit Waters Apartments, Inc. v. Cauley, 651 So.2d 1269, 1270-71 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995); Scope v. Fannelli, 639 So.2d 141, 143 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994); Barry v. Garcia, 573 So.2d 932, 937 (Fla. 3d DCA), review denied, 583 So.2d 1034 (Fla. 1991). Had the legislature intended to exempt homeowners' associations from the provisions of Section 617.1605, it could easily have stated so in Section 617.2103. Our conclusion is further supported by the fact that the Legislature has enacted an almost identical provision for condominium associations which requires condominium associations to mail or personally deliver copies of financial reports to each of its unit owners. See § 718.111(13), Fla. Stat. (1993).( X 3 ) Hence, since Shadywood is a non-profit corporation organized under Chapter 617, and since it is not exempted from the provisions of Section 617.1605 by the language of Section 617.2103, it is subject to the provisions and requirements of Section 617.1605. [25] We therefore,
hold that homeowners' associations are required to comply with the provisions
of both Sections 617.303(4) and 617.1605. As such, the trial court erred
in dismissing Romero's Amended Complaint.
[27] Reversed and
Remanded with instructions.
[30] (X 1) In its order the trial court noted that Florida Statutes, Section 617.303(4) was controlling in the matter. [31] (X 2) See Ch. 92-49, § 617.303(4), Laws of Fla. [32] (X
3) This statute provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
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