CARLOS A. ROMERO v. SHADYWOOD VILLAS
HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION (06/07/95)
[1] COURT
OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA, THIRD DISTRICT
[2] No.
95-238
[3] 1995.FL.46899;
657 So. 2d 1193
[4] filed:
June 7, 1995.
[5] CARLOS
A. ROMERO, JR., APPELLANT, v.
SHADYWOOD VILLAS HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., APPELLEE
[6] An Appeal
from the Circuit Court for Dade County, Alan L. Postman, Judge.
[7] Post
& Romero and Robert G. Post, for appellant.
[8] David
A. Kobrin, for appellee.
[9] Before
Schwartz, C.j., and Jorgenson and Levy, JJ.
[10] Author: Per
Curiam
[11] Per Curiam.
[12] A plaintiff
appeals a trial court order dismissing his Amended Complaint for injunctive
relief with prejudice. We reverse.
[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.*fn1 Romero appeals the dismissal of his Amended Complaint.
[14] The present
appeal centers around the interpretation of two statutory provisions contained
within the Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act; Florida Statutes, Section
617.1605 and Section 617.303(4). The issue is whether one or both of these
sections control the reporting obligations of homeowners' associations
organized to do business under Chapter 617. Romero contends that the trial
court erred in dismissing the Amended Complaint because Shadywood, as a
non-profit corporation organized to do business under Chapter 617, is subject
to the reporting and delivery requirements of both Section 617.1605 and
Section 617.303(4). Shadywood, on the other hand, maintains that since
it is a homeowners' association, it is only required to comport with the
reporting requirements set out in Section 617.303(4)(i). For the reasons
which follow, we hold that homeowners' associations must comply with the
reporting requirements set out in both Section 617.1605 and Section 617.303(4).
[15] Within the
confines of Chapter 617, are Sections 617.301 through 617.306, which specifically
and exclusively regulate homeowner associations organized as non-profit
corporations under Chapter 617. Within these specific sections is Florida
Statute, Section 617.303(4) which delineates the record maintenance and
inspection obligations for homeowners' associations. Section 617.303(4),
which was enacted in 1992,*fn2 provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
[16] (4) The association
shall maintain each of the following items, when applicable, which shall
constitute the official records of the association:
[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).
[23] Shadywood
argues that Sections 617.1605 and 617.303(4) are inconsistent, and that
therefore, if we require homeowners' associations to comply with the delivery
obligations of Section 617.1605, we are necessarily modifying and/or repealing
the reporting obligations as initially set out in Section 617.303(4). We
disagree. Although the Legislature enacted Section 617.1605 one year after
it enacted Section 617.303(4), it is an elementary principle of statutory
construction, that in determining the effect of a later-enacted statute,
courts are required to assume that the Legislature passed the later statute
with knowledge of the prior-existing laws. State ex rel. Sch. Bd. v. Department
of Educ., 317 So.2d 68, 72-73 (Fla. 1975); Littman v. Commercial Bank &
Trust Co., 425 So.2d 636, 638-39 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); State v. Zimmerman,
370 So.2d 1179 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979). Consequently, "in the absence of a
showing to the contrary, it is presumed that all laws are consistent with
each other and that the legislature would not effect a repeal of a statute
without expressing an intention to do so." Littman, 425 So.2d at 638; see
Woodgate Dev. Corp. v. Hamilton Inv. Trust, 351 So.2d 14, 16 (Fla. 1977);
State ex rel. Sch. Bd., 317 So.2d at 72-73; Mann v. Goodyear Tire &
Rubber Co., 300 So.2d 666 (Fla. 1974). Stated another way, "it is our duty
to read the several provisions of [an] Act as consistent with one another
rather than in conflict, if there is any reasonable basis for consistency."
State v. Putnam County Dev. Auth., 249 So.2d 6, 10 (Fla. 1971) (emphasis
added); see also In re T.M., 641 So.2d 410, 412 (Fla. 1994). Therefore,
"where possible, it is the duty of the courts to adopt that construction
of a statutory provision which harmonizes and reconciles it with other
provisions of the same act," Woodgate, 351 So.2d at 16; see also Palm Harbor
Special Fire Control Dist. v. Kelly, 516 So.2d 249, 250-51 (Fla. 1987),
rather than construing a subsequently-enacted statute as implicitly repealing
or nullifying the prior-existing law. Villery ; Littman ; Zimmerman.
[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).*fn3
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.
[26] Accordingly
we reverse the trial court's order dismissing Romero's Amended Complaint
for injunctive relief and remand to the trial court with instructions to
reinstate the Amended Complaint.
[27] Reversed
and Remanded with instructions.
[28] Disposition
[29] Reversed
and Remanded with instructions.
Opinion Footnotes
[30] *fn1 In its
order the trial court noted that Florida Statutes, Section 617.303(4) was
controlling in the matter.
[31] *fn2 See
Ch. 92-49, § 617.303(4), Laws of Fla.
[32] *fn3 This
statute provides, in pertinent part, as follows: Within 60 days following
the end of the fiscal or calendar year or annually . . . the board of administration
of the association shall mail or furnish by personal delivery to each unit
owner . . . a complete financial report of actual receipts and expenditures
for the previous 12 months. § 718.111(13), Fla. Stat. (1993). |