Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...tion." § 727.104(1)(d), Fla. Stat. (2000). Petitioners must fail in their contention that legal malpractice claims fall outside the ambit of the statute because the definition of "asset" explicitly excepts property "exempt by law from forced sale." § 727.103(1), Fla....

...We disagree with both of these assertions. Under Florida’s Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors statute, §§ 727.101 et seq., Fla. Stat. (2014), the assignor conveys all of its assets, except those exempt from levy and sale under an execution, to an assignee chosen by the assignor. § 727.103(1). Collectively, these assets create an “estate.” § 727.103....

...we have jurisdiction. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.130(a)(3)(C)(ii); see also State v. Ruth, 595 So.2d 1073, 1074 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992); Urich & Shenkman, P.A. v. Horizon Ins. Co., 491 So.2d 1195, 1195 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986). [2] The term "estate" is defined in section 727.103(7) as "all of the assets of the assignor." [3] Although the trial court accepted the County's original proof of claim in the amount of $112,515.18, the County concedes that $109,496.25 is the actual amount it claims it overpaid to A &...

...ent. §§ 727.112(2), (5). Claims not filed in accordance with chapter 727 are barred. § 727.112(1). The term "claim" is not defined in chapter 727, nor has the term been defined by case law in the context of chapter 727. A "creditor" is defined in section 727.103(6) as "any person having a claim against the assignor, whether such claim is contingent, liquidated, unliquidated, or disputed." [8] There is been little decisional law construing Chapter 727....

...However, one year before the execution of the Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors in this case, Florida's legislature adopted its most extensive revision of Chapter 727, *899 Florida Statutes, in a decade. See Ch. 2007-185, Laws of Fla. (eff. July 1, 2007). In this revision, the definition of "asset" in section 727.103(1), was expanded to include, for the first time, the phrase, "claims and causes of action, whether arising by contract or tort." As amended, the definition now reads: "Asset" means a legal or equitable interest of the assignor in prop...

...p, whether real or personal, tangible or intangible, including claims and causes of action, whether arising by contract or in tort, wherever located, and by whomever held at the date of the assignment, except property exempt by law from forced sale. § 727.103(1), Fla....

...ding "claims and choses in action." See § 727.104(b), Fla. Stat. (2008). [4] Thus, under the terms of Florida's Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors law as it presently exists, the assignor conveys to the assignee all of its assets as defined in section 727.103(1), except such assets as are exempt by law from levy and sale under an execution. Collectively, these assets create an "estate." See § 727.103(9), Fla....

...s been granted a security interest or lien in personal property or real property of the assignor prior to the date on which a petition is filed with the court and whose security interest or lien has been perfected in accordance with applicable law." § 727.103(6), Fla....

Dictionary (4th ed. 1951)); see also Fla. Stat. § 727.103(11) (“‘Lien’ means a charge against or an interest

...p, whether real or personal, tangible or intangible, including claims and causes of action, whether arising by contract or in tort, wherever located, and by whomever held at the date of the assignment, except property exempt by law from forced sale. § 727.103(1), Fla....

...ion of an estate’s “asset.” To the extent that these transfers are voidable under Chapter 726, the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, we hold that the assignor’s equitable interest in the property so transferred is an asset of the estate under section 727.103(1)....

...transferred to a third party, and those assets remain subject to attachment by the transferor’s creditors.” 37 Am.Jur.2d Fraudulent Conveyances and Transfers § 77 (updated Nov. 2013). Such an “equitable ownership” is contemplated within the section 727.103(1) definition of “asset”; it is an “equitable interest of the assignor in property ......

...wherever located, and by whomever held at the date of the assignment.” Because the impleader complaint alleged a fraudulent transfer of assets, Effective retained equitable ownership of the property transferred to Etech Texas, so that the equitable interest was an asset of the estate under sections 727.104(l)(b), 727.103(9), and 727.103(1)....

...to avoid any conveyance or transfer. We disagree with the third district in Moffatt to the extent that Moffatt appears to hold that a judgment creditor’s Chapter 726 fraudulent transfer claim is an “interest of the assignor in property” under section 727.103(1)....

...om an assignee. Even if such a secondary assignment is possible under chapter 727, the assignment to SG fails because SG does not represent all of the class of SOS creditors and SG has assumed no fiduciary obligation to the total class of creditors. Section 727.103(2) defines the term "assignee" for the chapter, specifically providing "which assignee shall not be a creditor......

...court modifies and enters proposed order sustaining objection to Claim # 12 on 11/04/2011 There is no such thing as “Local Rule 3000-l(A)(3),” and § 727.104 of the Florida Statutes has nothing to do with the validity of assignments for any of these claims. Section 727.103 defines “assignment” as “an assignment for the benefit of creditors made under this chapter” which, pursuant to § 727.102, is a proceeding in a Florida state circuit court....