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1 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE TENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT

IN AND FOR HIGHLANDS COUNTY, FLORIDA
2 CIVIL DIVISION

3 CHASE HOME FINANCE, LLC,

4 Plaintiff,

5 vs. CASE NO. 08000937-GCS

6 JEREMIAH T. AMMANN, et al.,

7
Defendants.
8 _____________________________/

10 TRANSCRIPT OF HEARING

11

12 DATE TAKEN: OCTOBER 19, 2010

13 TIME: 10:37 A.M. - 10:55 A.M.

14 PLACE: HIGHLANDS COUNTY COURTHOUSE

430 SOUTH COMMERCE AVENUE
15 ROOM 3A
SEBRING, FLORIDA 33870
16
BEFORE: HONORABLE ANGELA J. COWDEN
17 CIRCUIT JUDGE

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This cause came on to be heard at the time and place
21 aforesaid, when and where the following proceedings were
reported by:
22
Patricia Rymer, Court Reporter
23 Accurate Reporting Service, Inc.
439 Rose Avenue
24 Sebring, Florida 33870

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1 APPEARANCES FOR THE PLAINTIFF

(Present Telephonically)
2
Jessica Mackay Lowe, Esq.
3 FLORIDA DEFAULT LAW GROUP, P.L., P.A.
9119 Corporate Lake Drive, Suite 300
4 Tampa, Florida 33734

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APPEARANCE FOR DEFENDANTS AMMANN
6
LAURA U. AMMANN, PRO SE
7 1820 Iris Avenue
Sebring, Florida 33875-6090
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9 APPEARANCE FOR DEFENDANT HIGHLANDS COUNTY

10 Elizabeth V. Lenihan, Esq.

LAW OFFICE OF J. ROSS MACBETH, P.A.
11 2543 US Highway 27 South
Sebring, Florida 33870
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1 THE COURT: We are on the record in Chase Home

2 Finance, LLC versus Jeremiah T. Ammann and Laura Ammann,

3 et al., which includes Highlands County, in GC08-937.

4 This is the 19th of October. We're starting just a few

5 minutes early, but everyone is present. And for the

6 plaintiff appearing by telephone you are?

7 MS. LOWE: Jessica Lowe.

8 THE COURT: Good morning, Ms. Lowe. For Highlands

9 County?

10 MS. LENIHAN: Elizabeth Lenihan.

11 THE COURT: And Ms. Ammann, you appear today by

12 yourself and representing yourself; is that correct?

13 MS. AMMANN: Yes, Your Honor.

14 THE COURT: Ms. Lowe, you may proceed.

15 MS. LOWE: Yes, Your Honor. We are attempting to

16 amend our complaint. This is the third amended

17 complaint. It looks like we initially amended our

18 complaint to add the recorded assignment of mortgage. We

19 then filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of Count II of

20 the complaint, which was the lost note count. The

21 defendants objected to that, they filed an objection to

22 our dismissal of the lost note count, so that led to our

23 second amended complaint which we filed for the purpose

24 of dropping that lost note count.

25 The problem is that we previously agreed to an order

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1 changing no language in our initial complaint. We agreed

2 with the county to change the language in paragraph 11

3 and 13, and by the time -- it looks like when we amended

4 our complaint for the second time we didn't have that

5 agreed upon language, it hadn't been decided. So at the

6 last hearing on the amended complaint, it looks like that

7 was July 19th, 2010, the judge granted our motion and

8 allowed us to amend, but it was determined that we still

9 needed to amend again for the third time to add this

10 language that we agreed upon with the county. And that

11 is paragraph 11 and 13.

12 MS. LENIHAN: Your Honor, it was my understanding at

13 that hearing in July that the plaintiffs were granted

14 leave to amend their complaint with the included amended

15 language that was agreed upon at that hearing. They

16 then, instead of refiling a second amended complaint with

17 the agreed upon language, they filed a third amended

18 complaint, which they provided to me via email, not by

19 service, just via email, and Highlands County did provide

20 an -- did answer that third amended complaint. I have

21 not received -- I received notice of this hearing, but I

22 did not receive a motion to amend the complaint or a copy

23 of the third amended complaint other than what was

24 provided to me via email in July or August. So I really

25 had no idea why we were here today, but good to know.

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1 THE COURT: Okay. I'm looking at a third amended

2 mortgage foreclosure complaint filed on the 3rd day of

3 August. There's a service list including Jeremiah

4 Ammann, Laura Chaney also known as Laura Ammann, and

5 Elizabeth Lenihan at 2543 US Highway 27 South.

6 MS. LENIHAN: That is the correct address.

7 MS. AMMANN: Your Honor, I have yet to receive a

8 third amended also.

9 THE COURT: Here's the thing, apparently several

10 times, Ms. Ammann, you've complained about not receiving

11 stuff. What address do you get mail at?

12 MS. AMMANN: 1820 Iris Avenue, Sebring, Florida,

13 33875.

14 MS. LENIHAN: Your Honor, there have been several

15 times in this case where even though it shows on the

16 service list that I have been listed, and it may be the

17 correct address even, I'm not receiving the mail either.

18 So I don't know if things aren't getting mailed out or

19 what.

20 THE COURT: Ms. Lowe?

21 MS. LOWE: Your Honor, I see that we, back on July

22 10th, 2010 -- or excuse me, July 21st, 2010, I believe

23 there must have been some discussion at the previous

24 hearing about Ms. Ammann not receiving certain documents,

25 so we did a certificate of mailing and re-sent the entire

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1 package of the motion to amend complaint. And I have on

2 my service list that we did send the third amended

3 complaint not via email, I have that -- my indication

4 shows that we sent it to the mailing addresses. I can

5 re-send that, but to my knowledge I am representing that

6 we did send it. And we did even go back and do a

7 certificate of mailing after Ms. Ammann complained of

8 that at the previous hearing, we went and did a

9 certificate of mailing and re-sent the second amended

10 complaint.

11 MS. AMMANN: Your Honor, I would like to note that I

12 did call their office and spoke to Ronald Pereira about

13 not receiving it, and he was not cooperative with me.

14 MS. LOWE: What was that?

15 MS. AMMANN: It was after the August hearing, about

16 a month later, I called and spoke to him directly and I

17 told him of my objections to the hearings being so short

18 and this and that, and he didn't want to regard anything

19 that I was telling him. He said he couldn't give me

20 advice, which I wasn't asking for. But I did let him

21 know at that time that I still had not received the third

22 amended complaint.

23 THE COURT: Have you received anything since then?

24 MS. AMMANN: Just the letter saying that they were

25 going to have hearings. I haven't even gotten notices of

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1 hearings. Just the letter saying if I would like to

2 object, then to call their office, and that's why I

3 called his office.

4 THE COURT: Here's the thing about sending stuff

5 out, I have no way of knowing who's telling the truth and

6 who's not telling the truth, and it's just driving me

7 nuts, because somebody is miscommunicating and something

8 is falling apart somewhere. I don't know if the law

9 office is not telling me the truth. I don't know if

10 Ms. Ammann is not telling me the truth. I just don't

11 know what to -- we've got to have something somewhere in

12 place so that I know that everybody knows what's going

13 on. And I don't know where the ball is being dropped.

14 You know, everybody's coming in saying they've done

15 something, and nothing has happened and I'm very

16 disturbed.

17 MS. LOWE: Your Honor, is there a certificate of

18 mailing on record? I'm trying to see the list of --

19 THE COURT: Your service list doesn't tell me that

20 you did anything.

21 MS. LOWE: Okay.

22 THE COURT: Your service list says we sent it to

23 this, this and this, and that's Ammann, Ammann and

24 Lenihan, and Ammann and Lenihan are sitting here saying

25 they never got it, so what does that mean?

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1 MS. LOWE: But the Court is not having an issue

2 receiving documents; correct?

3 THE COURT: I've gotten everything. The clerk has

4 gotten everything and I've gotten -- you know, stuff's

5 here, but I'm just confused.

6 MS. LOWE: I'm confused as well, Your Honor.

7 Ms. Ammann, do you mind -- I know you already repeated

8 your address once. Can I clarify? Is it 1820 Iris

9 Avenue, Sebring, Florida, 33875?

10 MS. AMMANN: That is correct. I would like to note

11 that Ms. Lowe is not one of the attorneys of record.

12 THE COURT: It doesn't matter. Here's the thing,

13 we've already been around that block before, Ms. Ammann.

14 That law office represents this plaintiff. Any one of

15 their lawyers can speak.

16 MS. AMMANN: Respectfully, Your Honor, I would just

17 like to note that the Rules of Judicial Administration do

18 say that they need to file a notice of appearance, and I

19 have not received that.

20 THE COURT: The plaintiff doesn't have to do that.

21 MS. AMMANN: But the attorneys --

22 THE COURT: No, they don't.

23 MS. AMMANN: Yes, Your Honor, but --

24 THE COURT: Thank you, Ms. Ammann. We've addressed

25 it. Please move on; all right? One of the things that

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1 has held this file up, Ms. Ammann, is all of the things

2 that you keep raising that are totally collateral and

3 totally unimportant to everything.

4 MS. AMMANN: But they're not following the rules,

5 that's why it's holding up.

6 THE COURT: No, Ms. Ammann. What's holding things

7 up, partly, is your own activity; all right?

8 MS. AMMANN: Yes, ma'am.

9 THE COURT: Now we need to get to the issues, not

10 all the other stuff. Any attorney from their firm can

11 speak on that firm's behalf.

12 MS. AMMANN: Yes, Your Honor.

13 THE COURT: As long as they are a member of the

14 Florida Bar, any one of the attorneys can. In fact,

15 should someone from Ms. Lenihan's office not be

16 available, she can hire somebody else, and not have to

17 have an appearance, to step in and speak on her behalf as

18 long as they are a member of the Florida Bar.

19 MS. AMMANN: Yes, Your Honor.

20 MS. LOWE: Your Honor, if it would help, I will make

21 sure -- I'll do a certificate of mailing myself today,

22 get it put into the mailbox, and send the -- you know,

23 whatever pleadings she's claiming that she's missing, we

24 will send that to her again today, send it out, get it

25 out, make sure that she has the third amended complaint.

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1 I'm not sure what else we can do, you know.

2 THE COURT: What is Highlands County's position with

3 regard to the third amended complaint to which you have

4 already filed an answer?

5 MS. LENIHAN: I have not seen what they have filed

6 recently. Like I said, I received the third amended

7 complaint via email after the July hearing. Let me see

8 if I can --

9 MS. LOWE: I believe paragraph 11 and 13 were the

10 two paragraphs that Mr. Pereira informed me had been

11 changed.

12 MS. LENIHAN: This was, according to the email draft

13 I was sent, it was mailed out, filed on the 2nd of

14 August. If there was something that was filed more

15 recently, I have not received it.

16 MS. LOWE: It was just the 2nd of August, that's

17 correct. It's the third amended.

18 MS. LENIHAN: We have provided an answer to that

19 third amended complaint. We have no other issue with

20 that at this time.

21 THE COURT: All right. Ms. Ammann, your position

22 with regard to the third amended complaint?

23 MS. AMMANN: Yes, Your Honor. I filed a motion to

24 strike their third amended, and that motion to strike has

25 thus far been unopposed.

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1 THE COURT: No, it just hasn't been heard.

2 MS. AMMANN: Yes, Your Honor. And they never,

3 obviously, served me the amended, but it's not verified,

4 and the rules have been amended in February. Rule 1.110

5 says that it needs to be verified, a mortgage, a

6 foreclosure, mortgage foreclosure needs to be verified.

7 THE COURT: Who's helping you?

8 MS. AMMANN: Just my dad. We're just doing research

9 here at the law library and online.

10 THE COURT: Okay. Ms. Lowe, do you have a

11 response?

12 MS. LOWE: I'm checking. I believe, Your Honor, the

13 verification requirement, I'm not looking at that statute

14 at the moment, but I believe that that would not apply

15 because this is simply an amended complaint. We're

16 amending the initial complaint that was filed prior to

17 February. We're not, you know, starting over from

18 scratch. We're amending just to add the language. We're

19 just -- we're amending to add the language in paragraph

20 11 and 13 pursuant to our discussions with the county and

21 what they were asking us to accommodate and to account

22 for their interest in the property. That's simply what

23 the amended complaint addresses.

24 THE COURT: Anything further, Ms. Ammann?

25 MS. AMMANN: Yes. The rules say that it needs to be

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1 verified currently, so if they file something currently

2 it needs to be verified. It doesn't matter if it's --

3 THE COURT: I said anything else. We're moving on

4 from the verification. Your next objection.

5 MS. AMMANN: There is nothing else, Your Honor.

6 THE COURT: Okay. On that basis I will deny your

7 motion to strike the third amended mortgage foreclosure

8 complaint and -- let's see. I believe the only thing we

9 had set today was the plaintiff's motion for leave to

10 file third amended complaint.

11 MS. AMMANN: And the motion to strike.

12 MS. LOWE: Yes, and I received a cross-notice of

13 hearing of defendants' motion to strike third amended

14 foreclosure complaint.

15 THE COURT: Okay. You have claimed in your motion

16 to strike, Ms. Ammann, that this Court has had ex parte

17 communication. To what do you refer?

18 MS. AMMANN: Both the second amended complaint and

19 the third amended complaint were served to the Court with

20 way advance notice before I received it. I still have

21 not received the third amended, and you still have it in

22 your file, which means they're communicating with you and

23 not me. That's what I refer to.

24 THE COURT: Well, I can't give you any legal advice,

25 but they're certainly welcome to file anything in the

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1 court file that they wish to. Certainly they should as

2 well provide communication both to Ms. Lenihan and to you

3 in the form of copies, and I expect them to do so, but

4 that's not considered ex parte communication to file

5 something in the court file. That's simply filing it at

6 the clerk's office. If they were writing me letters or

7 trying to call me to talk to me about the case without

8 talking to you about it, that would be a different

9 story. But filing a document in a court file which

10 becomes public record is not an ex parte communication,

11 you could get a copy of it as well, although it is

12 appropriate to give you a copy by mail so that you know

13 what they have filed in the clerk's office.

14 Just also so you understand, many times things get

15 filed in the clerk's office and then, you know, the

16 attorney's office will call up the judicial assistant and

17 say what has the judge done about whatever, and I've

18 never seen it because it gets filed at the clerk's office

19 and down there it stays, and nobody ever sends a courtesy

20 copy up to me so I don't know anything about it.

21 So your motion to strike the third amended complaint

22 is denied on the grounds which you've stated today. And

23 since the third amended complaint has been filed,

24 Highlands County has already provided their answer, and

25 Ms. Ammann, you've got 20 days to provide your answer to

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1 the third amended complaint.

2 MS. AMMANN: Yes, Your Honor.

3 MS. LOWE: Your Honor?

4 THE COURT: Yes, ma'am.

5 MS. LOWE: As a courtesy I would like to just inform

6 Ms. Ammann that I will personally make sure that a copy

7 of the third amended complaint is sent to her via FedEx

8 today.

9 MS. AMMANN: I appreciate it. Thank you.

10 THE COURT: All right. Ms. Lowe, I'm going to

11 direct that you prepare the order from today's hearing

12 denying the motion to strike, granting your motion to

13 amend, and permitting the Ammanns 20 days within which to

14 file their response to the third amended complaint.

15 MS. LOWE: Okay.

16 THE COURT: Hopefully that should tie up the loose

17 ends so we can move forward on the pleadings as they

18 stand.

19 MS. LOWE: Yes, Your Honor.

20 THE COURT: All right. I think however, though,

21 that there are some notices of hearing coming up on

22 matters. There's a motion to dismiss counterclaim that's

23 been set.

24 MS. AMMANN: In November.

25 THE COURT: Then there's something else that's been

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1 set in December. So hopefully this case is on track to

2 move forward.

3 MS. AMMANN: Your Honor, the notice for hearing in

4 December is on motion for summary judgment. Are they

5 allowed to file that before the pleadings have been

6 settled?

7 THE COURT: Absolutely. Thank you very much.

8 MS. LENIHAN: Thank you, Your Honor.

9 MS. AMMANN: Thank you, Your Honor.

10 (Proceeding concluded at or about 10:55 a.m.)

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