Opinion
No. 3D18-1777
12-04-2019
U.S. BANK, N.A., etc., Appellant, v. Ricky L. STOKES, et al., Appellees.
Greenberg Traurig, P.A., and Kimberly S. Mello (Orlando) and Vitaliy Kats (Tampa), for appellant. Kevin Michael Hoyes, for appellees.
Greenberg Traurig, P.A., and Kimberly S. Mello (Orlando) and Vitaliy Kats (Tampa), for appellant.
Kevin Michael Hoyes, for appellees.
Before LINDSEY, HENDON, and MILLER, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
U.S. Bank National Association, as Trustee for Residential Funding Mortgage Securities I, Inc., Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates Series 2005-SA4 appeals a final order of involuntary dismissal of its foreclosure action against Ricky and Sylvia Stokes. After a non-jury trial, the trial court found that a forbearance agreement was in effect on the date U.S. Bank claimed to have defaulted the Stokes and that Mr. Stokes had made a payment pursuant to that agreement. In addition, the trial court specifically found "that [this payment] was intended by Mr. Stokes and accepted by [a prior loan servicer] as the first payment of the forebearance agreement." Further, the trial court found "that the records presented by [U.S. Bank] were less persuasive on this point than the testimony of Mr. Stokes concerning the existence and nature of this forbearance agreement ...."
Because a trial court's factual findings come to the appellate court with a presumption of correctness to which the appellate court should generally defer, because an appellate court should not weigh evidence or assess the credibility of witnesses, and because there is competent substantial evidence in the record to support the trial court's factual findings, we affirm. See, e.g., Applegate v. Barnett Bank, 377 So. 2d 1150, 1152 (Fla. 1980) ; Shaw v. Shaw, 334 So. 2d 13, 16 (Fla. 1976) ; Hall v. Hall, 190 So. 3d 683 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016) ; Lahodik v. Lahodik, 969 So. 2d 533, 535 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007) ; Desvigne v. Downtown Towing Co., 865 So. 2d 541, 542 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003).
Affirmed.