On February 22, 2019, in Rodriguez v. Otero, No. 5D17-3043, the Florida Fifth DCA reversed a trial court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ professional negligence complaint against their mortgage foreclosure defense attorney. The Fifth DCA noted that the trial court had made the ruling based on defense counsel’s erroneous representation to the court that the plaintiffs had appealed the consent judgment entered against them in the mortgage foreclosure case and that the appeal was still pending. The Fifth DCA also noted that even though the full extent of the plaintiff’s loss had not yet been ascertained since the subject property had not yet been sold, the mortgage foreclosure judgment had become final and the plaintiffs had thereby lost any legal right to the subject property. The fact that the plaintiffs suffered “some loss” by virtue of the final judgment ripened the professional negligence case for litigation. See Larson & Larson, P.A. v. TSE Indus., Inc., 22 So. 3d 36, 42 (Fla. 2009).
