FRIDAY, September 01, 2000
Havoco of America, Ltd. v. Elmer C. Hill

No.#99-98

Destin County, Okaloosa/Volusia Counties, Statewide impact


On Dec. 19, 1991, a federal court entered a $15 million judgment against Hill in a lawsuit filed by Havoco. Hill at the time was a resident of Tennessee. On Dec. 30, 1991, Hill paid cash for a house worth about $650,000 located in Destin, where Hill and his wife have live since. In 1992 Hill filed for bankruptcy and claimed his house as exempt property under the Florida Constitution's homestead exemption provision. The bankruptcy court and U.S. district court agreed that the homestead was exempt. On appeal, The U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals certified a question to the Florida Supreme Court asking whether Florida's homestead exemption shields from creditors' claims a home bought in anticipation of bankruptcy.