## Facts

- Louis Chiusolo advanced funds that were ultimately used to purchase certain real property.
- The property was titled in a corporation associated with William Kennedy.
- Chiusolo alleged he was to receive stock in the corporation in exchange for the funds but never received the stock.
- Chiusolo sued to impose a resulting and constructive trust on the real property.
- Chiusolo recorded a notice of lis pendens against the property.
- After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court discharged the lis pendens.

## Issues

1. What standard governs discharge of a lis pendens after an evidentiary hearing: must the proponent show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits, or only a fair nexus between the property and the dispute?

## Decision

- The Florida Supreme Court approved the district court’s result reversing the discharge of the lis pendens but rejected the “substantial likelihood of success on the merits” requirement.
- The Court held the lis pendens cannot be dissolved if the proponent establishes a fair nexus between apparent legal or equitable ownership of the property and the dispute in the lawsuit.
- The Court stated the trial court need not decide whether alienation or intervening liens are likely during the pendency of the action.

## Legal Principles

- A lis pendens serves both to give notice to future purchasers or encumbrancers and to protect a claimant from intervening liens or transfers that could impair asserted legal or equitable rights in the property.
- On a motion to discharge after an evidentiary hearing, the controlling inquiry is whether the proponent can establish a fair nexus between the property’s apparent legal or equitable ownership and the dispute embodied in the lawsuit.
- The court need not make a predictive merits assessment equivalent to a preliminary-injunction or summary-judgment analysis, and need not assess the likelihood of intervening alienation or liens; it is enough that such events, if they occurred, could frustrate the purposes of lis pendens.

## Conclusion

The Florida Supreme Court held that dissolution of a lis pendens is improper where the proponent shows a fair nexus between the real property and the claims asserted, and it approved reinstatement of the lis pendens under that standard.


Chiusolo v. Kennedy, 614 So. 2d 491 (Fla. 1993)