In January 2014, the Neustein Law Group obtained a Final Judgment to cancel out the Promissory Note and Mortgage and successfully Quieting the Title on the property of an owner who was being sued in a foreclosure action in Broward County, FL.   In February, the Lender filed a Notice of Appeal. However, the Appeal was recently dismissed on April 1, 2014.  When the property owner was served with the foreclosure action, they retained the attorneys at Neustein Law Group to defend the action and file a counterclaim against the Lender to Quiet Title.  This foreclosure action was not unexepcted since the same lender attempted to foreclose the same property in 2008. In that foreclosure case, the same attorneys successfully obtained a Final Judgment in the favor of the Borrower.  This Borrower claimed that the newly filed case was barred by Res Judicata since the court previously ruled for the Borrower. This Borrower also claimed that the new foreclosure action was time barred as the lien of a mortgage encumbering real property shall terminate after five years of the date of maturity.  Fla. Stat. §95.281(2012).  Section 95.281 (1)(a)provides that a lien created by a mortgage terminates five years after the maturity date of the obligation it secures where the date of maturity may be ascertained by from the record.  American Bankers Life Assurance Co. v. 2275 West Corp., 905 So. 2d 189, 191 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005). The expiration of the five year statute of limitations on a note and mortgage entitles the mortgagor to cancel the note and mortgage as a matter of law.  Eagle National Bank of Miami v. Burks, 502 So. 2d 69, 71 (Fla. 3d DCA      1987.)  This Borrower also alleged that the new foreclsoure action is similarly barred by the theory of Estoppel by Judgment.   Estoppel by judgment, is a judicial doctrine which in general terms prevents identical parties from re-litigating issues that have previously been decided between them. The essential elements of the doctrine are that the parties and issues be identical, and that the particular matter be fully litigated and determined in a contest which results in a final decision of a court of competent jurisdiction.  The Neustein Law Group, PA is headquartered in Aventura, FL and has convenient offices in downtown Miami, Dadeland, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach and throughout the state of Florida.