Bailey v. Hendrickson

143 N.W. 134, 25 N.D. 500, 1913 N.D. LEXIS 135
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJune 11, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 143 N.W. 134 (Bailey v. Hendrickson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bailey v. Hendrickson, 143 N.W. 134, 25 N.D. 500, 1913 N.D. LEXIS 135 (N.D. 1913).

Opinions

Spalding, Ch. J.

The trial court found that the sale was invalid, holding that the failure of defendant to record his assignment until the 6th day of March, 1908, the publication of the notice of sale in the Lansford Times, the purchase by the defendant for the sum of $113.32, in the absence of any bidders or bids at the sale, and permitting the tenant of the plaintiff to remain in possession after the sale, and to pay rent during the period for redemption to the plaintiff, without knowledge of the foreclosure on the part of either tenant or plaintiff, and in permitting plaintiff to pay interest on the first mortgage for the year 1908, after the commencement of foreclosure proceedings and without knowledge thereof, and permitting the tenant to remain in possession during the year 1909 and raise a crop thereon without any knowledge on the part of the tenant or plaintiff, — ^entitled plaintiff to a vacation of such salé and deed, on the ground that such acts constitute bad faith on the part of defendant; and it awarded the plaintiff judgment, and required the defendant to accept the sum of $170.20, which plaintiff had deposited with the clerk of the court for satisfaction of the mortgage foreclosed. We say here that there is no evidence in the record to sustain the finding of the trial court that there were no bidders at the sale. We shall separately examine the questions raised.

1. We need not determine whether a bid by the sheriff, when acting as auctioneer or salesman, under the power of sale and under the stat[508]*508ute, might be valid. We do not construe the instructions and the act of the sheriff in striking off the premises in question to defendant as a bid by the sheriff. The instructions transmitted to him by Bosard & Byerson were, in legal effect, a written bid by defendant for a specified sum of the amount stated to be due in the notice of sale plus the costs of sale, and was a proper and customary method of making a bid in this state. It simply amounted to an instruction that the defendant bid that sum, and that it could be struck off to him if no one bid more. It in no manner intimated to him that anything should be done to prevent others bidding a greater sum.

2. Here inadequacy of price at a foreclosure sale is not a ground on which to set aside a foreclosure in the absence of fraud, undue advantage, or prejudice. Grove v. Great Northern Loan Co. 17 N. D. 352, 138 Am. St. Rep. 707, 116 N. W. 345. This is the rule which is established in this state, and we think it especially applicable where the purchaser at the sale is the holder of the mortgage. What might be an inadequate price at an ordinary auction sale may not be so at a foreclosure sale when the purchase is made by the mortgagee as the highest bidder. To illustrate, it is contended in this case that the actual value of the premises in question, relieved of the two mortgages, is, say $4,000, although there is not much, if any, proof to sustain this figure; but assume it to be $4,000. We have no statute providing for an appraisal of lands sold under any method of foreclosure, and no limitation is placed on the amount for which it may he sold. The mortgagee has a right to his security. It is his privilege, and the law recognizes it as such, to protect his security. To this end he is authorized to purchase at the foreclosure sale. If we were to hold that he is compelled, in order to render the sale valid and protect his debt, to pay the full value that the mortgagor places upon the land, he would, in the absence of higher bidders, be compelled to advance, in a case like this, several times the amount of his mortgagé to give him any protection. He must, in such case, not only be willing to take the land, but he must be willing to pay its actual value, and must have the means with which to do it. In this case, if the valuation placed upon the land is $4,000 he would have been required, in order to protect his $113.32 to advance nearly $3,900. This would be an unreasonable and oppressive requirement, and might destroy his mortgage security. We [509]*509find no law making this necessary. When he has bid the amount of the mortgage debt and costs, in the absence of higher bidders, he has paid all that the law requires, or that, under circumstances which do not show bad faith conclusively, is incumbent upon him to bid; and the price is adequate under the circumstances, although it might not be adequate if bid at an auction sale not made under foreclosure. The status of this proceeding in this respect was identically the same as though the mortgagee had been present and bid in person. The contention of respondent is answered quite satisfactorily in the opinion in Power v. Larabee, 3 N. D. 502, 44 Am. St. Rep. 577, 57 N. W. 789, where this court, through Judge Corliss, said:

“The reasoning is that there must be at least two bidders at the sale; otherwise, there is no highest bidder. We are clear that this is a too narrow construction of the statute, — one which was never contemplated by the legislature. It would defeat every sale, unless the plaintiff could induce someone to bid upon the property. What the ■statute clearly means is that, after the public have been fairly notified ■of the sale, the property shall be sold for the best price that can be obtained. It is not necessary that there should be more than one bidder to make a sale at public auction. It is sufficient if the public has been fully advised of the sale, by legal publication of notice, and have the right to attend and bid. Those who do not attend the sale assert by their conduct that they do not wish the property at any price. Must the plaintiff’s right to collect his judgment be forever stayed because he, alone, is willing to buy the property ? We have no doubt on this point on principle, and we are able to cite eminent authority to support our view that the absence of all other bidders did not of itself render the sale either void or voidable, Learned v. Geer, 139 Mass. 31, 29 N. E. 215 ; 2 Freeman, Executions, § 308, pp. 1046, 1047,”

3. The publication of the notice of sale in the Lansford Times was in compliance with the statute governing the publication of such notices. Section 2279, Rev. Codes of 1905, prescribes the qualifications that a newspaper must possess to enable it to publish legal notices ; and it is not for the court, in the absence of fraud, when the legislature has expressed its judgment as to such qualifications, to go back of such judgment and set it aside. In the case at bar testimony of a [510]*510member of the firm of Bosard & Kyerson clearly eliminates any fraud or fraudulent intent or bad faith in the publication of this notice.

4. The fact that Bailey had no actual knowledge of the foreclosure proceedings is not evidence of fraud. If it might be in any case under our statute, the record in this case, which shows that he was at Minot, at Towner, at Sherwood, at Bottineau, in Ohio and Indiana, and perhaps several other places, during the period involved, and that he did not see the mortgagee or the defendant, and that he left no notice to forward his mail from one place to another, almost precludes the possibility of his receiving notice had any attempt been made to give one, on which subject the record is silent. The statute prescribes the method of giving notice. The notice in this case was published, in accordance with law, in a newspaper qualified under the law, and for the length of time fixed by the law, and such notice has the same binding force that a foreclosure by action has when the defendants therein are personally served with process. Grove v. Great Northern Loan Co. 17 N. D. 352, 138 Am. St. Rep.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
143 N.W. 134, 25 N.D. 500, 1913 N.D. LEXIS 135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bailey-v-hendrickson-nd-1913.