Commercial Nat. Bank v. Succession of Rogers

628 So. 2d 33, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 3676, 1993 WL 366844
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 1, 1993
Docket24917-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 628 So. 2d 33 (Commercial Nat. Bank v. Succession of Rogers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commercial Nat. Bank v. Succession of Rogers, 628 So. 2d 33, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 3676, 1993 WL 366844 (La. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

628 So.2d 33 (1993)

COMMERCIAL NATIONAL BANK IN SHREVEPORT, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
SUCCESSION OF Graham W. ROGERS, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 24917-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

September 22, 1993.
Opinion Amending Original Opinion on Limited Grant of Rehearing December 1, 1993.

*34 Cook, Yancey, King & Galloway by Stephen R. Yancey, II, Shreveport, for appellant.

Peatross, Greer & Frazier by John M. Frazier, Shreveport, for appellees, David L. Bennett and Dorothy Stafford Bennett.

William H. Ledbetter, Jr., Bossier City, for appellees, Raymond J. Hartsfield and Lawanna Mae Beck Hartsfield.

David White, Bossier City, for appellee, Gayle J. Rogers, as Executrix of the Succession of Graham W. Rogers.

Before SEXTON, NORRIS, HIGHTOWER, STEWART and WILLIAMS, JJ.

WILLIAMS, Judge.

Appellant, Commercial National Bank (CNB), appeals the trial court's judgment denying its demand for a deficiency judgment against the appellees.

CNB argues the trial court erred in finding that the failure to separately appraise each tract of immovable property described in the mortgage is a defect in the appraisal process of such a fundamental nature that the seizing creditor is prevented from obtaining a deficiency judgment. CNB also argues that the trial court erred in finding that the makers of a collateral note and a collateral mortgage have no personal liability for the underlying indebtedness if they did not also execute the hand note. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

FACTS

On October 21, 1985, Raymond J. Hartsfield, David L. Bennett, and Graham W. Rogers executed a promissory note in the principal sum of $350,000.00 in favor of CNB ("The Hand Note"). Their spouses, Gayle J. Rogers, Lawanna Mae Beck Hartsfield, and Dorothy Stafford Bennett did not sign the hand note.

On the next day, October 22, 1985, Graham W. Rogers, Gayle J. Rogers, Raymond J. Hartsfield, Lawanna Mae Beck Hartsfield, David L. Bennett, and Dorothy Stafford Bennett executed a promissory note in the principal sum of $500,000.00, due on demand and payable to any future holder ("Mortgage Note"). This mortgage note was secured by a collateral mortgage of three tracts of land in Bossier Parish, Louisiana. The collateral mortgage was executed by all of the makers of the mortgage note. The mortgage note was pledged to secure the hand note.

On February 21, 1991, CNB filed a petition for executory process foreclosing on the mortgage and requesting that the property be sold at judicial sale with appraisal. In response to the notice provided by the sheriff, the property was appraised by one of the appellants, David Bennett, for $300,000.00. CNB's appointee appraised the property at $154,000.00 and a third party appraiser, appointed by the sheriff, appraised the property at $220,000.00. On May 1, 1991, the sheriff sold the property at judicial sale, in globo, resulting in a credit to appellants of $148,529.27.

On June 14, 1991, CNB filed a Petition for Deficiency Judgment. The appellees answered alleging noncompliance with the Louisiana Deficiency Judgment Act, LSA-R.S. 13:4106, et seq. Appellant, Dorothy Stafford Bennett, further asserted that she could not be held personally liable since she only signed the mortgage note and she had not signed the hand note.

On March 16, 1992, CNB filed a motion for summary judgment. The appellees opposed the motion on the ground that there was no separate appraisal of the three tracts of land prior to the sale by executory process and that neither of the three wives had signed the hand note. The motion for summary judgment was denied.

The case was submitted for decision on the basis of the testimony of J.L. Bogan, an officer of CNB, and a "Joint Stipulation of Facts and Issues of Law." The parties stipulated that none of the spouses intended to become personally obligated for the indebtedness by signing the collateral mortgage and mortgage note. It was also stipulated *35 that at the time of the loan transaction there was no discussion of the personal liability of the spouses. The parties further stipulated that the property was not separately appraised and that the debtors never requested separate appraisals.

The trial court resolved both issues presented in favor of appellees. In its opinion, the trial court held that Gayle J. Rogers, Dorothy Stafford Bennett, and Lawanna Mae Beck Hartsfield had no personal liability to CNB and that the failure to separately appraise the three tracts barred CNB from obtaining a deficiency judgment against the defendants.

CNB appeals alleging the trial court erred in its ruling on both issues.

DISCUSSION

I. The Appraisal Process:

It is well settled that a creditor seeking to obtain a deficiency judgment has the burden of establishing compliance with two criteria: (1) insufficiency of the sale proceeds to satisfy the underlying debt; and (2) sale of the seized property after appraisal in accordance with the codal and statutory requirements for executory proceedings. First Federal Savings and Loan Assn. of New Iberia v. Moss, 616 So.2d 648 (La.1993); First Acadiana Bank v. Bieber, 582 So.2d 1293, 1296 (La.1991); First Guaranty Bank, Hammond, Louisiana v. Baton Rouge Petroleum Center, Inc., 529 So.2d 834, 842 (La.1988).

Appellant argues that First Financial Bank, FSB v. Hunter Forest Limited Partnership, 456 So.2d 1380 (La.1984) is controlling in regard to the appraisal issue presented in this case. We agree.

In Hunter Forest, supra, First Financial Bank brought a proceeding against Hunter Forest Partnership, Ltd. to foreclose by executory process under a special mortgage affecting a tract containing over 115 condominiums, lots, and parcels of land. The partnership moved for, and obtained, an order designating that each condominium, lot and parcel, be sold individually rather than in globo and First Financial unsuccessfully sought to have the court order rescinded. The Supreme Court granted writs. It held that the partnership was not entitled to designate the order in which items or portions of property would be sold in an executory proceeding brought against it by First Financial, even though the property seized under the mortgage was divided or divisible, since the statute permitting such designation is not applicable to executory proceedings. LSA-C.C.P. Arts. 2295, 2631.

In Moss, supra, the Louisiana Supreme Court explained its decision in Hunter Forest as follows:

Hunter Forest, as the Chenault court recognizes, does not stand for the proposition that an in globo sale is unauthorized in an executory proceeding; instead, it lends support to the converse proposition that an in globo sale is authorized in an executory proceeding when a single mortgage encompasses separate properties.

Moss, supra, 616 So.2d at 652 (citations omitted).

However, LSA-R.S. 13:4365(C) sets forth an exception to the creditor's right to compel an in globo sale. This statute provides that "[t]he property seized must be appraised with such minuteness that it can be sold together or separately" (emphasis added). The "minuteness" requirement allows the debtor to establish that an in globo sale would have a prejudicial effect in that a separate sale would be more advantageous as it would secure a potentially higher bid price. See International Harvester Credit Corp. v. Majors, 467 So.2d 1251 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1985).

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Bluebook (online)
628 So. 2d 33, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 3676, 1993 WL 366844, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commercial-nat-bank-v-succession-of-rogers-lactapp-1993.