Fed. Nat. Mortg. v. Prudential Property

517 So. 2d 201, 1987 WL 1504
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 10, 1987
Docket86 CA 1299
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 517 So. 2d 201 (Fed. Nat. Mortg. v. Prudential Property) 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
Fed. Nat. Mortg. v. Prudential Property, 517 So. 2d 201, 1987 WL 1504 (La. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

517 So.2d 201 (1987)

FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION
v.
PRUDENTIAL PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY.

No. 86 CA 1299.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

November 10, 1987.

*202 Michael H. Rubin, Baton Rouge, and William L. Downing, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellant Federal Nat. Mortg. Ass'n.

John A. Stewart, New Orleans, for defendant-appellee Prudential Property and Cas. Ins. Co.

William Morvant & E. Wade Shows, Baton Rouge, for intervenor-appellee Terry Gaughf and Gloria Gaughf.

Before COVINGTON, C.J., and SHORTESS and SAVOIE, JJ.

SAVOIE, Judge.

This action concerns entitlement to insurance proceeds as between mortgagors and a mortgagee. The mortgagee, Federal National Mortgage Association (hereinafter Federal), filed suit against Prudential Property and Casualty Insurance Company, seeking to obtain the proceeds of a homeowner's insurance policy. The mortgagors, Terry Lane Gaughf and Gloria Burch Gaughf (hereinafter the Gaughfs), intervened, claiming that they were entitled to those proceeds. The insurance carrier, Prudential Property and Casualty Insurance Company (hereinafter Prudential), deposited the sum in controversy in the registry of the court, admitting it was due to either Federal or the Gaughfs.

Motions for summary judgment were filed by Federal and the Gaughfs. The trial court granted a summary judgment in favor of the Gaughfs, and Federal now appeals.

Terry Lane Gaughf and Gloria Burch Gaughf purchased the western portion of Lot "F", West Harding Heights Subdivision, Baton Rouge, on March 26, 1975, and executed a promissory note secured by a mortgage, which note was subsequently purchased by Federal. The Gaughfs fell into arrears in their payments under the note. On February 1, 1983, Federal filed suit by executory process against the Gaughfs, seeking a writ of seizure and sale, and requesting that the sale be made without appraisement. The lot and house built on the mortgaged property were seized by the sheriff.

On February 25, 1983, the Gaughfs' home sustained serious fire damage. Federal was notified of the fire damage, but proceeded with the sheriff's sale on March 30, 1983 without appraisement. Federal purchased the property at the sale for the costs of the sale.

Federal now claims the insurance proceeds resulting from the fire under the loss payable clause; the Gaughfs also claim the insurance proceeds, contending that the Deficiency Judgment Act (LSA-R.S. 13:4106 et seq.) destroys whatever right the noteholder, Federal, may have had to the insurance proceeds, as the sheriff's sale was made without appraisement.

Both Federal and the Gaughfs filed motions for summary judgment. On September *203 12, 1983, Judge Lewis Doherty granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of Federal, entitling Federal to the insurance proceeds. The Gaughfs appealed, and this court vacated the judgment of the trial court and remanded the case. Federal National Mortgage Association v. Prudential Property and Casualty Insurance Co., 460 So.2d 45 (La.App. 1st Cir.1984). The case was remanded for the introduction of the homeowner's policy as well as for reconsideration in light of the Louisiana Supreme Court's decision in Rushing v. Dairyland Insurance Company, 456 So.2d 599 (La.1984).[1] Both parties again moved for summary judgment. On July 22, 1986, judgment was signed granting the summary judgment in favor of the Gaughfs.[2]

Federal urges four assignments of error, which are as follows:

1. the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to the Gaughfs and denying summary judgment to Federal.
2. the trial court erred in holding that a sale without appraisement cuts off a mortgage holder's rights as a loss payee under a "standard" or "union" insurance clause.
3. the trial court erred in failing to find that the insurance policy was pledged to Federal and that a sale by executory process without appraisal does not cut off a creditor's right to pursue the pledge, in rem.
4. the trial court erred in failing to hold that the Gaughfs, as owners, were barred from collecting the insurance proceeds once foreclosure proceedings had begun.

Federal contends that it is entitled to the insurance proceeds through the insurance contract, and that the Louisiana Deficiency Judgment Act (LDJA) and the Rushing case do not bar it from obtaining the funds. The Gaughfs contend that Federal's action in foreclosing without appraisal destroys any right it had to the insurance proceeds, based upon the LDJA and the Rushing case.

LDJA, LSA-R.S. 13:4106, provides:

*204 If a mortgagee or other creditor takes advantage of a waiver of appraisement of his property, movable, immovable, or both, by a debtor, and the proceeds of the judicial sale thereof are insufficient to satisfy the debt for which the property was sold, the debt nevertheless shall stand fully satisfied and discharged insofar as it constitutes a personal obligation of the debtor. The mortgagee or other creditor shall not have a right thereafter to proceed against the debtor or any of his other property for such deficiency, except as provided in the next paragraph.
If a mortgage or pledge affects two or more properties, movable, immovable, or both, the judicial sale of any property so affected without appraisement shall not prevent the enforcement of the mortgage or pledge in rem against any other property affected thereby.

Under the LDJA, because Federal sold the Gaughfs' home without appraisal, the mortgage debt the Gaughfs owed Federal was "fully satisfied and discharged." According to University Properties Corp. v. Fidelity National Bank of Baton Rouge, 500 So.2d 888 (La.App. 1st Cir.1986), writ denied, 501 So.2d 762 (La.1987), "[f]ailure to comply with the LDJA effects a full and final discharge (extinguishment) of the debt obligation to which it applies," citing the Rushing case.

The Rushing case concerned a simple loss payable clause; the case before us involves a standard or union clause.[3] We initially remanded this case for the trial court to determine if the rationale in Rushing should apply with a standard loss payee clause. Federal contends Rushing does not control where the mortgagee is a loss payee under the standard clause.

In Bohn v. Louisiana Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co., 482 So.2d 843 (La. App. 2nd Cir.), writ denied, 486 So.2d 750, *205 751, 752 (La.1986), the Second Circuit held that a mortgagee who foreclosed without appraisal had no right to insurance proceeds on the mortgaged property under a standard or union loss payee clause. The Bohn court set forth in more detail the characteristics of a standard or union clause, citing the case of May v. Market Insurance Co., 387 So.2d 1081 (La.1980) (mortgagee loss payee under a standard clause was an "insured" under LSA-R.S. 22:658 for collection of penalties and attorney's fees):

Concerning the effect of the standard mortgage clause, Couch, supra § 42:694 [Couch on Insurance § 42:694 (2d ed. 1963)] provides:

Under the standard or union mortgage clause, an independent or separate contract or undertaking exists between the mortgagee and the insurer, which contract is measured by the terms of the mortgage clause itself.

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Bluebook (online)
517 So. 2d 201, 1987 WL 1504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fed-nat-mortg-v-prudential-property-lactapp-1987.