Gildea v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

2015 UT 11, 347 P.3d 385, 779 Utah Adv. Rep. 119, 2015 Utah LEXIS 24, 2015 WL 337580
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 27, 2015
Docket20120999
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 2015 UT 11 (Gildea v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gildea v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 2015 UT 11, 347 P.3d 385, 779 Utah Adv. Rep. 119, 2015 Utah LEXIS 24, 2015 WL 337580 (Utah 2015).

Opinion

Justice PARRISH,

opinion of the Court:

INTRODUCTION

+ T1 We are asked to determine whether filing an action to foreclose a judgment lien tolls the expiration of the underlying judgment. Appellant Bruce Gildea filed an action against Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., seeking to foreclose his judgment lien against property owned by Wells Fargo. While the foreclosure action was pending, the judgment lien expired and the district court dismissed the action. In requesting that we reverse the district court, Mr. Gildea asks us to either overturn our precedent holding that a foreclosure action does not toll the expiration of a judgment or hold that Wells Fargo should be *387 estopped from asserting the expiration of the judgment. Mr. Gildea also argues that the district court erred in dismissing his claim of wrongful interference with property rights against appellees Barbara Miles and Classic Cabinets, Inc.

{2 We affirm the district court's dismissal of Mr. Gildea's foreclosure action. In many statute-of-limitations contexts, the filing of an action within the statutory period is sufficient to preserve the underlying claim. However, the Legislature has set a clear expiration period for a judgment, which is different from a statute of limitations, and has provided a mechanism for renewing judgments. Because Mr. Gildea failed to avail himself of this mechanism, the district court correctly dismissed his foreclosure action,. We also affirm the district court's dismissal of Mr. Gildea's claim against Classic Cabinets 1 because that claim is legally insufficient.

BACKGROUND

13 We affirm a district court's dismissal of an action under rule 12(b)(6) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure only when the plaintiff has not alleged, or cannot prove, facts sufficient for relief. Hudgens v. Prosper, Inc., 2010 UT 68, ¶ 14, 243 P.3d 1275. We therefore take the facts alleged in Mr. Gildea's compliant and view them in the light most favorable to his claims.

14 Classic Cabinets obtained a judgment in the amount of $11,069.25 plus 24 percent interest per annum against Russell/Packard Development and Lawrence Russell (collectively, R/P Development) on July 28, 2004. Classic Cabinets recorded the judgment, thereby obtaining a judgment lien against all property owned by R/P Development, including Marina Village Lot 11. For about one and a half years, R/P Development made payments to Classic Cabinets, reducing the amount due on the judgment to $8,457.06. Classic Cabinets subsequently sold all of its remaining rights under the judgment to Mr. Gildea for $1,500. R/P Development stopped paying on the judgment after Classic Cabinets sold it to Mr. Gildea. Mr. Gildea took no action to satisfy the judgment for over five years.

15 On August 16, 2006, Wells Fargo obtained its own judgment against R/P Development for $300,257.27. Five months later, Wells Fargo purchased Marina Village Lot 11 at a sheriff's sale conducted pursuant to a writ of execution. Because Mr. Gildea's judgment lien was senior to that of Wells Fargo, Wells Fargo acquired the lot subject to Mr. Gildea's lien.

16 Approximately four years after purchasing Marina Village Lot 11, Wells Fargo sought and obtained from Classic Cabinets a satisfaction of the judgment that Classic Cabinets had previously sold to Mr. Gildea. Mr. Gildea alleges, and Wells Fargo stipulates, that the satisfaction was invalid because, at the time it was entered, Classic Cabinets no longer owned the judgment.

T7 On April 16, 2012, approximately three months before his judgment was due to expire, Mr. Gildea filed an action against Wells Fargo seeking to foreclose the lien on Marina Village Lot 11. Wells Fargo filed a timely answer to Mr. Gildea's complaint, in which it alleged several defenses and counterclaims. Mr. Gildea responded to the counterclaims and amended his complaint to assert claims against Classic Cabinets and Ms. Miles based on the invalid satisfaction of judgment they had provided to Wells Fargo. 2

*388 1 8 On August 28, 2012, Wells Fargo filed a motion to dismiss Mr. Gildea's complaint pursuant to rule 12(b)(6) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure. Wells Fargo argued that the judgment had expired on July 28, 2012-eight years after the date of its entry. Wells Fargo further alleged that because a foreclosure action does not renew or extend a judgment, Mr. Gildea could no longer foreclose his lien on Marina Village Lot 11, which had expired along with the judgment. Classic Cabinets and Ms. Miles subsequently joined Wells Fargo in its motion to dismiss, arguing that all claims against them should likewise be dismissed. Mr. Gildea opposed the motion, arguing that filing the foreclosure action extended the duration of the judgment and related lien. The district court granted Wells Fargo's motion. Relying on the plain language of Utah Code section 78B-5-202 and our precedent interpreting that statute, the district court ruled that Mr. Gildea's "filing of the foreclosure action ... did not extend the duration of the underlying judgment" and that the underlying judgment and lien thus expired on July 28, 2012. Mr. Gildea filed a timely notice of appeal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Utah Code seetion 78A-8-102(8)(J).

STANDARD OF REVIEW

19 "We review the grant of a motion to dismiss for correctness, granting no deference to the decision of the district court." Hudgens v. Prosper, Inc., 2010 UT 68, ¶ 14, 243 P.3d 1275.

ANALYSIS

110 Mr. Gildea appeals the district court's dismissal of his foreclosure action. Mr. Gildea argues that filing the foreclosure action within the eight-year duration of the judgment should have tolled its expiration. In so arguing, Mr. Gildea asks us to overturn Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation v. Walker, in which we held that filing a foreclosure action does not extend the duration of a judgment. 115 Utah 461, 206 P.2d 146, 147-48 (1949). Mr. Gildea argues that our holding in that case "encourages defendants to stall and engage in dilatory conduct in order to allow the judgment associated with the lien to expire."

{11 Mr. Gildea alternatively argues that the district court erred because it was inequitable to dismiss his suit. Specifically, Mr. Gildea reasons that a foreclosure action was his only means of enforcing the lien and therefore the filing of the action should have tolled its expiration. He further asserts that Wells Fargo should be estopped from raising the expiration of the judgment because, by asserting unmeritorious defenses and counterclaims in its answer to Mr. Gildea's complaint, Wells Fargo unfairly extended the foreclosure litigation past the judgment's expiration. Finally, Mr. Gildea asserts that the district court erred in dismissing his suit without considering his cause of action against Classic Cabinets and Ms. Miles for wrongful interference with property. We discuss each argument in turn.

I. FILING A FORECLOSURE ACTION DOES NOT TOLL THE EXPIRATION OF A JUDGMENT

112 Judgment liens are creatures of statute without any basis in the common law. Cox Corp. v. Vertin, 754 P.2d 938

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Farm Bureau v. Weston
2025 UT 42 (Utah Supreme Court, 2025)
Mulligan v. Alum Rock Riverside
2024 UT 22 (Utah Supreme Court, 2024)
Harris v. Deparment of Health and Human Services
2024 UT App 97 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2024)
Zions Bancorporation v. Schwab
2023 UT App 105 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2023)
Sanders v. Sanders
2021 UT App 122 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2021)
Zion Village Resort v. Pro Curb USA
2020 UT App 167 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2020)
Densley v. Dyches
D. Utah, 2019
Bylsma v. R.C.WilleyHumanTouch
2017 UT 85 (Utah Supreme Court, 2017)
Zisumbo v. Ogden Regional Medical Center
2015 UT App 240 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2015 UT 11, 347 P.3d 385, 779 Utah Adv. Rep. 119, 2015 Utah LEXIS 24, 2015 WL 337580, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gildea-v-wells-fargo-bank-na-utah-2015.