Government Financial Services One Ltd. Partnership v. Peyton Place, Inc.

62 F.3d 767, 32 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 376, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 25273, 1995 WL 497365
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 7, 1995
Docket94-30297
StatusPublished
Cited by92 cases

This text of 62 F.3d 767 (Government Financial Services One Ltd. Partnership v. Peyton Place, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Government Financial Services One Ltd. Partnership v. Peyton Place, Inc., 62 F.3d 767, 32 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 376, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 25273, 1995 WL 497365 (5th Cir. 1995).

Opinion

EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judge:

Peyton Place, Inc., appeals from the district court’s denial of both its motion for relief from judgment, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b), and its motion for a new trial, see Fed. R.Civ.P. 59(a). We affirm.

I

At the time of the events underlying this suit, Robert Guastella was President of Management Equities Corp. (“MEC”), now known as I — 10, Inc., and a shareholder and employee of Peyton Place, Inc. (“Peyton Place”). MEC executed a promissory note in the amount of $600,000 in favor of Southern Savings Bank (“Southern Savings”). The $600,000 note was secured by a mortgage encumbering a hotel in New Orleans, Louisi *769 ana. Ownership of the hotel was subsequently transferred to Peyton Place, which assumed the indebtedness.

Several years after the hotel mortgage was executed, Robert Guastella obtained a loan from Southern Savings in the amount of $114,000, which was secured by a mortgage on his residence, 3721 Rue Chardonnay, in Metairie, Louisiana. Soon thereafter, Pey-ton Place executed a mortgage encumbering two units of Metairie condominiums known as Peyton Place Condominiums, both of which are owned by Peyton Place.

The Resolution Trust Corporation (“RTC”), during the time it was the receiver for Southern Savings, 1 filed suit in state court against Peyton Place and I — 10, seeking to foreclose on the condominium mortgage. The RTC contended that the condominium mortgage was executed as additional security for the $600,000 note, which is past due. Peyton Place contends that the condominium mortgage was executed as additional security for the $114,000 residential loan.

The court presiding over the foreclosure proceedings scheduled a sheriffs sale of the condominiums. Before the sale could take place, however, Peyton Place filed a “Petition for Issuance of an Injunction to Arrest Seizure and Sale under Executory Process,” and the RTC removed the matter to federal court.

At the federal district court’s hearing on Peyton Place’s request for injunctive relief, Peyton Place submitted to the court a photocopy of the condominium mortgage that is on file in the Jefferson Parish Mortgage Office. 2 On its face, the mortgage stipulates that it secures the $600,000 promissory note assumed by Peyton Place. Peyton Place contended at the hearing that the mortgage had been altered before it was filed, and called several witnesses to testify in support of its assertion.

The district court denied Peyton Place’s request for injunctive relief, concluding that Peyton Place “had not sustained their burden on the issue of fraud or lack of authenticity so as to justify setting aside a mortgage which on its face[ ] appeared to be duly prepared, executed, and recorded.” Peyton Place filed a “Motion to Supplement, for New Trial and/or for Relief from Judgment,” in which it moved for a new trial under Rule 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or, in the alternative, relief from the court’s judgment under Rule 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Procedure. Peyton Place filed three mem-oranda in support of its motion.

With the motion, Peyton Place filed a “Memorandum in Support of Motion to Supplement, for New Trial and/or for Relief from Judgment” (the “First Memorandum”), in which it stated that it had obtained three appraisal sketches of 3721 Rue Chardonnay. Peyton Place argued that the court should reconsider its judgment in light of the sketches.

Peyton Place later filed an “Ex Parte Motion to File Supplemental Memorandum and Memorandum in Support” (the “Second Memorandum”), in which it informed the court that it had obtained a copy of a forbearance agreement between Peyton Place and Southern Savings, 3 and that it had discovered that the first page of the condominium mortgage filed in the Jefferson Parish mortgage records is a photocopy. 4 Peyton Place argued that its discovery of the agree *770 ment and missing mortgage page provided further reason for the court to reconsider its judgment.

Peyton Place then filed an “Ex Parte Motion to File Second Supplemental Memorandum in Support of Motion for New Trial and/or Relief from Judgment and Memorandum in Support” (the “Third Memorandum”), in which it stated that it had received a letter from Oster & Wegener, Southern Savings’ attorneys, and that Oster & Wegener claimed in the letter that all of the documents in their possession concerning the relevant loans and mortgage had been seized by the RTC before the trial. In its Third Memorandum, Peyton Place argued that the RTC’s failure to produce these documents at trial provided additional grounds for the court to reconsider its judgment.

The district court denied Peyton Place’s motion, concluding that it “amount[ed] to little more than an attempt to reargue its case through a new attorney.” 5 Peyton Place appeals the district court’s denial, claiming that the court erred in holding that it was not entitled to either a new trial under Rule 59 or relief from the court’s judgment under Rule 60(b). 6

II

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b), a court may relieve a party from a final judgment on the basis of newly discovered evidence, evidence of misconduct on the part of an adverse party, or “any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment.” 7 We will reverse a district court’s denial of a Rule 60(b) motion only if the court abused its discretion. First Nationwide Bank v. Summer House Joint Venture, 902 F.2d 1197, 1200-01 (5th Cir.1990). We apply this deferential standard “to ensure that 60(b) motions do not undermine the requirement of a timely appeal.” Id. “ ‘[T]o overturn the district court’s denial of [a] Rule 60(b) motion, it is not enough that a grant of the motion might have been permissible or warranted; rather, the decision to deny the motion must have been sufficiently unwarranted as to amount to an abuse of discretion.’ ” Lancaster v. Presley, 35 F.3d 229, 231 (5th Cir.1994) (quoting Fackelman v. Bell, 564 F.2d 734, 736 (5th Cir.1977)), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 115 S.Ct. 1380, 131 L.Ed.2d 233 (1995).

A

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Bluebook (online)
62 F.3d 767, 32 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 376, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 25273, 1995 WL 497365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/government-financial-services-one-ltd-partnership-v-peyton-place-inc-ca5-1995.