Heimann v. Adee

924 P.2d 1352, 122 N.M. 340
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 23, 1996
Docket22903
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 924 P.2d 1352 (Heimann v. Adee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Heimann v. Adee, 924 P.2d 1352, 122 N.M. 340 (N.M. 1996).

Opinion

OPINION

MINZNER, Justice.

Appellant J Casper Heimann appeals from the district court’s affirmance of an administrative decision of the Commissioner of Public Lands (the Commissioner) and dismissal of his declaratory judgment action. He contends he had an interest as a result of a sublease in a state grazing lease sold at a sheriffs sale and assigned by the Commissioner to the purchaser at that sale. This appeal requires us to consider initially whether a sheriffs sale ordered by a district court to enforce its judgment is subject to collateral attack in another district court. We determine that NMSA 1978, Section 39-4-1 (Repl.Pamp.1991) precludes such an attack. We also conclude that the Commissioner was not an indispensable party to either the sheriffs sale or the underlying proceeding. Finally, we conclude that although the Commissioner had authority to resolve the question of whether Heimann’s interest, if any, survived the sheriffs sale, we hold that the trial court did not err in affirming the Commissioner’s administrative decision. Our disposition of the foregoing issues resolves all issues raised by the declaratory judgment action. Therefore, we affirm.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURE

In 1970 ranchers Johnann and Bobby Adee and the Commissioner entered into GS-1239, a state grazing lease encompassing some 6,275 acres in Harding County. The parties have renewed this lease several times, most recently in 1992.

In July 1993 Appellee First National Bank in Clayton obtained a $2.4 million judgment against the Adees in Reeves v. Adee, Union County District Court Cause No. 93-6-CV {Reeves). Thereafter, the Union County District Court issued a writ of execution, and the Harding County Sheriff levied against the Adees’ leasehold interest in GS-1239. Following advertisement in the local newspaper, the sheriff sold the leasehold to Appellees Ray A. Snead, Jr., Claire W. Snead, Ray A. Snead, III, Will Snead, Tom M. Hills, and Ann B. Hills d/b/a Alamo Ranch, at a public auction held on November 16, 1993 (Alamo Ranch). Heimann, Johnann Adee’s brother, was present at that auction, and he unsuccessfully bid for the leasehold.

Heimann claims that he entered into a written lease contract with the Adees wherein they agreed to sublease 1 GS-1239 to him and his son for a term of six years. Heimann asserts that this agreement was executed on January 1,1993 and that he paid the Adees $52,320 (one year’s rental) at that time. He also claims that he had been subleasing the subject grazing rights from the Adees for several years prior to 1993 pursuant to an oral agreement. There is a factual dispute over whether the Adees in fact ever previously sublet GS-1239 to the Heimanns pursuant to an oral lease. There is also a factual dispute about whether the Adees and the Heimanns actually executed the written lease agreement in January 1993. Appellees claim that the Heimanns and the Adees in fact executed the sublease documents in September 1993 following the dismissal of the Adees’ bankruptcy petition.

On September 14, 1993, two months prior to the sheriffs sale, the Adees submitted to the Commissioner an application to sublet GS-1239 to the Heimanns. The Commissioner, however, took no action on the application until after the sheriffs sale. When he finally acted on the application in December 1993, the Commissioner took the position that the sheriffs sale was valid, and that the property therefore could not be sublet as requested. The Commissioner accordingly disapproved the request.

On November 12, 1993, one week prior to the sheriffs sale, Heimann filed with the State Land Office a petition contesting the sale of GS-1239. The Commissioner dismissed that claim without elaboration in an “order denying notice of contest.” Heimann then filed the instant action, a de novo appeal, in the Harding County District Court.

While Heimann’s appeal from the Commissioner’s dismissal was pending in the Harding County District Court, Heimann attempted to intervene in Reeves, the Union County District Court proceeding. The Union County District Court denied the motion to intervene, filed nearly four months after the sheriffs sale, on the grounds that the motion was untimely and Heimann’s property interest in the leasehold was not “sufficient to bring his claim of interest within [the purview of NMRA 1-024(A)(2) (1996) ],” In reaching the latter conclusion, the court reasoned that the Adees’ purported sublease to Heimann was void because the Commissioner had never consented to that sublease.

Heimann subsequently moved for summary judgment in Harding County District Court. In his motion he asked that the sale of GS-1239 be declared void and that the Commissioner be ordered to set aside the assignment of GS-1239 to Alamo Ranch. Heimann sought to have the Harding County District Court vacate the execution sale on the ground that it failed to comply with various requirements applicable to real property. The Harding County District Court, however, declined to revisit the execution sale proceedings, concluding that Section 39-4-1 precluded it from doing so. The Harding County District Court entered a final order denying the motion for summary judgment, affirming the decision of the Commissioner, and dismissing Heimann’s petition for declaratory judgment. The present appeal arises from that order.

II. DISCUSSION

The parties have focussed research and argument in large part on the question whether GS-1239, the state grazing leasehold, is personal property or real property. The focus on whether under New Mexico law we classify a state grazing lease as realty or personalty arises in part from Heimann’s arguments that a lien must exist before the sheriff may levy upon or sell real property pursuant to a writ of execution and that no lien existed in this case. Heimann also asserts that the leasehold’s classification as realty or personalty is germane to the issue whether the sheriffs levy and sale complied with certain statutory requirements that are applicable to real estate. See NMSA 1978, §§ 39-4-4, 39^1-9, 39-5-5 (Repl.Pamp.1991).

Relying primarily upon statutory arguments, Heimann asserts that such a property interest constitutes real property. See NMSA 1978, § 39-5-1.2 (Repl.Pamp.1991); NMSA 1978, § 47-1-1 (Repl.Pamp.1995). On the other hand, Alamo Ranch relies on case law for the proposition that a state grazing leasehold is personal property. See American Mortgage Co. v. White, 34 N.M. 602, 605, 287 P. 702, 703 (1930); Resolution Trust Corp. v. Binford, 114 N.M. 560, 567-70, 844 P.2d 810, 817-20 (1992). We conclude that the focus on classification of a state grazing leasehold as real or personal property is misplaced. We need not classify the property at issue in order to resolve the issues raised on appeal.

Heimann’s argument that a lien must exist before a sheriff may levy upon and sell real property in the course of efforts to enforce a judgment is not quite accurate. He equates two supplementary proceedings that are in fact different. The two distinct remedies in question are execution in aid of a judgment and foreclosure on a lien. This Court recognized in Armstrong v. Csurilla, 112 N.M.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
924 P.2d 1352, 122 N.M. 340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heimann-v-adee-nm-1996.