Iula v. Progress Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n

231 A.2d 510, 247 Md. 421, 1967 Md. LEXIS 379
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJuly 12, 1967
DocketNo. 417
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 231 A.2d 510 (Iula v. Progress Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Iula v. Progress Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n, 231 A.2d 510, 247 Md. 421, 1967 Md. LEXIS 379 (Md. 1967).

Opinion

McWileiams, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The mortgage foreclosure which generated this litigation was first treated in Carozza v. Peacock Land Corp., 231 Md. 112, 188 A. 2d 917 (1963). The effect of our decision in that case was to set the sale aside and order a new sale. After the resale was finally ratified appellants filed a suit for damages in the Court of Common Pleas of Baltimore City which resulted in a summary judgment against them for costs. To promote the cause of brevity and clarity we have prepared a cast of participants which is set forth below:

Peacock —Peacock Land Corporation.
lula —Frank J. lula, an appellant, president and one of the three stockholders of Peacock.
Carmela ■ — -Carmela A. lula, an appellant, the second of the three stockholders of Peacock.
Margie —Margie R. lula, an appellant, the third of the three stockholders of Peacock.
Chipman —Nolan P. Chipman, Esq., an appellant, trustee for the benefit of creditors of Peacock.
Progress ■ — Progress Federal Savings and Loan Association, an appellee.
[423]*423Phillips —John J. Phillips, Esq., an appellee, trustee appointed by the Circuit Court for Baltimore County to foreclose the mortgage from Peacock to Progress.
Carozza —Frank A. Carozza, representing himself and others, the successful bidder at the first foreclosure sale.

In 1957 Peacock owned a parcel of land at York and Timonium Roads in Baltimore County containing approximately \2/z acres on which it conducted a drive-in restaurant. On 22 April 1957 Peacock conveyed .083 acres (of the 1 Yz acres) to Baltimore County. On 31 December 1957 Peacock mortgaged the remainder of the property to Progress to secure a loan of $140,000. Included in the description was the .083 acres sold to Baltimore County 8 months earlier. lula signed the mortgage both as president of Peacock and as an individual. The mortgagors warranted “specially the property [t] hereby conveyed.”

On 4 August 1961, default having occurred, the Circuit Court for Baltimore County appointed Phillips trustee to make sale of the mortgaged property.

On 25 September 1961 Peacock conveyed the property, including the .083 acres, to Chipman, “in trust for the benefit of [Peacock’s creditors].” Chipman was successful in having the foreclosure sale postponed so as to attempt an advantageous private sale of the property. His efforts were in vain.

On 31 October 1962 Peacock’s charter was forfeited because of the non-payment of its franchise tax.

On 10 November 1961 Phillips sold the property to Carozza, the highest bidder at the foreclosure sale, for $275,000. When a title examination revealed the prior conveyance of the .083 acres, Carozza excepted to the ratification of the sale. The decision of the trial court overruling his exceptions was reversed in Carozza v. Peacock Land Corp., supra.

In March 1963 the property was resold for $224,000. No exceptions were filed by Peacock, lula or Chipman, nor was any complaint made to Progress or Phillips in respect of the manner in which the sale was conducted.

[424]*424Carozza succeeded in having the Baltimore County court rule that Phillips had to pay for the cost of the title examination and certain court costs but the greater portion of his claim was denied. An appeal by Carozza was subsequently dismissed. Chip-man also sought, unsuccessfully, to charge Progress and Phillips with costs, interest and expenses incident to the first sale. No appeal was taken from the court’s ruling.

The instant case arises out of the second amended declaration of lula, Carmela and Margie as “sole stockholders, directors and trustees” of Peacock (and Chipman), filed April 1966, against Progress and Phillips. The declaration charges Progress with violating its duty “to use due and reasonable care in handling” the transaction for Peacock, and “to search the title correctly, so that the mortgage would include only the land owned by” Peacock. The declaration further alleges that “by virtue of the gross and wanton negligence, carelessness and irresponsibility” of Progress and Phillips, the plaintiffs “lost the benefit of the best marketable [sic] price of the subject properties.” The ad damnum was $1,100,000.

Progress and Phillips moved for a summary judgment and in support thereof filed an affidavit, the substance of which is as follows:

1. As a result of the deed from Peacock to Chipman neither Peacock nor its stockholders and directors had any interest in the land.
2. Progress, in accepting the mortgage and subsequently foreclosing it, relied on independent counsel and the special warranty of lula and Peacock. Phillips was not employed by Progress. He was a court-appointed fiduciary, entirely independent of Progress. Neither Progress nor Phillips knew of the inclusion of the .083 acres until after the filing of exceptions to the sale. lula knew of the conveyance of the .083 acres and that Peacock had been paid for it. lula did not disclose this, although he and Peacock warranted specially the property described in the mortgage.
3. lula was a party to the foreclosure proceedings, he was represented by counsel and he learned of the error in the advertisement “within a few days subsequent to 10 Sep[425]*425tember 1961” but he did nothing “to cause Chipman to do other than what he did.” lula testified in May 1962, at a hearing on the exceptions, that “the advertisement was substantially correct.”
4. The resale of the property was fully advertised, well attended and fairly conducted. The sale price was representative of its true value. Peacock, lula, Carmela, Margie and Chipman were represented at the sale. None of them filed exceptions or otherwise complained.
5. Chipman tried his best to protect the interests of the stockholders and the creditors of Peacock. The first sale was postponed at Chipman’s request pending his attempts to make an advantageous private sale of the property. After Chipman learned of the error in description he at no time took issue with Phillips’ course of action and, in fact, expressed an opinion that the error was not sufficiently serious to set the sale aside.
6. After the reversal by this Court, Carozza sought to surcharge Phillips and Progress, because of their alleged negligence, with fees and expenses and lula was a party to those proceedings. The appeal from the denial of the major portion of Carozza’s exceptions was later dismissed. Chipman also sought to surcharge Phillips and Progress for their alleged negligence. After a hearing his petition was denied and no appeal was taken. lula was a party, represented by counsel, in all of these proceedings but neither he nor Carmela nor Margie made any attempt to surcharge Progress or Phillips because of their alleged negligence.

lula filed an affidavit of defense but as Judge O’Donnell pointed out it was “short on facts.” He observed that it read “more like the answer to a bill of complaint.” We have examined it carefully and we agree.

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

Related

Ochse v. Henry
33 A.3d 480 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2011)
Iula v. Grampa
263 A.2d 548 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
231 A.2d 510, 247 Md. 421, 1967 Md. LEXIS 379, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/iula-v-progress-federal-savings-loan-assn-md-1967.