James D. Hobson, Jr. v. Chase Home Finance, L.L.C.

179 So. 3d 1026, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 584, 2015 WL 8481601
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 10, 2015
Docket2014-CA-00405-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 179 So. 3d 1026 (James D. Hobson, Jr. v. Chase Home Finance, L.L.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
James D. Hobson, Jr. v. Chase Home Finance, L.L.C., 179 So. 3d 1026, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 584, 2015 WL 8481601 (Mich. 2015).

Opinion

KITCHENS, Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. James D. Hobson, Jr., cast the highest bid at a foreclosure sale on real property in Warren County. The receipt Hobson obtained at the salé disclaimed that the sale was subject to withdrawal in the event of a timely reinstatement by the obligor on the deed of trust. The day before the sale, Deborah Quimby, the defaulting obligor on the deed of trust, reinstated the loan with Chase Home Finance, the obligee, and Priority Trustee Services of Mississippi, the trustee. Although Hobson’s, check was returned, he sued- Chase' and Priority for breach of contract, arguing that he was entitled to receive the difference in the *1028 amount he had bid for the property and the appraised value of the property. The Warren County Court initially granted summary judgment to, Hobson and the Circuit Court of Warren County affirmed; but this Court reversed and remanded for a determination of whether Quimby validly had reinstated her loan prior to the foreclosure sale. Chase Home Finance, L.L.C. v. Hobson, 81 So.3d 1097 (Miss.2012). On remand, the County Court of Warren County granted - summary judgment to Chase, and Priority and the Circuit Court of Warren County affirmed. Finding no error in the respective judgments of the County Court of Warren County and the Circuit Court of Warren County, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Deborah Quimby, on April 11, 1996, executed a deed of trust through Magnolia Federal Bank for Savings on realty in Warren County, Mississippi, which secured the $66,500 loan she had obtained to purchase the property. On May 1, 2001, the deed of trust was assigned by Union Planters Bank, N.A., successor by acquisition to Magnolia Federal Bank for Savings, to Chase Mortgage Company. Chase Home Finance, LLO (Chase), was successor by merger with Chase Mortgage Company. Priority Services of Mississippi, LLC (Priority), was substituted as the trustee under the deed of trust on September 19, 2006.

¶ 3. Quimby defaulted and, pursuant to the terms of the deed of trust, Priority noticed the sale of the property “for cash to the highest bidder” on February 19, 2008, which was to take place on March 20, 2008, between. 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The Substitute Trustee’s Notice of. Sale was published in the Vicksburg Post newspaper on or after February 28, 2008. James D. Hobson, Jr., read the notice in the newspaper and decided to place a bid on the property. According to his affidavit, Hobson personally appeared at,the foreclosure sale on the appointed date and “bid the sum $60,948.82, which bid was the highest and best bid made.” Hobson, also according to his affidavit, “paid the agreed purchase price by delivering to Priority’s agent a Regions Bank cashier’s check in the amount of $60,948.82, which check was received -and accepted by Priority’s agent.” The cashier’s check was dated March. 20, 2008.

¶ 4. The receipt which Hobson received after having tendered the cashier’s check bore the following disclaimer: “The sale will not be ■ considered final until all requirements have been met and may be withdrawn based on a timely re-instatement _” On March 31, 2008, the cashier’s check Hobson had tendered was returned to him because, “[á]t the time of sale [the] trustee had not; been made aware that Ms. Quimby had made timely re-instatement.” Consequently, Hobson filed a complaint in the County Court of Warren County against Chase and Priority. He alleged a breach of contract claim: “defendants have faded and refused to tender to plaintiff a trustee’s deed to the subject property and have further failed and refused to deliver possession of the subject property to the plaintiff.” He sought , “an order compelling the defendants to accept the funds previously delivered and paid by the plaintiff in accordance with his accepted bid at the foreclosure sale and to convey by valid trustee’s deed the subject property ....” Alternatively, Hobson sought “compensatory damages sufficient to compensate him for losses suffered as a .consequence of defendants’ failure to fulfill their obligations under the contract, together with punitive damages and reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses” not to exceed $75,006.

*1029 ¶ 5. On September 12, 2008, Hobson filed a motion for summary judgment. Attached to Hobson's motion for summary judgment was the affidavit of a licensed real estate appraiser, which indicated that the value of the Warren County property which Hobson had purchased at the foreclosure sale had an appraised value, as of March 20, 2008, of $156,000. As such, Hobson claimed, he was entitled to “damages in the amount of $95,051.18, being the difference in the value of the property and the price paid therefor by Plaintiff.” 1

¶6. On September 9, 2009, Chase and Priority filed a joint response to Hobson’s motion for summary judgment and cross motion for summary judgment. Chase and Priority attached to the cross motion an affidavit from LaShun Palmer, a reinstatement/payoff representativé of Prom-mis Solutions, Inc., which had been retained to “handle the processing of the foreclosure sale and any possible reinstatement of the Property.” Palmer, whose office maintained the records of the sale, stated in his affidavit that “the borrower for the subject loan that was in. default was provided with reinstatement requirements and she complied with those requirements prior to the foreclosure sale that was cried on March 20, 2008.” Palmer further stated that he had taken “the steps necessary to cancel the'crying of the sale” but that he had been unsuccessful in so doing.

¶7. On November 9, 2009, the County Court of Warren County heard oral argument on the respective motions for summary judgment filed by- Hobson and Chase/Priority. The court ore terns granted summary judgment to Hobson and awarded him a judgment of $95,061.18, plus prejudgment interest on the judgment from the date- of the foreclosure sale on March 20, 2008. The eourt entered a written judgment on December 1, 2009, which memorialized its award of $95,051.18, plus prejudgment interest, to Hobson' and awarded attorney’s fees .and.expenses in the amount of $10,868.60.

¶8. Chase and Priority appealed the decision of .the county court to the Circuit Court, of Warren County, which “affirmed summary judgment for Hobson on Chase’s liability, holding that .the parties had formed a contract and had. breached that contract.” 2 Chase, Home Fin., L.L.C. v. Hobson (Hobson I), 81 So.3d 1097, 1100 (Miss.2012). As for damages, “the circuit court held that there were genuine issues as to the existence and amount .of damages and ordered a trial on these issues.” Id.

¶ 9. Chase and Priority then sought interlocutory appeal, which this Court granted on March 30, 2011. This Court found that, “[i]f Quimby did, in fact, reinstate her loan prior to the foreclosure sale, then she was no longer in default and Chase could not convey the property at the foreclosure sale, pursuant to Section 89-1-59. If Chase conducted the sale without statutory authority, then the foreclosure sale was void.” Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
179 So. 3d 1026, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 584, 2015 WL 8481601, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/james-d-hobson-jr-v-chase-home-finance-llc-miss-2015.