MARGARETTEN & CO., INC. v. Martinez

550 N.E.2d 8, 193 Ill. App. 3d 223, 140 Ill. Dec. 526, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 31
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJanuary 16, 1990
Docket2-89-0426
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 550 N.E.2d 8 (MARGARETTEN & CO., INC. v. Martinez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
MARGARETTEN & CO., INC. v. Martinez, 550 N.E.2d 8, 193 Ill. App. 3d 223, 140 Ill. Dec. 526, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 31 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

JUSTICE DUNN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendants, Richard and Joyce Martinez, appeal from the denial of their motions to vacate an order approving the sale of their home pursuant to a foreclosure decree and for an injunction to stay their evictions from the home. Defendants argue that the motions should have been granted because the trial court set the wrong deadline in the foreclosure decree for them to redeem their property, and they could have done so by the proper deadline. We affirm.

Plaintiff, Margaretten & Company, Inc., filed a foreclosure complaint against defendants on June 13, 1988. The sheriff’s return of service states that Joyce Martinez was personally served at the subject residence at 605 Christine Drive in McHenry on the afternoon of June 24, 1988. The return states that Richard Martinez was served by substituted service at the same time and place and that copies of the summons and complaint were mailed to him at that address four days later.

Richard Martinez filed a pro se general appearance on July 22, 1988. Since defendants failed to file an answer or otherwise plead, the trial court found they were in default and entered a judgment of foreclosure on September 16, 1988. The judgment order provided that the redemption period for the property would expire on January 25, 1989, and that the property would be sold after that date if it was not redeemed by defendants. The court also stated in the order that there was no just reason to delay enforcement or appeal from the order.

On February 15, 1989, a sheriff’s sale of the subject property was conducted. Two third parties, Kailish Prasad and Paul Javaras, submitted the highest bid and purchased the property. That same day, the trial court issued an order confirming the sale and granting possession to the purchasers after 30 days. This order also states there is no reason to delay enforcement or appeal from the order. On April 3, defendants presented a motion asking the trial court to vacate the February 15 order and another motion seeking an injunction to prohibit their eviction until further order of the court. Defendants also requested in the motion to vacate that the court issue an order requiring the clerk of the circuit court to accept payment of the funds necessary to redeem the property and restoring defendants to the subject premises.

Defendants alleged in the motions that Richard Martinez was never properly served because he was not residing with his wife at the time of the attempted substituted service, the sheriff’s return does not reflect that a copy of the summons for Richard was left with Joyce, the deputy did not explain the contents of the summons and complaint to Joyce, and no copies of the summons and complaint were subsequently mailed to Richard or Joyce. These allegations were supported by the attached affidavits of both defendants.

The motions further allege that since Richard was never properly served, the seven-month redemption period should have been calculated from the date he submitted to the jurisdiction of the court, July 22, 1988, rather than the date of service, June 24, 1988. This would mean that the proper date for expiration of the redemption period was February 22, 1989, rather than January 25, 1989, the date set by the trial court in the foreclosure decree.

Richard’s affidavit states that he appeared in court on February 15, 1989, and advised the trial judge that he had sufficient funds to redeem the property. The trial judge advised Richard that the redemption period had expired.

After hearing argument, the trial court denied the motions without affording defendants the opportunity to present evidence. Defendants filed a timely notice of appeal from the denial of the motions.

Although plaintiff has not filed a brief with this court, the third-party purchasers, Javaras and Prasad, have done so. Since the purchasers do not appear to contest defendants’ claim that service upon Richard was improper under section 2 — 203 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 2 — 203), and since the facts in Richard’s affidavit support such a conclusion, we shall assume defendants’ claim is correct. Proceeding under this assumption, defendants’ argument that the trial court should have set February 22, 1989, rather than January 25, 1989, is clearly correct. Section 15 — 1603(b) of the Code states in relevant part as follows:

“In the foreclosure of a mortgage of real estate which is residential real estate at the time the foreclosure is commenced, the redemption period shall end on the later of (i) the date seven months from the date the mortgagor or, if more than one, all the mortgagors (A) have been served with summons or by publication or (B) have otherwise submitted to the jurisdiction of the court, or (ii) the date three months from the date of entry of a judgment of foreclosure.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 15 — 1603(b).)

The date all the mortgagors had either been served with summons or submitted to the court’s jurisdiction was July 22, 1988, the day Richard filed his appearance. The date seven months from this date was February 22, 1989. The date three months from entry of the judgment of foreclosure was December 16, 1988. February 22, 1989, the later date, was the date the trial judge should have set for expiration of the redemption period.

This does not necessarily mean, however, that defendants were entitled to the relief requested in their motions. Defendants requested in their motion to vacate that they be allowed to redeem the property even though the redemption period had expired. There are cases in which it has been held that a court of equity may permit redemption after expiration of the statutory time period if fraud, mistake, or some other infirmity on the part of a public official or the purchaser prevented redemption within that period. (See, e.g., American Savings Association v. Conrath (1984), 123 Ill. App. 3d 140, 147; Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Chambers (1980), 88 Ill. App. 3d 952, 957.) These cases, however, predate the adoption of the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 15 — 1101 et seq.), which is now a part of the Code and is applicable to this case since the foreclosure complaint was filed after July 1, 1987 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 15-1106).

Section 15 — 1605 of the Code states as follows:

“No equitable right of redemption shall exist or be enforceable under or with respect to a mortgage after a judicial sale of the mortgaged real estate pursuant to Section 15 — 1507 or afentry of a judgment of foreclosure pursuant to Sections 15-1402 or 15-1403.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 15-1605.)

Since a judgment of foreclosure had been entered and a judicial sale had been held as of the time defendants presented their motions, section 15 — 1605 prohibited the trial judge from using his equitable powers to extend the redemption period.

Defendants’ motion to vacate the February 15, 1989, order approving the sale of their property did not specify under which statutory provision they were proceeding.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
550 N.E.2d 8, 193 Ill. App. 3d 223, 140 Ill. Dec. 526, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 31, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/margaretten-co-inc-v-martinez-illappct-1990.