Mueller v. Simmons

634 S.W.2d 533, 1982 Mo. App. LEXIS 2883
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 20, 1982
Docket43961
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 634 S.W.2d 533 (Mueller v. Simmons) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mueller v. Simmons, 634 S.W.2d 533, 1982 Mo. App. LEXIS 2883 (Mo. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

GUNN, Judge.

The issues in this quiet title action are directed at whether there was compliance with the foreclosure sale notice provisions of section 443.325, RSMo 1978 and whether there was gross inadequacy of consideration along with' other circumstances indicating unfairness in the sale. The trial court found the notice procedures in compliance with the statute and approved the foreclosure sale. We affirm.

Plaintiff-respondent Ida Mueller and her husband sold certain real estate in Hannibal to defendant-appellant C. E. Simmons, Jr. In partial payment of the property, Simmons gave the Muellers a promissory note for $4204.80, secured by a deed of trust, with P. Pierre Dominique as trustee. Mr. Mueller died in April, 1977, and in July, 1977, the trustee informed Simmons by letter that payments on the note were delinquent and requested $1865.12 as the amount owing. An extensive correspondence followed between Simmons and the trustee, with Simmons disputing the amount due and promising to supply evidence of payment. When no such evidence was forthcoming the trustee informed Simmons on July 3, 1978 of his intention to foreclose.

Notice of a foreclosure sale to be held August 25, 1978 was given pursuant to sections 443.320-.325, RSMo 1978. However, the trustee promptly discontinued proceedings upon receipt of a $1865.12 check from Simmons, which the trustee agreed to hold for thirty days to allow Simmons additional time to present evidence of past payments.

Simmons subsequently succeeded in locating fourteen cancelled checks in the sum of $200 each. Maintaining that he had paid eighteen $200 checks, Simmons sent the trustee a check for $604.80, which he represented as full payment of the note. At Simmons’ request, the trustee returned the $1865.12 check and retained the $604.80 but continued to dispute the amount due on the note, particularly since four of the $200 checks remained missing. After computing the dollar amount that he deemed due on the note, the trustee advised Simmons in a letter dated September 26, 1978 that the note would be cancelled upon receipt from *535 Simmons of a final payment of $374.92 plus copies of the four missing $200 checks 1 .

Simmons again failed to comply, despite further entreaties from the trustee. In a letter dated January 15, 1979 the trustee warned Simmons that foreclosure proceedings would again be instituted if the final $374.92 payment and the proof of four past payments were not received by February 1, 1979. Receiving no response, the trustee commenced foreclosure, publishing the statutorily required notice of the sale in a Hannibal newspaper and attempting to send Simmons individual notice of the sale by certified mail. The sale was held in Hannibal on March 23,1979, and Mrs. Mueller, the only bidder, purchased the property for $900.

Shortly thereafter, the trustee wrote Simmons of the results of the sale. Simmons responded on June 1, 1979, sending the trustee the four missing cancelled checks—three in the amount of $200, one for $137. No further action was taken with respect to the property until Mrs. Mueller, who wished to sell the property to another purchaser, filed this suit to quiet title. In his counterclaim, Simmons alleged that the foreclosure sale was wrongful, requesting the trial court to set it aside and grant him damages along with the right to redeem the property. The trial court found in favor of Mrs. Mueller on her cause of action and against Simmons’ counterclaim, adjudging Mrs. Mueller to be vested with fee simple title to the property. Mrs. Mueller ultimately sold the property to a buyer for $13,000.

We review the judgment of the trial court in this court-tried case mindful that we must affirm it unless it erroneously declares or applies the law, is unsupported by substantial evidence or is against the weight of the evidence. We view the facts in the light most favorable to the judgment and defer to the trial court’s resolution of conflicts in evidence. Ozark Wood Industries, Inc. v. First National Bank of Doniphan, 625 S.W.2d 651, 653-54 (Mo.App.1981).

In his first point Simmons contends that the trial court erred in finding that the trustee complied with section 443.325.3(3), RSMo 1978, which requires individual notice of a foreclosure sale to be sent to the mortgagor in the deed of trust by certified or registered mail, with postage prepaid.

The primary evidence of compliance with the notice provisions of section 443.-325.3 was in the form of two envelopes enclosing the notice of the sale. Each envelope was addressed to Simmons, one to his Hannibal address 2 and the other to his Maryland Heights, St. Louis County address. Simmons had corresponded with the trustee from each address. Each envelope contained the same amount of postage with a certified mail label affixed. The St. Louis County addressed envelope, to which no challenge is made as being the proper address for notice, had been stamped with a notation of 25 cents postage due. But that notation had been cancelled out and a 25 cent stamp added. The envelope also had a claim check affixed clearly indicating that on February 28,1979 and March 9,1979 the Post Office had given notice to the addressee of the certified letter. When the letter remained unclaimed by Simmons after the notices, it was ultimately returned to the trustee. The evidence amply supports the trial court’s conclusion that foreclosure notice was given, showing compliance with the requirement of section 443.325.3(4) that the “envelope has been delivered by the sender to the United States Post Office.” 3

*536 Simmons asserts next that the trial court erred in refusing to set aside the foreclosure sale as unfair on the basis that the sale price was grossly inadequate and unconscionable and the trustee showed partiality toward Mrs. Mueller, the mortgagee. The act allegedly indicating trustee partiality or abuse of discretion was his failure to reform the deed of trust upon discovering that it incorrectly provided for a foreclosure sale, if necessary, in Hannibal, Missouri, Monroe County, instead of in Hannibal, Missouri, Marion County, where the property is located.

It has long been established that inadequacy of consideration alone will not justify setting aside a foreclosure sale that was fairly and lawfully conducted, without fraud or partiality and with full opportunity for competitive bidding. Farris v. Hendrichs, 413 S.W.2d 185, 190 (Mo.1967); Trotter v. Carter, 353 Mo. 708, 183 S.W.2d 898, 902 (1944); Carondelet Savings & Loan Association v. Boyer, 595 S.W.2d 744, 747 (Mo.App.1980).

We find no evidence of unfairness, fraud or partiality associated with this foreclosure sale, which, combined with the sale price, would justify abrogating the sale.

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Bluebook (online)
634 S.W.2d 533, 1982 Mo. App. LEXIS 2883, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mueller-v-simmons-moctapp-1982.