Norwest Bank (Minnesota), N.A. v. Symington

3 P.3d 1101, 197 Ariz. 181, 312 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 11, 2000 Ariz. App. LEXIS 1
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJanuary 6, 2000
Docket1 CA-CV 99-0240
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 3 P.3d 1101 (Norwest Bank (Minnesota), N.A. v. Symington) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Norwest Bank (Minnesota), N.A. v. Symington, 3 P.3d 1101, 197 Ariz. 181, 312 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 11, 2000 Ariz. App. LEXIS 1 (Ark. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

OPINION

SULT, Judge.

¶ 1 Appellant J. Fife Symington III appeals from the denial of his motion under Rule 60(c), Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure, to set aside a deficiency judgment obtained against him. We find that appellee Pension Funds, for whom Norwest Bank is custodian, unfairly obtained the judgment, and the trial court therefore erred in refusing to vacate the judgment.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 In 1990, Mercado Developers Limited Partnership obtained a $10 million loan from appellee to provide permanent financing for the Mercado shopping center. As security for the loan, the partnership gave appellee a deed of trust on the property. In addition, appellant and his wife executed an unconditional guarantee for the repayment of the loan.

¶ 3 The partnership defaulted on the loan, and appellant failed to satisfy his obligation as guarantor. Consequently, appellee foreclosed, sold the real estate, and in 1992 sued appellant for a deficiency judgment. Appellant counterclaimed, alleging among other things that appellee acted inappropriately and in bad faith in its handling of the loan.

¶ 4 From 1992 to 1995, the parties litigated the matter, filing various pleadings and motions. On June 1, 1995, appellee filed a motion for partial summary judgment, requesting that the court determine the fair market value of the property, establish the amount of the deficiency, and enter a judgment for that amount. In response, appellant filed a motion to dismiss his counterclaim and a motion for leave to file an amended answer in which he admitted all of appellee’s allegations, except those concerning his wife’s liability. Appellant gave as the reason for the admission his lack of financial resources to pursue the litigation further.

¶ 5 Pursuant to appellant’s request, the trial court dismissed the counterclaim and proceeded to a summary judgment hearing on appellee’s motion. Appellee submitted two appraisals of the Mercado, each setting the property’s fair market value at foreclosure at about $3 million, and the court valued the property as of the time of foreclosure at $3,145,000, the amount of the credit bid made by appellee at the foreclosure sale. The court then established a deficiency amount of $8,728,893 and awarded that sum to appellee, together with prejudgment interest of $2,756, 819. The court signed a formal judgment in favor of appellee on August 11,1995.

¶ 6 On September 20, 1995, appellant filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, seeking to discharge his debt to appellee. Appellee responded by filing an adversary proceeding to prevent such a discharge, alleging in essence that the debt was incurred through appellant’s fraud. During the discovery phase of this proceeding, appellant became aware that appellee had obtained another real estate appraisal of the Mercado during the foreclosure proceeding. This appraisal was completed for appellee in 1993 by a professional real estate appraiser, Robert Francy, just a few months after the Mercado foreclosure and well before the conclusion of the deficiency proceeding. The Francy appraisal valued the Mercado at $6 million as of the appraisal date, but was never disclosed to appellant during the deficiency action.

¶ 7 Appellant also discovered some theretofore unknown specifics from another lawsuit in which appellee had sued its former investment managers for bad advice regarding real estate investments, including the Mercado. This case, which we will refer to as the “Miller” case, had been settled during the deficiency litigation and appellee had recovered $93.3 million. In this settlement, appellee’s losses were detailed in a Damages Model which served as the basis for the settlement payment received by appellee. This Model included a calculation of appel-lee’s loss on the Mercado loan at just over $5 million, approximately $3 million less than the principal amount of the deficiency judgment. Despite the settlement being concluded during the pendency of the deficiency *184 action, appellee never disclosed the settlement, the amount of the payment, or the Damages Model upon which the payment was based.

¶ 8 Based on the discovery of the Francy appraisal and the Miller settlement, appellant sought authorization from the bankruptcy court to return to state court and attempt to reopen the deficiency judgment. The bankruptcy court granted authorization, and on July 23, 1998, appellant filed a motion for relief from judgment pursuant to Rule 60(c)(2), (3), and (5) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure. Appellant claimed that the deficiency judgment was invalid under subsection (3) because it was the product of appellee’s misconduct in failing to disclose the Francy appraisal and the Miller settlement, which material would have given him a defense in the deficiency action. Appellant also alleged that the judgment should be set aside under subsection (2) because the material was newly discovered evidence, would have given him a defense in the action, and would have changed the result. Appellant’s subsection (5) allegation was that the Miller settlement constituted satisfaction of the deficiency judgment.

¶ 9 In response, appellee contended that appellant’s decision to abandon the defense of the deficiency action and admit the complaint had nothing to do with the evidence, but instead constituted a tactical decision. Appellee claimed that appellant sought to avoid a thorough discovery process that could have made him susceptible to further civil and criminal claims. Moreover, appellee asserted that appellant abandoned the deficiency action because he thought he could go into bankruptcy proceedings and get the judgment discharged. Appellee also alleged that if appellant did not possess the material complained of, it was because he had not pursued it, voluntarily choosing to be ignorant. Finally, with respect to the Miller settlement, appellee argued that the collateral source rule precluded appellant from obtaining any credit for the settlement and, in any event, the settlement did not include the loss on the Mercado caused by appellant’s default.

¶ 10 The trial court heard oral arguments and denied appellant’s motion, finding that the nondisclosure was irrelevant. In the trial court’s view, appellant “voluntarily chose to abandon the defense of higher value for the Mercado Project in favor of the benefit of arguing a lower value, and then moving on to Bankruptcy Court.” The court also found the collateral source rule precluded appellant from receiving any benefit from the Miller settlement. On March 1, 1999, a formal order denying the motion was filed and appellant timely appealed.

ISSUES

1. Whether the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion for relief under Rule 60(c)(2), (3), or (5) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure?

2. Whether the trial court erred in holding that the collateral source rule barred appellant from seeking credit for the Miller settlement?

ANALYSIS

¶ 11 We review the denial of a Rule 60(c) motion under an abuse of discretion standard. See Johnson v. Elson, 192 Ariz. 486, 488, ¶ 9, 967 P.2d 1022, 1024, ¶ 9 (App.1998). We consider it an abuse of discretion for a trial court to act arbitrarily or make decisions unsupported by fact or law. See City of Phoenix v. Geyler, 144 Ariz.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
3 P.3d 1101, 197 Ariz. 181, 312 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 11, 2000 Ariz. App. LEXIS 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/norwest-bank-minnesota-na-v-symington-arizctapp-2000.