NW Property Wholesalers, LLC v. Spitz

287 P.3d 1106, 252 Or. App. 29, 2012 WL 3716797, 2012 Ore. App. LEXIS 1046
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedAugust 29, 2012
DocketC080713EV, C081288CV; A143458
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 287 P.3d 1106 (NW Property Wholesalers, LLC v. Spitz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
NW Property Wholesalers, LLC v. Spitz, 287 P.3d 1106, 252 Or. App. 29, 2012 WL 3716797, 2012 Ore. App. LEXIS 1046 (Or. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

ARMSTRONG, P. J.

Plaintiffs Spitz and the Jeffrey Todd Whyle-Spitz Irrevocable Trust (the trust) appeal a general judgment in a declaratory judgment action that concluded that their ownership interest in residential real property had been terminated by a trust deed foreclosure sale. Plaintiffs contend that the trial court erred in denying them their requested declaration that the foreclosure sale was invalid as to them because defendants had failed to properly serve them with notice of the sale. Plaintiffs also appeal a supplemental judgment awarding attorney fees to defendants as the prevailing parties in the action. We conclude that the court erred in its understanding of the applicable trust deed foreclosure statutes and that the error requires us to reverse the court’s judgments and remand the case for further proceedings.

The parties stipulated to the following facts. Spitz granted JP Morgan Chase Bank (JP Morgan) a trust deed in residential real property, which Spitz occupied throughout the pertinent period, to secure repayment of a promissory note. Spitz then conveyed the property to the trust by a bargain and sale deed. At that time, Spitz was the trustee of the trust, and the address listed for Spitz and the trust in the bargain and sale deed is the address for the real property. After Spitz had conveyed the property to the trust, JP Morgan assigned its interest in the trust deed to defendant Chase Home Finance, LLC.

Spitz eventually defaulted on the promissory note by failing to make payments. The successor trustee for the trust deed, defendant Northwest Trustee Services, Inc. (NWTS), issued a notice of default and election to sell the property (the notice). On October 4, 2007, NWTS mailed copies of the notice by first class mail and by certified mail with return receipt requested to Spitz in his personal capacity and in his capacity as trustee of the trust. The United States Postal Service returned to NWTS as unclaimed mail the copies of the notice that NWTS had mailed to Spitz by certified mail. A process server for NWTS sought but failed to effect personal service of the notice on occupants of the property.

NWTS conducted a nonjudicial trust deed foreclosure and sale on February 6, 2008, and sold the property to [32]*32defendant Northwest Property Wholesalers, LLC (NW Property). NWTS issued a trustee’s deed to NW Property, and NW Property then sold the property to defendant Martinez.

NW Property commenced a forcible entry and detainer (FED) action to remove Spitz from the property. Plaintiffs responded by filing a declaratory judgment action against defendants seeking a declaration that the foreclosure sale was invalid as to plaintiffs because NWTS had failed to effect service of the notice on plaintiffs pursuant to ORS 86.750, which requires the notice of sale to be served on an occupant in the manner in which a summons is served under ORCP 7 D.

The trial court consolidated the FED action and plaintiffs’ declaratory relief action. The crux of the dispute between the parties concerned whether NWTS had to serve the notice on plaintiffs pursuant to ORS 86.750 in order to foreclose their interest in the property or whether service on them pursuant to ORS 86.740 was effective to do that. ORS 86.750 requires service of the notice on occupants of property to be made “in the manner in which a summons is served pursuant to” ORCP 7 D. ORS 86.740 permits service of the notice to be made on the grantor of the trust deed, successors in interest to the grantor, and others by serving the notice in the manner in which a summons is served pursuant to ORCP 7 D or by mailing the notice by first class and certified mail with return receipt requested.

Plaintiffs contended at trial that the notice had to be served on an occupant in the manner in which a summons is served pursuant to ORCP 7 D in order for the occupant’s interest in the property to be foreclosed by a trust deed foreclosure sale. They reasoned that ORS 86.750 requires occupants to be served in that manner and that that requirement applies to occupants, such as grantors of trust deeds, notwithstanding that ORS 86.740 permits service of the notice to be made on grantors and others in the manner in which a summons is served or by first class and certified mail. In other words, according to plaintiffs, although service by first class and certified mail satisfies the service requirement in ORS 86.740 and is effective to foreclose the interests in the property of those who are not [33]*33occupants, it is not effective to foreclose the interest of those who are occupants.

Defendants disagreed. In their view, ORS 86.750 applies only to occupants, such as lessees, who are not subject to service under ORS 86.740. They contended that occupants who come within one of the categories of persons identified in ORS 86.740, such as trust deed grantors, are subject to service under ORS 86.740 and can be served in either of the two ways specified in the statute, viz., by mailing the notice by first class and certified mail or by serving the notice in the manner in which a summons is served.

The parties tried their dispute over the effect of the trust deed foreclosure sale on plaintiffs’ interest in the property to the court on the basis of stipulated facts and some exhibits. The court generally agreed with defendants about the relationship between ORS 86.740 and ORS 86.750 on the service of the notice on occupants. It concluded that Spitz and the trust were subject to service under ORS 86.740 as, respectively, the grantor of the trust deed that was the subject of the foreclosure sale and his successor in interest; that they had been properly served by first class and certified mail under that statute; and, hence, that the foreclosure sale had terminated all of their interests in the property. However, because Spitz was an occupant of the property who had not been served in the manner specified in ORS 86.750

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
287 P.3d 1106, 252 Or. App. 29, 2012 WL 3716797, 2012 Ore. App. LEXIS 1046, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nw-property-wholesalers-llc-v-spitz-orctapp-2012.