Plaza National Bank v. Valdez

745 P.2d 372, 106 N.M. 464
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 2, 1987
Docket16519
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 745 P.2d 372 (Plaza National Bank v. Valdez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Plaza National Bank v. Valdez, 745 P.2d 372, 106 N.M. 464 (N.M. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

WALTERS, Justice.

This case arises out of a foreclosure action brought by plaintiff bank. After a judgment and decree of foreclosure were entered, and subsequent to a judicial sale, the district court granted defendants’ motion for extension of the redemption period. The bank appeals the extension. We affirm.

On November 9, 1983, defendants William and Susan Valdez, d/b/a Valdez Salsa Natural, T.M., signed a six-month promissory note in favor of Plaza National Bank for $42,117.98. The note was secured by a first mortgage on some vacant land, and a second mortgage on a residence and commercial building which was subject to a first mortgage held by the Small Business Administration (SBA).

The Valdezes defaulted on the note. On November 1, 1985, when a judgment and decree of foreclosure were entered in favor of the bank, foreclosure of the SBA’s interest was not mentioned or litigated. The decree provided that the special master should issue his special master’s deed after the sale had been confirmed by the court, whereupon the purchaser of the properties should hold title free and clear, subject to the Valdezes’ right of redemption for thirty days following the judicial sale. The sale was held on December 2, 1985, the bank purchasing the property for $56,475.37. The special master’s report of sale was approved by court order on December 10, 1985.

On December 16,1985, the Valdezes notified the bank of their intention to redeem the property, probably on December 20th or 23rd. On December 17, 1985, the bank, in a letter to the Valdezes’ attorney, set forth the amount of the payment necessary to accomplish the redemption. Valdezes did not, within the following week, tender any redemption amount to the bank. Thereafter, on December 30, 1985, the bank paid $27,189.49 to the SBA and obtained a release of that mortgage.

On January 2, 1986, the Valdezes filed a motion for an extension of the redemption period, claiming that the payment by the bank of the SBA mortgage was not within the parties’ agreement and placed upon them an unconscionable repayment burden. Following a hearing, the trial court granted the Valdezes an additional thirty-day redemption period. The bank claims that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the motion.

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Plaza National argues that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction because, under NMSA 1978, Section 39-1-1:

Final judgments and decrees * * * shall remain under the control of [the district] courts for a period of thirty days after the entry thereof, and for such further time as may be necessary to enable the court to pass upon and dispose of any motion which may have been filed within such period, directed against such judgment. (Emphasis added.)

It is the bank’s contention that the judgment and decree of foreclosure of November 1, 1985, was the final judgment. Thus, according to the bank, the district court lost subject matter jurisdiction of this case on December 1,1985, and could not properly hear the motion for extension of the redemption period filed by the Valdezes on January 2, 1986.

This Court, in Speckner v. Riebold, 86 N.M. 275, 523 P.2d 10 (1974), noted that in a foreclosure suit two separate adjudications are made:

The initial judgment operates to foreclose the mortgage. It declares the rights of the parties in the mortgaged premises. If no appeal is taken from that portion of the judgment, it becomes final unless modified under ... [the statute allowing] trial courts control over their judgments for a period of thirty days.
The second part of the judgment directs that the mortgaged property be sold, and fixes the manner and terms of the sale. It is interlocutory. A district court has a continuing supervisory jurisdiction over mortgage foreclosure sales. * * * That part of the decree of foreclosure that directs the manner and terms of the sale of the mortgaged property does not become a final judgment until the judicial confirmation of the sale, whereupon it becomes final. (Emphasis added.)

Id. at 277, 523 P.2d at 12; accord Waisner v. Jones, 103 N.M. 749, 713 P.2d 565 (Ct.App.1986) (order confirming the foreclosure sale is a final appealable order if rights of the parties to the proceeds of the sale are thus determined).

Here, the order approving the judicial sale was entered on December 10,1985. It provided:

This matter came before the court on motion of ... [the] Special Master, the Report of the Special Master and the Special Master’s Deed was submitted therewith and the court is fully advised in the premises.

IT IS ORDERED:

The report of the Special Master be and hereby is approved, confirmed and ratified.
2. The Special Master be and hereby is discharged.

The order was no longer interlocutory, see Speckner, 86 N.M. at 277, 523 P.2d at 12, but, as of December 10th was a final judgment determining the rights of the parties. See Waisner, 103 N.M. at 749, 713 P.2d at 565. A judgment or decision is final if all issues of law and fact necessary to be determined are in fact determined, and the case is completely disposed of so far as the court has the power to dispose it. Cole v. McNeill, 102 N.M. 146, 147, 692 P.2d 532, 533 (Ct.App.1984). The district court had control over the final judgment for thirty days from the date the foreclosure sale was confirmed — thus, until January 9, 1986, because, under Speckner, there was no final sale and no final judgment until December 10th. The motion filed by the Valdezes on January 2, 1986, was thus timely and was properly within the court’s jurisdiction.

Right of Redemption

When the bank became the purchaser at the judicial sale on December 10, 1985, all of the rights of the parties merged and passed to the bank as purchaser, excepting only the sole right of the mortgagor to redeem — a right which did not arise out of the mortgage or the decree, but a right extended by statute. Ulivarri v. Lovelace, 39 N.M. 36, 38, 38 P.2d 1114, 1115 (1934). Under that right the mortgagor was in a position to defeat the title of the purchaser. Id. The redemption statute fixes the time within which redemption may be made, and it has been held that a statute of redemption may not be enlarged by judicial interpretation. Union Esperanza Mining Co. v. Shandon Mining Co., 18 N.M. 153, 165, 135 P. 78, 80 (1913).

The judgment and decree of foreclosure filed November 1, 1985, set forth a one-month right of redemption from the date of sale, in accordance with the terms of the mortgage.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
745 P.2d 372, 106 N.M. 464, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/plaza-national-bank-v-valdez-nm-1987.