Sourcecorp, Inc. v. Norcutt

258 P.3d 281, 227 Ariz. 463, 614 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 24, 2011 Ariz. App. LEXIS 143
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedAugust 2, 2011
Docket1 CA-CV 10-0212
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 258 P.3d 281 (Sourcecorp, Inc. v. Norcutt) 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
Sourcecorp, Inc. v. Norcutt, 258 P.3d 281, 227 Ariz. 463, 614 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 24, 2011 Ariz. App. LEXIS 143 (Ark. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

WINTHROP, Judge.

¶ 1 Dean and Stacey Noreutt appeal the trial court’s summary judgment in favor of Sourcecorp, Incorporated (“Sourcecorp”). The judgment allows Sourcecorp to proceed with a forced sale of the Nox’cutts’ home (“the Property”) in partial payment of a money judgment Soureeeox-p obtained against Steven and Rita Shill, the former owners of the Property. The Norcutts contend the trial court erx’ed in finding they were not equitably subrogated to a fix-st lien position by paying off the Shills’ mortgage with Zions Bank.

¶ 2 Existing Arizona law recognizes the right of one lender to pay off a senior real property lien and thereby become equitably subrogated to that senior position over a junior lienholder. Under the facts presented hei’e, we extend the doctrine to allow a cash purchaser who pays off a senior mortgage to be equitably subrogated into that position over a junior judgment lienholdex-. Accordingly, and as more fully set forth below, we revex-se the judgment in favor of Soux-ceeox-p and remand with directions to enter judgment in favor of the Nox-cutts.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 3 In September 2004, Sourcecorp obtained a judgment against the Shills in the amount of $3,052,488.27. At the time, the Shills owned the Property, which is located in Prescott, Arizona. In an effort to perfect a judgment lien against the Pi'operty, Source-corp recorded the judgment in Yavapai County in October 2004, but failed to include the separate information statement required *465 when recording a money judgment. See Ariz.Rev.Stat. (“A.R.S.”) § 33-961(0 (2000). In early January 2005, Sourceeorp filed an amendment to the recorded judgment that included the required information statement.

¶ 4 In the meantime, the Norcutts purchased the Property from the Shills for $667,500.00 in cash in November 2004. The majority of those funds—$621,307.36—were used to pay off a first position lien on the Property held by Zions Bank, which accepted the funds in satisfaction of the Shills’ outstanding debt of $688,868.78. The purchase price also paid off senior tax liens. The Norcutts’ title insurer, First American Title Insurance Company (“First American Title”) failed, however, to discover Sourcecorp’s judgment lien before the Norcutts purchased the Property.

¶ 5 In late January 2005, the Norcutts filed a Motion to Intervene, Application for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction, and Motion to Quash Writ of General Execution to stop a sheriffs sale of the Property initiated by Sourceeorp. In their motion, the Norcutts asked the trial court to declare that Sourceeorp had no valid lien against the Property because (1) Source-corp had not recorded a judgment information statement along with the judgment, (2) the Property was exempt from execution by operation of the homestead laws, and (3) Sourceeorp’s judgment was subject and inferior to the Norcutts’ interest based on equitable subrogation.

¶ 6 The trial court granted the Norcutts’ motion to quash the writ of general execution, finding that the priority of Sourceeorp’s judgment lien would date from the time the judgment information statement was filed, the priority applied to purchasers as well as competing liens on the Property, and the Norcutts had a prior interest, making their interest in the Property superior to that of Sourceeorp. Sourceeorp appealed, and in September 2006 this court vacated the judgment, finding that Soureeeorp’s failure to attach the money judgment information statement did not invalidate its lien and the trial court “erred in construing the word ‘priority’ to include not only competing lien-holders, but also subsequent purchasers.” Sourceeorp, Inc. v. Shill, 1 CA-CV 05-0425, at *13, ¶ 16 (Ariz.App. Sept. 26, 2006) (mem. decision).

¶ 7 On remand to the trial court, the Nor-cutts reasserted their arguments that the Property was protected from execution by the homestead exemption and that by equitable subrogation they held the priority position previously held by Zions Bank, which they maintained was superior to the position held by Sourceeorp. The Norcutts asserted they had paid off the Zions Bank first position lien and, by equitable subrogation, were therefore substituted into that priority position, despite the recording of the intervening judgment lien.

¶ 8 Sourceeorp argued that the Shills had abandoned the homestead and equitable sub-rogation could not be applied to allow a purchaser of property to acquire the rights of an extinguished lien ahead of a creditor whose lien existed at the time of the purchase. Sourceeorp maintained that equitable subrogation did not apply because the Nor-cutts were consumers and not lenders when they purchased the Property, that as owners in fee of the Property the Norcutts had no need to protect their interests with a lien, and that the Norcutts were “volunteers” because they were not forced to pay another’s debt to protect their own interest given that they had no prior interest in the Property. Sourceeorp further noted that the Norcutts had paid cash for the Property and none of the documentation associated with the sale indicated anyone was to receive a security interest in the Property.

¶ 9 The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Sourceeorp, finding that equitable subrogation could not be applied and the Shills had abandoned their right to claim a homestead exemption:

The Court does not and cannot conclude that the Norcutts can hold a lien on their own house for having paid cash and supposedly obtaining equitable subrogation by paying of[f] the first lienholder, Zions Bank.
Arizona’s homestead exemption did not preclude Plaintiffs judgment lien was recorded [sic]. Moreover, this Court con- *466 eludes that the Shills abandoned their right to claim a homestead exemption to the Prescott property. The simple fact is that the Shills waived their homestead exemption rights by selling their home and using it as a source of restitution payments.

¶ 10 The trial court granted Sourcecorp’s request for attorneys’ fees pursuant to AR.S. § 12-341.01(A) (2003). The Norcutts appealed from the court’s final judgment. We have jurisdiction pursuant to A.R.S. § 12—2101(A)(1) (West 2011). 1

ANALYSIS

¶ 11 Summary judgment may be granted when “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and [] the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Ariz. R. Civ. P. 56(c). In reviewing a motion for summary judgment, we determine de novo whether any genuine issues of material fact exist and whether the trial court properly applied the law. Eller Media Co. v. City of Tucson, 198 Ariz. 127, 130, ¶ 4, 7 P.3d 136, 139 (App.2000). We view the facts and the inferences to be drawn from those facts in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment was entered. Prince v. City of Apache Junction, 185 Ariz. 43, 45, 912 P.2d 47, 49 (App.1996).

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258 P.3d 281, 227 Ariz. 463, 614 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 24, 2011 Ariz. App. LEXIS 143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sourcecorp-inc-v-norcutt-arizctapp-2011.