United States v. Montgomery

268 F. Supp. 787, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10600
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedMarch 10, 1967
DocketCiv. A. W-3713
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 268 F. Supp. 787 (United States v. Montgomery) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Montgomery, 268 F. Supp. 787, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10600 (D. Kan. 1967).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM SUSTAINING SUMMARY JUDGMENT

WESLEY E. BROWN, District Judge.

This civil action is before the court on plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment. A single question of law is presented, whether in a foreclosure by the United • States on a mortgage given by defendants to obtain a loan from the Small Business Administration, the defendants are entitled to the statutory redemptive rights under state law.

The United States as plaintiff brings this suit pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1345, for and on behalf of the Small Business Administration, an agency of the United States.

The defendants were owners of a small store in Goodland, Kansas, operating under the name of Jack’s Men’s Shop. Defendants state that they incorporated their store as “M & W Shoe Store,” although both the note and mortgage are signed by the parties in their individual and partnership capacities. On or about July 1, 1962, the defendants executed a promissory note for THIRTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($35,-000), secured by a mortgage upon their residence. The mortgage lists the Good-land State Bank, and the Small Business Administration as mortgagees. Plaintiff is assignee of the bank. Defendants admit the due execution and delivery of the note and mortgage, default, and that the entire unpaid indebtedness of Twenty Thousand One Hundred Forty One and 25/100 ($20,141.25) is now due and payable. The government seeks foreclosure of its mortgage, and immediate issuance of an order of sale under 28 U.S.C. § 2001, free of the eighteen month redemption period provided by K.S.A. 60-2414. Plaintiff argues that state redemption rights do not apply to judicial foreclosures in federal courts of mortgages held by federal agencies. We agree.

In United States v. View Crest Garden Apartments, Inc., 268 F.2d 380 (9th Cir. 1959), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 884, 80 S.Ct. 156, 4 L.Ed.2d 120, the Federal Housing Insurance Authority (hereafter the FHA), the mortgagee, began a foreclosure proceeding upon a defaulted mortgage, and applied for appointment of a receiver. The district court denied the application on the ground that under the law of the State of Washington, no sufficient showing had been made to warrant the appointment. The Ninth Circuit reversed, stating that federal law, not state law, should have been applied. It held that, because the action arose under federal law, and not as an action between persons of diverse citizenship, state law was not determinative.

“[W]e do find it to be clear that the source of the law governing the relations between the United States and the parties to the mortgage here involved is federal. [Citations omitted.] *789 It is therefore equally clear that if the law of the State of Washington is to have any application in the foreclosure proceeding it is not because it applies of its own force, but because either the Congress, the FHA, or the Federal Court adopts the local rule to further federal policy. As it is made certain in the cases just cited, this action arises under federal law, and not as an action between persons of diverse citizenship, hence the rule of Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 is inapplicable.” 268 F.2d at 382.

State law may be adopted, if it is an appropriate means to implement and fulfill federal policies. Where a default has occurred, and the sole question is one of remedies, the court stated that “the federal policy to protect the treasury and to promote the security of federal investment which in turn promotes the prime purpose of the Act — to facilitate the building of homes by the use of federal credit — becomes predominant.” “Local rules limiting the effectiveness of the remedies available to the United States for breach of a federal duty can not be adopted.”

Because of the pertinence of the court’s language to the point here at issue, we quote further:

“It is urged that to hold that federal law applies would result in great hardship to mortgagors who would thereby be deprived of all rights under state law such as the right of redemption. We do not think that such a conclusion necessarily follows. A court confronted with that question could determine it by weighing the federal interest against the particular local policy involved. [Footnote omitted.] If the considerations weighed by the court suggest an adoption of local law, such as the local rule on redemption, that could be done. But if on the other hand necessity requires the fashioning of a federal rule, absent a declared federal rule on the subject the federal courts are authorized to and capable of fashioning one.” 268 F.2d 380 at 383.

That case was followed in United States v. Chester Park Apartments, Inc., 332 F.2d 1 (8th Cir. 1964). There the FHA, mortgagee, applied to the district court for appointment of a receiver pursuant to a provision in the mortgage giving the holder broad rights to such an appointment. The court denied the appointment, on the ground that the provision was unenforceable under Minnesota law. The Eighth Circuit reversed, citing the View Crest case, supra, and holding that federal law is to be applied in the appointment of a receiver and the disposition of funds by him. The court noted a supplemental consideration supporting its decision, that “when the Government, acting pursuant to constitutional acts of Congress, enters into large scale, transactions requiring uniform administration, ‘questions of rights and liabilities must be uniformly determined by federal law.’ [Citations omitted.] ” 332 F.2d at 4. See also United States v. Sylacauga Properties, Inc., 323 F.2d 487 (5th Cir. 1963).

Defendants rely on United States v. Leckington & Sons, Inc., 237 F.Supp. 564 (D.Kan.1965) (Brown, J.), as authority for its argument that state statutory redemption rights are controlling. It is true the court relied upon state law in order to determine that the defendants’ rights as unjoined junior lienors were unaffected by a prior foreclosure and purchase by the Small Business Administration, but that the SBA could equitably require the defendants to redeem the property within a sixty day period or be forever barred. It does not appear that the plaintiff questioned the applicability of state law, the question raised herein.

The plaintiff herein also claims the case as authority for its position that state law is not controlling, on the basis that the sixty-day redemption period fixed by the court within which junior lienors could redeem from the SBA, purchaser at foreclosure, has never been au *790 thorized by Kansas statutes.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
268 F. Supp. 787, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10600, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-montgomery-ksd-1967.