United States v. Smith

48 V.I. 544, 2006 WL 3042956, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78698
CourtDistrict Court, Virgin Islands
DecidedOctober 19, 2006
DocketCivil No. 1999-127
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 48 V.I. 544 (United States v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Smith, 48 V.I. 544, 2006 WL 3042956, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78698 (vid 2006).

Opinion

GOMEZ, Chief Judge

MEMORANDUM OPINION

(October 19, 2006)

Before the Court are two motions of the Small Business Administration (the “SBA”). The SBA moves the Court to intervene in a matter between the United States (“Rural Development”) and Audrey Smith (“Smith”) because it claims it has a subordinate lien that was omitted from a foreclosure judgment Rural Development obtained against Smith. The SBA also moves to correct the foreclosure judgment to be included as the third priority lienholder.

[546]*546I. Facts

In 1979, Smith began borrowing money from Rural Development. On January 23, 1979, Smith borrowed $37,000 from Rural Development. The loan was recorded on January 24, 1979, and secured by a mortgage on Parcel No. 93 Estate Bolongo, No. 3 Frenchman’s Bay Quarter, St. Thomas (the “Property”), which was owned by Smith.

On October 2, 1979, Smith borrowed another $8,000 from Rural Development. This loan was recorded on October 2, 1979, and was also secured by Smith’s mortgage.

Smith then borrowed $7,900 from the SBA (the “SBA Loan”) on December 14, 1979. This loan was recorded on February 1, 1980, and was also secured by a mortgage on the Property.

On June 4, 1980, Smith borrowed another $8,000 from Rural Development. This note was recorded on June 4, 1980, and secured by a mortgage on the Property.

Smith ceased paying on the balances of the Rural Development loans in 1997.

On July 27, 1999, Rural Development filed a complaint with the District Court for an action of foreclosure on the three loans extended to Smith. Siewdath Sookram (“Sookram”) claimed an interest in the Property as a result of a judgment won against Smith on February 4, 1982. Sookram was added as a defendant. The SBA was not added as a party in the suit and it was not served with the complaint. The proposed judgment that Rural Development submitted to the Court did not include the SBA’s lien.1 The SBA lien was not mentioned when summary judgment was entered in favor of Rural Development on February 14, 2002.

The Court’s judgment listed Rural Development as the first, second, and third priority lienholder. It listed Sookram as the fourth priority lienholder.

The SBA loan has a current outstanding balance of $11,429, plus a per diem accrual of $0.63 beginning December 22, 2005.

More than six years after the commencement of the Rural Development litigation in 1999, and four years after its disposition in [547]*5472002, the SBA moves to intervene as a matter of right pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2). The SBA also requests that the judgment be corrected pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(a) to include the SBA as third priority lienholder in accordance with Title 28, Section 533 of the Virgin Islands Code.

II. Discussion

A. Motion to Intervene

The SBA seeks to intervene as a matter of right.

Intervention as a matter of right can be granted when

[u]pon timely application ... the applicant claims an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action and the applicant is so situated that the disposition of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede the applicant’s ability to protect that interest, unless the applicant’s interest is adequately represented by existing parties.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a)(2). The four factors to be examined by the court are timeliness, sufficient interest in the litigation, impairment of the ability to protect the interest, and adequate representation. Id.

B. Motion to Correct Judgment

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(a) (“Rule 60(a)”) allows for courts to provide parties with relief from judgments that are incorrect due to clerical errors:

[cjlerical mistakes in judgments, orders or other parts of the record and errors therein arising from oversight or omission may be corrected by the court at any time of its own initiative or on the motion of any party and after such notice, if any, as the court orders.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(a). The rule “encompasses only errors mechanical in nature, apparent on the record, and not involving a substantive error in judgment.” Pfizer Inc. v. Uprichard, 422 F.3d 124, 129-30 (3d Cir. 2005) (citing Mack Trucks, Inc. v. Int’l Union, 856 F.2d 579, 594 n.16 (3d Cir. 1988)) (internal citations omitted). To determine whether a clerical error in a judgment can be corrected by applying Rule 60(a), the Court must look to see if the original intention is frustrated by the error. United [548]*548States v. Mosbrucker, 340 F.3d 664, 666 (8th Cir. 2003) (applying Rule 60(a) where Government made error as to level of ownership of property where the correction supplied “what was understood, intended, and agreed upon by parties and court”). The error must be as a result of inadvertence as opposed to a mistake in the exercise of judgment. Lowe v. McGraw-Hill Cos., 361 F.3d 335, 341 (7th Cir. 2004) (denying application of Rule 60(a) where court incorrectly vacated a default judgment).

III. Analysis

1. Timeliness

In determining whether a motion for intervention is timely, courts first look to the stage of the proceeding in which the motion is made. Mountain Top, Mountain Top Condo. Ass’n v. Dave Stabbert Master Builder, Inc., 72 F.3d 361, 369, 33 V.I. 311 (3d Cir. 1995). “A motion to intervene after entry of a decree should be denied except for extraordinary circumstances.” In re Fine Paper Antitrust Litigation, 695 F.2d 494, 500 (internal citations omitted) (denying intervention where applicants sought to redefine “class” in class-action suit, had been denied classification previously, and were untimely in filing); see also Acree v. Iraq, 361 U.S. App. D.C. 410, 370 F.3d 41, 49-50 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (“Courts are generally reluctant to permit intervention after a suit has proceeded to final judgment ... Post-judgment intervention is often permitted ... where the prospective intervenor’s interest did not arise until the appellate stage or where intervention would not unduly prejudice the existing parties”); Halderman v. Pennhurst State Sch. & Hosp., 612 F.2d 131, 134 (3d Cir.

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48 V.I. 544, 2006 WL 3042956, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-smith-vid-2006.