US Bank National Ass'n v. Salazar

Opinion

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1 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO

2 US BANK NATIONAL 3 ASSOCIATION, as Trustee for 4 RASC 2005-KS10,

5 Plaintiff-Appellee, 6 v. No. 33,651

7 ANNA MARIE SALAZAR, 8 a/k/a ANNAMARIE SALAZAR, 9 and JOHN SALAZAR,

10 Defendants-Appellants.

11 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF TAOS COUNTY 12 Jeff McElroy, District Judge

13 The Castle Law Group LLC 14 Elizabeth Dranttel 15 Albuquerque, NM

16 for Appellee

17 Anna Marie Salazar 18 John C. Salazar

19 Pro Se Appellants 20 MEMORANDUM OPINION

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1 SUTIN, Judge. 2 {1} Defendants appeal from a combined default judgment, summary judgment, and 3 decree of foreclosure. We issued a notice of proposed summary disposition, 4 proposing to affirm. Defendants have filed a memorandum in opposition. After due 5 consideration, we remain unpersuaded. We therefore affirm. 6 {2} With respect to their second and fourth issues, we understand Defendants to 7 continue to complain of the district court’s alleged failure to notify them via mail of 8 certain events. [DS 1; MIO 1-2] However, insofar as there has been no showing of 9 prejudice, these irregularities supply no basis for relief on appeal. See generally El 10 Paso Elec. Co. v. Real Estate Mart, Inc., 1982-NMCA-117, ¶ 31, 98 N.M. 570, 11 573-74, 651 P.2d 105 (“Every error does not warrant reversal, and we will not reverse 12 absent a showing of prejudice.”). 13 {3} With respect to their first issue, Defendants clarify their intent to challenge the 14 sufficiency of Plaintiff’s showing of default and entitlement to foreclose. [MIO 1] 15 However, as we previously observed, documents attached to Plaintiff’s complaint 16 established its standing and documents attached to Plaintiff’s motion for summary 17 judgment supplied the requisite evidence of Defendants’ default. [RP 14, 36, 58-69] 18 See Bank of New York v. Romero, 2014-NMSC-007, ¶ 17, 320 P.3d 1 (observing that 19 standing in a foreclosure action may be established by demonstrating ownership of the

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1 note and the mortgage as of the time of the filing of the complaint); Alliance Health 2 of Santa Teresa, Inc. v. Nat’l Presto Indus., Inc., 2007-NMCA-157, ¶¶ 14-16, 143 3 N.M. 133, 173 P.3d 55 (observing that documents attached to a motion for summary 4 judgment supplied competent evidence of payment history); see generally Rule 11- 5 1003 NMRA (providing that duplicates are admissible to the same extent as original 6 documents, “unless a genuine question is raised about the original[s’] authenticity or 7 the circumstances make it unfair” to admit the duplicates). 8 {4} By their third issue, Defendants suggest that a hearing on their merits should 9 have been conducted, based on perceived “lack of evidence,” “discrepancies,” and 10 concerns about “authenticity of each document[.]” [MIO 1-2] However, the district 11 court’s election to rule on the matter without conducting a hearing was well within its 12 discretion, particularly in light of Defendants’ failure to file any substantive 13 responsive pleading below. See generally Sanchez v. Church of Scientology of 14 Orange Cnty., 1993-NMSC-034, ¶ 16, 115 N.M. 660, 857 P.2d 771 (“It is within the 15 district court’s discretion when considering a motion for summary judgment to hold 16 an oral hearing.”). 17 {5} Relatedly, by their fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth issues, 18 Defendants continue to assert that matters outside the record and arguments never 19 presented below undermine Plaintiff’s assertion of standing and suggest that their

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1 request for reinstatement was handled improperly. [MIO 2] However, as we 2 previously explained, in light of Defendants’ failure to develop any of these 3 arguments below, as well as the absence of anything in the record to support 4 Defendants’ theories, these matters present no basis for relief on appeal. See Los 5 Vigiles Land Grant v. Rebar Haygood Ranch, LLC, 2014-NMCA-017, ¶ 20, 317 P.3d 6 842 (observing that where the evidence in the record indicated that the plaintiff 7 organization had standing, and where there was no evidence in the record to the 8 contrary, the defendants’ unsupported standing argument did not provide a basis on 9 which to attack subject matter jurisdiction); see generally Lujan ex rel. Lujan v. 10 Casados-Lujan, 2004-NMCA-036, ¶ 20, 135 N.M. 285, 87 P.3d 1067 (“Bedrock 11 principles of appellate law dictate that matters not of record present no issue for 12 review . . . and that error must be clearly demonstrated.”). Defendants’ lack of 13 familiarity with the Rules of Procedure does not require a different result. [MIO 1-2] 14 See generally Bruce v. Lester, 1999-NMCA-051, ¶ 4, 127 N.M. 301, 980 P.2d 84 15 (observing that pro se litigants must comply with the rules of the court and will not 16 be treated differently than litigants with counsel). 17 {6} Accordingly, for the reasons stated in this Opinion and in the notice of proposed 18 summary disposition, we affirm. 19 {7} IT IS SO ORDERED.

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1 __________________________________ 2 JONATHAN B. SUTIN, Judge

3 WE CONCUR:

4 _______________________________ 5 MICHAEL E. VIGIL, Judge

6 _______________________________ 7 M. MONICA ZAMORA, Judge