Valletta v. Recksiedler

355 N.W.2d 314, 1984 Minn. App. LEXIS 3585
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedSeptember 25, 1984
DocketCX-84-614
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 355 N.W.2d 314 (Valletta v. Recksiedler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Valletta v. Recksiedler, 355 N.W.2d 314, 1984 Minn. App. LEXIS 3585 (Mich. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

WOZNIAK, Judge.

In May of 1982, the respondents (Reck-siedlers) cancelled a contract for deed assigned to the appellant (Valletta). In November of 1982, Valletta commenced an action seeking reinstatement of the contract. Both Recksiedlers and Valletta moved for summary judgment. The trial court granted Recksiedlers’ motion, denying reinstatement and ordering judgment for Recksiedlers for tenants’ security deposits held by Valletta. Valletta claims the trial court erred in concluding: (1) that notice of cancellation of the contract for deed complied with the statutory requirements of Minn.Stat. § 559.21 (1982); and (2) that equitable relief was inappropriate. We affirm.

FACTS

Recksiedlers are the fee owners of a 14-unit apartment building in St. Paul. In 1980, Recksiedlers sold the apartment building to Neuenfeldt on a contract for deed. Thereafter, Valletta entered into a contract for deed with Neuenfeldt under which she assumed Neuenfeldt’s obligation to the Recksiedlers.

Since the assumption of the contract, four notices of cancellation on the contract have been served on Valletta, the fourth being served on April 17, 1982. The notice specified Valletta was in default in failing to make three installment payments under the contract resulting in a total delinquency of $4,050, plus attorney's fees of $175, and for failing to pay the costs of service on a prior notice of cancellation amounting to $41.05.

*316 The notice was prepared by attorney Ronald Ylitalo and authorized Ylitalo to receive payment for the default. It listed Ylitalo’s law office address as 2345 North Rice Street, St. Paul, MN 55113. After service of the notice and during the 30-day redemption period, Ylitalo moved his law office to 2472 E. Seventh Avenue, North St. Paul, MN 55109.

On May 4, 1982, Valletta called Ylitalo, inquiring as to the exact amount needed to reinstate the contract. Ylitalo informed Valletta $4,226.05 was due, and advised her that he had moved his law office, and that payment should be sent to his new address. She claims that during this telephone conversation Ylitalo gave her the incorrect office address of 2742 E. Seventh Avenue, North St. Paul, MN 55109.

That same day, Valletta mailed a cashier’s check in the amount of $4,226.05 to Ylitalo at 2742 E. Seventh Ave., North St. Paul, MN, 55109. After mailing the check, Valletta left town for two weeks.

Upon her return, May 19, 1982, Valletta discovered the letter had been returned, marked “Not At This Address.” She called Ylitalo on the morning of May 20, 1982, and discovered, through a secretary, that the proper address was 2472 E. Seventh Ave., not 2742. Valletta then remailed the check (postmarked May 20 and received May 21) to the correct address. The check was made payable to Mark J. Valletta (appellant’s son) and Ylitalo, but was not endorsed by Mark. The last date to reinstate the contract was May 17.

By letter dated May 25, 1982, Ylitalo returned the check to Valletta and notified her the contract was cancelled because the tender was faulty — untimely and nonnegotiable.

Valletta claims her account was carried in both her name and her son’s name for certain reasons, that she had her son’s power of attorney, but the credit union placed Mark’s name on the check because of programming.

No reason was given for her not looking, nor seeing, Mark’s name on the check, yet she insists that, but for the change of address, Ylitalo would have received the check in time; and further, “sufficient time would have been available for defendants to attempt to negotiate the check and, if dishonored, for plaintiff to rectify the error.” How the above was to be accomplished is not explained.

Approximately six months later, Valletta commenced suit seeking reinstatement of the contract for deed. Both parties moved for summary judgment. The trial court granted Recksiedlers’ motion for summary judgment denying reinstatement of the contract and ordering the notice of lis pen-dens be discharged, and ordered judgment for Recksiedlers in the amount of $1,335.77 for the tenants’ security deposits held by Valletta.

Since repossessing the apartment complex in June of 1982, Recksiedlers have spent hundreds of hours repairing the premises, and thousands of dollars in repairing neglected maintenance items.

ISSUES

1. Did the trial court err in concluding that notice of cancellation on the contract for deed complied with the statutory requirements set forth in Minn.Stat. § 559.-21?

2. Did the trial court err in not holding that vendee’s good faith in attempting to cure invokes equitable relief?

3. Did the trial court err in concluding that misconduct on the part of the cancel-ling vendors’ attorney must be “intentional” in order to invoke equitable relief?

ANALYSIS

STANDARD OF REVIEW

In Grondahl v. Bulluck, 318 N.W.2d 240 (Minn.1982), the Minnesota Supreme Court defined when summary judgment is appropriate and the standard of review on appeal.

A motion for summary judgment may be granted when the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions *317 and affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that either party is entitled to a judgment as matter of law. * * * The district court must review the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, * * * and this court on appeal must view the evidence most favorably to the one against whom the motion was granted.

Id. at 242 (citations omitted).

I.

Valletta claims the cancellation notice was defective because the notice demanded payment for costs of service of a prior notice of cancellation in the amount of $41.05, thereby violating Minn.Stat. § 559.-21 (1982). Recksiedlers contend the trial court did not have to decide this question because even if the $41.05 inclusion is determined to be a defect, it is not one which would render the cancellation notice fatally defective. We agree.

In Karim v. Werner, 333 N.W.2d 877 (Minn.1983), the Minnesota Supreme Court was confronted with the issue of whether a notice of cancellation misstating the amount of attorney’s fees by $100 rendered the notice defective. The supreme court said:

We decline to hold that such misstatements render cancellation notices fatally defective. Such a misstatement does not compare with a misstatement of the statutory redemption period, which is an error of a different magnitude, and renders a cancellation notice ineffective.

Id. at 879.

Further, in Conley v. Downing, 321 N.W.2d 36 (Minn.1982), a $100 overstatement of attorney’s fees in a notice of cancellation did not render the notice void where there was no resulting prejudice to the vendee.

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Bluebook (online)
355 N.W.2d 314, 1984 Minn. App. LEXIS 3585, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/valletta-v-recksiedler-minnctapp-1984.