Valmont Credit Corp. v. McIlravy

371 N.W.2d 797, 1985 S.D. LEXIS 322
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 31, 1985
DocketNo. 14792
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 371 N.W.2d 797 (Valmont Credit Corp. v. McIlravy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Valmont Credit Corp. v. McIlravy, 371 N.W.2d 797, 1985 S.D. LEXIS 322 (S.D. 1985).

Opinion

WUEST, Acting Justice.

This is an appeal from an order granting a motion that appellant’s judgment be deemed satisfied and denying appellant interest on its judgment from the date of appellant’s purchase of real property sold to satisfy the judgment until the expiration of the redemption period on said property. We affirm.

Valmont Credit Corporation (appellant) obtained a judgment against W.T. Mcllra-vy, Marion Mcllravy, Louis J. Van Roekel, and Carol Van Roekel, doing business as McVan Farm & Ranch (appellees). The judgment related to a default by appellees, under the terms of a security agreement for the purchase of irrigation equipment. The judgment was appealed to this court in Valmont Credit Corp. v. McIlravy, 344 N.W.2d 691 (S.D.1984), wherein we affirmed the trial court’s decision.

After the sale of the irrigation equipment, there remained a deficiency on the judgment of approximately $325,000. To satisfy the deficiency, certain parcels of appellees’ real property were levied upon, and on December 23, 1983, the property was sold at an execution sale to appellant for the amount of the deficiency, plus interest and costs to the date of judgment. Thereafter, the trial court entered an order reciting that appellant’s judgment was fully satisfied. The court, however, did not award appellant interest on its judgment during the period of redemption on the real property. On appeal, appellant contends that it was entitled to interest on the judgment from the time it purchased the property until expiration of the redemption sale.

The issue before this court is one of first impression in South Dakota. Appellant argues that as a judgment creditor, who purchased real property sold to satisfy the judgment in question, it should be treated differently than other purchasers at such sales because it will not receive any money in the transaction nor will it gain full legal title to the property until the sheriff’s deed conveying the property is delivered at the end of the redemption period. Thus, appellant urges that the judgment remains unsatisfied, and that it is entitled to interest, pursuant to SDCL 54-3-5.1, which provided prior to its amendment on July 1, 1984:

Interest is payable on all judgments and statutory liens, exclusive of real estate mortgages and security agreements under Title 57A, at the rate of fifteen percent per year from and after the date of judgment and date of filing statutory lien.

We disagree. As the trial court duly noted in its memorandum decision:

SDCL 54-3-5.1 allows interest ‘... from and after the date of judgment....’ It logically follows that the accrual of interest would stop when the judgment debtor has fulfilled his obligation as created by the judgment.

Contained within the record in the instant case is the Sheriff’s Return of Sale. That return clearly shows that there was no surplus or deficiency owing after the purchase of the property at the execution sale. SDCL 15-16-7 requires the clerk of courts to indicate a satisfaction when the sheriff makes a return of execution. This was done. SDCL 15-16-15 provides that one method of cancelling a judgment is by “execution returned satisfied[.]” The Haakon County Sheriff’s Return of Sale shows that the entire amount of the judgment, plus interest and costs, was realized from the sale. The sheriffs return also shows that [799]*799the execution was satisfied, which cancels the judgment.

There is no reason to distinguish between a third-party purchaser at a foreclosure sale and a judgment creditor who bids in the total amount of the judgment. In either instance, the judgment is satisfied because the execution sale is terminated when the amount realized is sufficient to “satisfy the judgment,” SDCL 15-19-16, and because the monies received at the sale must be paid to the creditor to satisfy the judgment, SDCL 15-18-38 to -42. Because the judgment is satisfied when the money received from the sale is paid, regardless of whether the money is first received from the judgment creditor or a third party, no unsatisfied judgment exists upon which interest should be paid.

Dicta in several South Dakota cases supports this position. “Upon the sale, the mortgage debt, to the extent of the proceeds of the sale applicable to its payment, is wiped out, and ceases to exist.” State v. McGee, 38 S.D. 257, 263, 160 N.W. 1009, 1010 (1917). In State v. Tuttle, 51 S.D. 596, 601, 216 N.W. 194, 196 (1927), this court relied on the California Supreme Court when it commented on the interest of a purchaser of the mortgaged property at an execution sale; the purchaser’s interest is more than a lien because the lien that was created by the judgment of foreclosure “has already been satisfied by the sale, to the extent of the amount bid and paid by the purchaser.” In Harkness v. Althen, 56 S.D. 328, 228 N.W. 397 (1929), the court also commented in dicta that the judgment creditor’s bid at an execution sale conducted by advertisement was intended to cancel the indebtedness due on a mortgage. Most recently, in American Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n, Etc. v. Kass, 320 N.W.2d 800 (S.D.1982), this court held that a mortgagee who obtains a judgment of foreclosure, which includes, in part, a deficiency judgment, is not entitled to interest on the whole of the judgment but is only entitled to the statutory rate on judgments, SDCL 54-3-5.1, on that portion of the judgment representing the deficiency. This court reasoned that “the foreclosure of the mortgage and the sale of the mortgaged property extinguished the real estate mortgage[.]” 320 N.W.2d at 804. See also G. Thompson, Real Property § 4814 fns. 64, 68, and 73. Because the judgment of foreclosure is fully satisfied by a bid and purchase at the execution sale sufficient to pay the judgment, it follows that there is no judgment upon which interest can accrue.

Some South Dakota statutes also support the proposition that a mortgage debt is cancelled and the judgment of foreclosure is satisfied when the proceeds of the execution sale are sufficient to pay the debt, regardless of whether a third party or the judgment creditor bids and pays the amount.

SDCL 21-47-17 provides:

Except as provided by § 21-47-16, [procedure for bidding less than fair market value and obtaining deficiency] a foreclosure by action of a mortgage upon real estate operates as a complete extin-guishment, satisfaction and payment of the debt secured by the mortgage.

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371 N.W.2d 797, 1985 S.D. LEXIS 322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/valmont-credit-corp-v-mcilravy-sd-1985.