Van Egmond v. Horsman

10 P.3d 715, 42 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1208, 2000 Colo. J. C.A.R. 4845, 2000 Colo. App. LEXIS 1455, 2000 WL 1159096
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 17, 2000
DocketNo. 99CA1399
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 10 P.3d 715 (Van Egmond v. Horsman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Van Egmond v. Horsman, 10 P.3d 715, 42 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1208, 2000 Colo. J. C.A.R. 4845, 2000 Colo. App. LEXIS 1455, 2000 WL 1159096 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

Opinion by Judge KAPELKE.

In this action to foreclose on a deed of trust on real property and a security interest in personal property under a security agreement executed by defendants, Clair Elwin and Marie Horsman, plaintiffs, Ronald T. and Brenda C. Van Egmond, appeal from the order entered by the trial court determining that a sheriff's sale had covered only the real property and did not include the personal property. We affirm the order and remand the cause with directions.

On July 6, 1992, plaintiffs and defendants entered into a contract for the purchase by defendants of a salvage yard owned by plaintiffs. Pursuant to the contract, defendants executed a promissory note in favor of plaintiffs in the amount of $80,000. The note was secured by a deed of trust covering the real property and by a separate security agreement covering the personal property of the business.

In July 19983, defendants defaulted in the payment of installments due on the promissory note, and on February 16, 1994, plaintiffs filed this action. Thereafter, upon motion, the court appointed plaintiffs as receivers for the property.

Plaintiffs filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, which the court granted at a hearing on October 10, 1995, finding that defendants had not filed an answer to the complaint. At the hearing, a dispute arose as to whether certain items of personal property at the salvage yard were subject to the security agreement.

The court entered an order at the hearing authorizing a sheriff's sale of the real property under the deed of trust. However, the court stayed the sale of the personal property under the security agreement and indicated it would conduct a separate hearing concerning that property.

Plaintiffs scheduled the sheriff's sale of the real property for December 19, 1995, gave the required notices, and published the sale in the newspaper pursuant to C.R.S. § 18-56-201, C.R.S8.1999. The notice and publication referred only to the real property and did not mention the personal property or the security agreement.

At the second hearing, which took place on November 20, 1995, the parties reached a stipulation with respect to the personal property items which could be sold under the security agreement.

On December 18, 1995, the court entered a decree authorizing sale by the sheriff of the personal property.

The sale of the real property was held the following day, on December 19, 1995. Plaintiffs were the successful bidders, bidding $131,466.70, which was the entire remaining balance of the indebtedness owed by defendants.

On December 27, 1995, the sheriff filed a report and return of sheriff, stating that he had sold "the subject real property at public auction to [plaintiffs]" and that he had issued to plaintiffs "a certificate of purchase to the subject real property."

On January 16, 1996, defendants filed a motion to close the receivership and for return of the personal property on the basis that the indebtedness had been satisfied as a result of the deed of trust foreclosure on the real property. In their response, plaintiffs admitted that no sale of the personal property had been held yet, and stated that a sheriff's sale was scheduled to be held on February 13, 1996, pursuant to the December 18, 1995, decree of foreclosure.

[717]*717On February 14, 1996, plaintiffs filed a motion seeking leave of the court to apportion the judgment debt and to amend their bid. In their motion, plaintiffs again acknowledged that the sheriff had not yet conducted a public sale of the personal property collateral under the security agreement.

On February 28, 1996, defendants filed an affidavit of publication of the notice of sheriff's sale that had been scheduled for February 13, 1996, of the personal property subject to the security agreement.

On March 7, 1996, plaintiffs filed an amended motion for leave to apportion the judgment debt and amend the bid. In that motion they again pointed out that the sheriff had not yet conducted a public sale of the collateral under the security agreement.

On March 21, 1996, the court entered an order determining that the foreclosure sale of the real estate satisfied the judgment and that the security agreement no longer covered the personal property.

On April 2, 1996, following a hearing, the court granted defendants' motion to close the receivership and for return of the personal property. The court found "that the foreclosure sale of real estate [had] satisfied [the] judgment [in the case]" and that "the security agreement between the parties no longer the property described therein." The court further found that the bid at the foreclosure did not include the personal property under the security agreement. The court allowed defendants 15 days to retrieve their personal property.

On April 10, 1996, defendants filed a "Motion for Additional Time to Recover Property," asserting, among other things, that plaintiffs had sold the personal property to a third party.

In plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration of that order, they acknowledged that their "bid on the foreclosure on the Deed of Trust on December 19, 1995 in the amount of $131,466.70 satisfied the Decree of Foreclosure entered by the Court on November 8, 1995."

On July 7, 1997, more than a year and a half after the foreclosure sale, the sheriff filed an amended report and return of sheriff, stating that the personal property held as collateral under a security agreement had been sold at the December 19, 1995, foreclosure sale.

On December 9, 1997, plaintiffs filed a C.R.C.P. 60(b) motion for relief from the court's April 2, 1996, order granting defendants' motion to close receivership and return property. Plaintiffs argued that the sheriff's amended report, reciting that the sale had included the personal as well as the real property, constituted new evidence and thus entitled them to relief.

On June 3, 1999, the court entered its order determining that the sheriff's sale conducted on December 19, 1995, had not included the personal property subject to the security agreement. The court noted that the "Decree of Foreclosure of Security Agreement" entered on December 18, 1999, specified a sheriff's sale at public auction "in the manner described by the statute."

Plaintiffs contend that the sheriffs sale conducted on December 19, 1995, included the personal property and that defendants were therefore not entitled to a return of that property. We disagree.

The trial court found with record support that the sheriff's sale had included only the real property, and not the personal property. As stated, the notice of the sale referred only to real property, and the report the sheriff filed following the sale stated that he had sold the real property to plaintiffs and that he had issued plaintiffs a certificate of purchase to the real property.

Significantly, plaintiffs themselves acknowledged in several pleadings they filed that there had not yet been a sale of the personal property, and they filed a notice of publication indicating that such a sale was to be held on February 18, 1996. In addition, they admitted in a motion for reconsideration that the foreclosure on the real property had satisfied the indebtedness. Thus, the record amply supports the trial court's finding that the personal property had not been sold at the sheriff's sale on December 19, 1995.

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10 P.3d 715, 42 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1208, 2000 Colo. J. C.A.R. 4845, 2000 Colo. App. LEXIS 1455, 2000 WL 1159096, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/van-egmond-v-horsman-coloctapp-2000.