White v. Simpson

915 P.2d 1004, 140 Or. App. 147, 1996 Ore. App. LEXIS 547
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedApril 17, 1996
Docket92-CV-0243; CA A83741
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 915 P.2d 1004 (White v. Simpson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
White v. Simpson, 915 P.2d 1004, 140 Or. App. 147, 1996 Ore. App. LEXIS 547 (Or. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

WARREN, P. J.

The issues in this case arise from the attempted redemption of plaintiff Donna Marie White’s (White) interest in a lot in Cave Junction (the property) after the sheriff sold it at an execution sale. Plaintiffs are White and Janice G. Chandler (Chandler), to whom White transferred her right of redemption. Defendants Janice M. Simpson and Wade Simpson (the Simpsons) are the purchasers at the sheriffs sale. Defendant Dan Calvert (the sheriff) is the acting sheriff of Josephine County, whose office conducted the sheriffs sale and subsequent proceedings.1 Cross-claim defendant Michael A. Adams (Adams) is the present owner of a separate undivided interest in the property.

In their complaint, Chandler and White sought a judgment granting them the right to redeem the property; they also alleged that the sheriff violated 42 USC § 1983 by conducting the execution sale and attempted redemption improperly and thereby deprived them of a protected property interest under the color of law. After plaintiffs filed the case, the Simpsons added Adams as a cross-claim defendant and sought to quiet their title in the property free of his claims.

The trial court dismissed Chandler’s claims as a sanction for her failure to appear at a deposition. It thereafter granted the Simpsons’ motion for summary judgment, denying White any right to redeem and quieting title in the property in the Simpsons, subject to their paying Adams $7,250 for his interest. It also granted the sheriffs motion for summary judgment and dismissed the claims against him. White, Chandler, and Adams appeal. We reverse on all claims.

There are no serious disputes about the facts. In October 1985, White and her brother Robert White (Robert) received the property as an inheritance from their grandfather’s estate. White lives in Alaska, and Robert lives in [151]*151Utah. Before they received title to the property, but presumably after their grandfather’s death, White agreed to buy Robert’s interest for $16,000 plus an additional $2,000; she paid him $10,000 as a down payment. In December 1984, White and Robert memorialized their agreement in a Trust Agreement in Lieu of Deed of Trust (the Trust Agreement), which set out the terms of the sale and made Robert the trustee of the property until White paid the balance due. In October 1992, Robert quitclaimed his interest in the property to Adams, who, like White, is an Alaska resident.

The Trust Agreement provides that White “hereby grants, bargains, sells and conveys” the property to Robert in trust for the purpose of securing her purchase of his interest. It contains a number of additional provisions that are appropriate to a security instrument but not to a deed absolute. The Trust Agreement obligates Robert or his successor to provide White a deed to the property upon payment in full; until then he retains the legal title to his half interest.

In 1991, one Wiley recovered judgments against White in the Alaska bankruptcy court and had them entered as a foreign judgment in Josephine County Circuit Court. On November 12, 1991, the sheriff sold White’s' interest in the property pursuant to an execution on that judgment. The Simpsons purchased the property at the execution sale for $6,300, which was not sufficient to satisfy the judgment in its entirety. The court entered an order confirming the sale on November 29,1991.

Under ORS 23.560(1), White had 180 days from November 12, 1991, or until May 11, 1992,2 to redeem the property. On April 27, 1992, she quitclaimed her interest in the property, specifically including any redemption rights, to Chandler, who also lives in Alaska. The same day, Chandler gave notice of her intent to redeem the property and requested, pursuant to ORS 23.560(4), that the Simpsons provide a verified accounting of the rents, issues, and profits of the property and of all amounts claimed as liens. Janice Simpson delivered a handwritten unverified accounting to [152]*152the sheriff on May 6, 1992. The sheriff did not send the accounting to Chandler until May 8; Chandler did not receive it until May 13. That day she mailed her objections to the accounting to the sheriff. Also on May 13, the sheriff delivered a sheriffs deed to the property to the Simpsons. Chandler’s Alaska attorney thereafter sent the sheriff an attorney’s trust account check for the amount that Chandler believed was necessary to redeem the property. The sheriff refused to accept the check and returned it on June 16, 1992. On June 18 he delivered a second sheriffs deed to the property to the Simpsons.

Plaintiffs filed this action in November 1992, seeking an accounting of the amount due on redemption, an opportunity to redeem, and attorney fees from the sheriff on their section 1983 claim. The Simpsons thereafter joined Adams and ten John Does as defendants and cross-claimed to quiet their title.

Soon after plaintiffs filed the case, the Simpsons’ attorney informally sought to depose them. He was dissatisfied with the lack of response from plaintiffs’ attorney and therefore noticed the depositions for February 17, 1993, in Grants Pass. Plaintiffs’ attorney responded that plaintiffs would be unable to come to Grants Pass at that time but were available for deposition by telephone. Simpsons’ attorney thereafter filed a motion for sanctions, seeking dismissal of the case and an award of attorney fees.

On May 7, 1993, the court verbally awarded attorney fees to the Simpsons and ordered plaintiffs to make themselves available for depositions within 30 days of that date, stating that it would dismiss the case if they did not. The court did not enter a written order stating those rulings until August 4. The parties thereafter agreed that defendants would depose plaintiffs in Grants Pass on June 7. Because of a scheduling conflict, the attorneys subsequently agreed to postpone the depositions to June 14. Plaintiffs’ counsel did not check with his clients before agreeing to the change. White was deposed on that day. Chandler purchased an airline ticket so that she could also be available, but her employer insisted that she attend training scheduled for that date instead of going to Oregon, threatening her with the loss [153]*153of her job if she failed to attend. As a result, she was not present for the deposition at the scheduled time.

On August 4, 1993, the court entered an order dismissing Chandler’s claims as a sanction for her failure to appear at the deposition; at precisely the same time it entered a written order memorializing its previous decision requiring her to appear within 30 days of May 7. The court did not make any factual findings to support the order of dismissal. It thereafter granted the Simpsons’ and the sheriffs motions for summary judgment and entered judgment quieting title in the property in the Simpsons, subject to their payment of $7,250 to Adams to satisfy his interest. Plaintiffs and Adams appeal.

A preliminary question on plaintiffs’ appeal, and the primary issue that Adams raises, is the nature of White’s interest in the property at the time of the sheriffs sale. Adams argues that White conveyed legal title to the entire property to Robert by the Trust Agreement, subject to a vendee’s equitable interest in White, and that Adams has succeeded to Robert’s title.

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Bluebook (online)
915 P.2d 1004, 140 Or. App. 147, 1996 Ore. App. LEXIS 547, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-simpson-orctapp-1996.