Windrose Estates Homeowners Association v. Justin T. Wright; Midland Funding, Llc...

CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedDecember 15, 2025
Docket2 CA-CV 2024-0074 - 2 CA-CV 2025-0058 (consolidated)
StatusPublished

This text of Windrose Estates Homeowners Association v. Justin T. Wright; Midland Funding, Llc... (Windrose Estates Homeowners Association v. Justin T. Wright; Midland Funding, Llc...) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Windrose Estates Homeowners Association v. Justin T. Wright; Midland Funding, Llc..., (Ark. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE ARIZONA COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION TWO

WINDROSE ESTATES HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, AN ARIZONA NON-PROFIT CORPORATION, Plaintiff/Appellee,

v.

JUSTIN T. WRIGHT, AN UNMARRIED MAN, Defendant/Appellant,

JUSTIN T. WRIGHT, AN UNMARRIED MAN, Plaintiff/Appellee,

SUNSTATE ACQUISITIONS, LLC, AN ARIZONA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY; SV 1, LLC, AN ARIZONA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, Defendants/Appellants.

Nos. 2 CA-CV 2024-0074 and 2 CA-CV 2025-0058 (Consolidated) Filed December 15, 2025

Appeal from the Superior Court in Maricopa County Nos. CV2022090201 and CV2023015900 The Honorable Brian D. Kaiser, Judge Pro Tempore The Honorable Timothy J. Ryan, Judge

AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED

COUNSEL

May, Potenza, Baran & Gillespie P.C., Phoenix By Andrew S. Lishko, Trevor J. Wainfeld, and Danika Marzillier Counsel for Appellant Justin Wright WINDROSE ESTS. HOMEOWNERS ASS’N v. WRIGHT Opinion of the Court

Vial Fotheringham LLP, Mesa By Christina N. Morgan Counsel for Appellee Windrose Estates Homeowners Association

Law Offices of Kyle A. Kinney PLLC, Scottsdale By Kyle A. Kinney Counsel for Appellants Sunstate Acquisitions, LLC and SV 1, LLC

Maxwell & Morgan Inc., Mesa By B. Austin Baillio, Charles B. Sellers, and Chad M. Gallacher Counsel for Amicus Curiae Arizona Chapter of Community Associations Institute

OPINION

Judge Sklar authored the opinion of the Court, in which Vice Chief Judge Eppich and Judge O’Neil concurred.

S K L A R, Judge:

We address here a trial court’s authority to set aside a foreclosure sale arising out of a homeowners’ association lien. The court set aside a sale of Justin Wright’s home and quieted title in Wright’s favor, finding in part that the foreclosure sale price was “grossly inadequate.” We conclude that the court erred in doing so. Although courts generally have common-law powers to set aside foreclosure sales due to a grossly inadequate price, that power is implicitly abrogated by A.R.S. § 33-1807, the statute governing HOA liens. We likewise conclude that the court improperly set aside the sale on the alternative ground that Wright was “misled or surprised.”

We also conclude that in a consolidated action, a different trial court correctly declined to set aside the default judgment against Wright that allowed the foreclosure. In doing so, we reject Wright’s arguments concerning the sufficiency of process. The result of our opinion in these consolidated cases is to reinstate the sale. We remand the quiet-title action to the trial court so it can effectuate our opinion.

2 WINDROSE ESTS. HOMEOWNERS ASS’N v. WRIGHT Opinion of the Court

BACKGROUND

Wright is a member of the Windrose Estates Homeowners Association. In January 2022, the association filed a complaint against Wright, alleging that he owed unpaid assessments and other charges totaling $7,463.86. Among other things, the association sought to foreclose its lien for assessments, which it acquired through Section 33-1807(A).

The association’s process server visited Wright’s residence seven times. Although the server saw that the residence was occupied, nobody answered the door. The association then conducted a search known as a “skip trace,” which confirmed that Wright’s last known address was at the property.

The association moved for alternative service, which the trial court granted. The court’s order allowed the association to serve Wright by mailing a copy of the summons, complaint, and order to Wright at the property and posting a copy at or near the front door. The association did so, but Wright did not respond to the complaint. In September 2022, the court granted default judgment in favor of the association. The judgment foreclosed the association’s lien and authorized the sheriff to sell the property.

That sale occurred in February 2023. Sunstate Acquisitions, LLC purchased the property for $20,100. After the six-month redemption period expired, Wright received a “Written Demand of Surrender and Possession” that was posted at the property. See A.R.S. § 12-1282(B). That led him to take two steps. First, he moved to set aside the judgment under Rule 60(b) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure, asserting that he had not been served with process. The trial court denied his motion. He appealed.

Second, Wright filed a separate complaint against Sunstate as well as SV 1, LLC, which had acquired the property from Sunstate. He sought a declaration that the foreclosure sale was void and that he was entitled to a judgment quieting title in his favor. In October 2024, after an evidentiary hearing, the trial court set aside the foreclosure sale and quieted title in Wright’s favor. It found that Wright was misled or surprised, he was not aware of the sale, and the property’s sale price was grossly inadequate. Sunstate and SV 1 appealed. We consolidated the two cases.

3 WINDROSE ESTS. HOMEOWNERS ASS’N v. WRIGHT Opinion of the Court

ADEQUACY OF NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE ACTION

Both consolidated appeals raise issues concerning the notice provided to Wright. Wright argues that the trial court in the foreclosure action erred by denying his Rule 60(b) motion. Sunstate and SV 1 argue that the court in the quiet-title action erred by setting aside the sale on the ground that Wright was “misled or surprised.”

I. Rule 60(b) Motion

In his appeal concerning the Rule 60(b) motion, Wright argues: (1) the trial court should not have granted the association alternative service; (2) the method of service was not reasonably calculated to serve him; and (3) the association did not provide sufficient evidence that it actually served him with process. These issues all turn on the validity of service, which is a legal question of personal jurisdiction that we review de novo. Ruffino v. Lokosky, 245 Ariz. 165, ¶ 9 (App. 2018).

A. Grant of motion for alternative service

Whether the trial court properly authorized the association to serve Wright by alternative means is governed by Rule 4.1(k) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure. Under that rule, “[i]f a party shows that the means of service provided in Rule 4.1(c) through Rule 4.1(j) are impracticable, the court may . . . order that service may be accomplished in another manner.” Ariz. R. Civ. P. 4.1(k). The standard for impracticability requires “something less than the ‘due diligence’ showing required before service by publication may be utilized.” Blair v. Burgener, 226 Ariz. 213, ¶ 16 (App. 2010). It requires that service be “extremely difficult or inconvenient,” not impossible. Id. ¶ 17.

Wright argues that the association did not show that serving him under Rule 4.1(c) through (j) would be impracticable. In support, he relies primarily on State ex rel. Department of Economic Security v. Pennel, in which this court concluded that alternative service had not been justified. 257 Ariz. 558, ¶ 1 (App. 2024). The plaintiff had attempted service at only one of the defendant’s two last known current addresses and not his place of work. Id. ¶¶ 12-13. Pennel is distinguishable. Unlike the defendant there, the skip trace here confirmed that Wright had only a single address, where the association attempted service seven times. And although Wright argues that the association could have attempted service on other days at other times, he does not present evidence that such efforts would have succeeded.

4 WINDROSE ESTS. HOMEOWNERS ASS’N v. WRIGHT Opinion of the Court

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