Union Trust v. MacQuinn-Tweedie

• Decision Date: 05 March 2001
• Citation: 767 A.2d 289,2001 ME 43
• Parties: UNION TRUST v. Lisa MACQUINN-TWEEDIE et al.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

767 A.2d 289

2001 ME 43

UNION TRUST v. Lisa MACQUINN-TWEEDIE et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: January 9, 2001.

Decided: March 5, 2001.

Louis H. Kornreich, Esq., (orally), James S. Nixon, Esq., Gross, Minsky & Mogul, P.A., Bangor, for plaintiff.

Peter R. Roy, Esq., (orally), Roy, Beardsley, Williams & Granger, LLC, Ellsworth, (for MacQuinn-Tweedie et al.), Stephen P. Beale, Esq., (orally), Skelton, Taintor & Abbott, P.A., Auburn, (for Skelton, Taintor & Abbott), John A. McArdle III, Esq., (orally), Campbell & McArdle, P.A., Portland, (for M.O.M. Corp. et al.), William W. Willard, Esq., (orally), Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson, P.A., Portland, (for Guardian Trust), Roger G. Innes, Esq., Mt. Desert, (for Holly Parker), Brent A. Slater, Esq., Bangor, (for Ocean Properties), for defendants.

Panel: WATHEN, C.J., and DANA, SAUFLEY, ALEXANDER, and CALKINS, JJ.

WATHEN, C.J.

[¶ 1] M.O.M. Corporation and Main Street Associates, the holders of an option, and other parties claiming by, through, or under them, appeal from a judgment of foreclosure and order of sale entered in the District Court (Bar Harbor, Staples, J.) in favor of the mortgagee, Union Trust, and against the mortgagor, Lisa MacQuinn-Tweedie. Guardian Trust, an attaching creditor, appeals from the court's denial of its motion to reconsider its finding that Guardian Trust was not a party in interest. We modify the judgment to include Guardian Trust as a party-in-interest, and as modified, we affirm.

[¶ 2] The relevant facts may be briefly summarized as follows: The option holders received an option to purchase certain real property that was subject to a mortgage held by Union Trust. Union Trust brought an action to foreclose on the mortgaged premises. The court denied the option holder's request to order Union Trust to assign the mortgage to them in return for payment of the balance due on the mortgage, plus attorney fees, or to sell the optioned premises separate from the rest of the mortgaged premises in the event of a public foreclosure sale.

[¶ 3] The dispositive issues raised by the option holders on appeal are: (1) whether they are the legal equivalents of junior mortgagees for purposes of compelling redemption and assignment pursuant to 14 M.R.S.A. § 6205 (1980);¹ and (2) whether their option survives the foreclosure and continues as a unilateral right to purchase the optioned premises. Both contentions are without legal support.

[¶ 4] We review a trial court's construction of a statutory scheme as a matter of law. See U.S. Dep't of HUD v. Union Mortgage Co., Inc., 661 A.2d 163, 165 (Me.1995). "The statutory civil foreclosure procedure preserves two fundamental rights to a junior mortgagee: the right to redeem the property from the senior mortgagee and the right to participate in a public foreclosure sale and to receive any surplus proceeds after the senior mortgage has been satisfied." Id.; see also 14 M.R.S.A. §§ 6205, 6321-6325 (1980 & Supp.2000); Frisbee v. Frisbee, 86 Me. 444, 447, 29 A. 1115, 1116 (1894) (stating that any one who has an interest in mortgaged premises, and would be a loser by foreclosure, is entitled to redeem). It also provides the court with discretion to order assignment of the mortgage to the junior mortgagee if certain conditions are met. 14 M.R.S.A. § 6205; see also Bernstein v. Blumenthal, 127 Me. 393, 397, 143 A. 698, 699 (1928) (finding that a junior mortgagee redeeming from a senior mortgagee may also compel assignment of a mortgage if equity requires). The plain language of section 6205 is limited to junior...