Meredith v. Fisher, 81-053

• Decision Date: 01 October 1981
• Docket Number: No. 81-053,81-053
• Parties: William H. MEREDITH et al. v. Robert H. FISHER et al.
• Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court

Page 536

435 A.2d 536

121 N.H. 856

William H. MEREDITH et al. v. Robert H. FISHER et al.

No. 81-053.

Supreme Court of New Hampshire.

Oct. 1, 1981.

Wadleigh, Starr, Peters, Dunn & Kohls, Manchester (Ronald J. Lajoie, Manchester, on the brief and orally), for plaintiffs.

Perkins, Upshall & Robinson P.A., Concord (Kenneth L. Robinson, Jr., Concord, on the brief and orally), for defendants.

BOIS, Justice.

This appeal arises from an order of the trial court rendering a deficiency judgment against the defendant subsequent to a mortgage foreclosure sale. Our review of the record reveals that the court committed reversible error by denying certain requests for rulings of law, and we therefore reverse and remand.

In October 1971, the defendant Robert H. Fisher agreed to purchase from the plaintiff William H. Meredith certain real estate in Concord, certain equipment and personal property, and the plaintiff's chiropractic practice. On November 12, 1971, a closing was held at which the defendants signed a promissory note in favor of the plaintiffs for $31,000, secured by a second mortgage on the real estate and subordinate to the first mortgage lien of the Merrimack County Savings Bank in the original principal amount of $22,500. The plaintiffs foreclosed their second mortgage lien on the property on November 9, 1976. A public auction was held at which the plaintiffs offered the only bid, bidding $30,000 less the amount due on the first mortgage and purchasing the property for $9,518.92, subject to the existing first mortgage, on which the balance due was $20,481.08. The balance due on the plaintiffs' second mortgage note at that time was $19,537.61. A number of appraisals of the property placed the value of the real estate in the range of $45,000 to $55,000. Following the foreclosure sale, the plaintiffs sought a deficiency judgment in the amount of $11,128.39, which was the difference between the principal balance due on both notes ($40,018.69) and the principal portion of the bid price $28,890.30) applied against the balance due. The Master (Roger G. Burlingame, Esq.) made certain rulings and findings and recommended without opinion that "judgment be entered for the plaintiff for the deficiency in the amount of $11,128.39 plus accrued interest at 7%, plus costs." The Trial Judge (Cann, J.) accepted and approved this recommendation.

The defendants argue that the trial court's denial of certain of their requests for rulings of law constitutes reversible error. "The standard of review in an appeal from a master's recommendation is that the findings and rulings will be upheld unless they are unsupported by the evidence or are erroneous as a matter of law." Summit Electric Inc. v. Pepin Brothers Const., Inc., 121 N.H. 203, 206, 427 A.2d 505, 507 (1981) (citing Hynes v. Whitehouse, 120 N.H. 417, 421, 415 A.2d 876, 878 (1980) and Brown v. Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hosp., 117 N.H. 739, 742, 378 A.2d 1138, 1140 (1977)). After reviewing the record, we agree with the defendants that the master's report reached inexplicable, inconsistent and erroneous conclusions, not only regarding the defendants' requests, but also as to certain requests of the plaintiffs, which rose to the level of reversible error. The defendants filed eight requests for findings of fact and seven requests for rulings of law. The master recommended that "(d)efendant's requests for findings and rulings numbered 1, 3-6 should be granted." (Emphasis added.) This is particularly nebulous because it leaves us to speculate as to what actions he took on which requests.

The master denied the defendants' request for a ruling of law number 2 which stated: "Plaintiffs Meredith were required to use reasonable efforts to obtain a fair price at the foreclosure sale." Likewise, our review of the record reveals that the master denied the plaintiffs' request for a ruling of law number 1 which read: "The purpose of the statutory power of sale procedure is to provide a public auction for the mortgaged premises in order to obtain a fair and reasonable price under the circumstances."

Because mortgage foreclosure is essentially a right to equitable relief, Lakes Region Fin. Corp. v. Goodhue Boat Yard, Inc., 118 N.H. 103, 107, 382 A.2d 1108, 1111 (1978); Phinney v. Levine, 117 N.H. 968, 971, 381 A.2d...