Production Credit Ass'n of Southern New Mexico v. Williamson
| Decision Date | 24 May 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 17374,17374 |
| Citation | 1988 NMSC 41,755 P.2d 56,107 N.M. 212 |
| Parties | PRODUCTION CREDIT ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. A.E. WILLIAMSON and Faye Williamson, Federal Land Bank of Wichita and All Unknown Claimants of Interest in the Premises Adverse to Plaintiff, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | New Mexico Supreme Court |
Defendants A.E. Williamson and F. Williamson (the Williamsons) appeal the trial court's order denying their motion to set aside a special master's foreclosure sale of real property. The Williamsons were parties to the foreclosure proceedings and consented to the foreclosure judgment and decree. However, because they were not given personal, actual notice of the time and place of the foreclosure sale, they contend they were denied their interest in property without due process of law. The Williamsons also urge that SCRA 1986, 1-005 applies to notices of foreclosure sales and requires that they be given actual notice of the sale. We disagree with both contentions and affirm the trial court's order.
On March 19, 1986, plaintiff Production Credit Association of Southern New Mexico (Credit Association) filed a complaint to initiate foreclosure proceedings. Credit Association held a note in the original principal sum of $446,459 executed by the Williamsons and secured by a mortgage on their Lea County ranch. At the time of default the remaining balance of principal and interest was $311,052. On January 7, 1987, almost nine months after Credit Association filed its complaint, the court entered a judgment and decree of foreclosure which had been approved by both parties. The judgment directed that the property be sold "pursuant to law" and by a special master. The applicable law for the sale of foreclosed property is NMSA 1978, Section 39-5-1. Pursuant to Section 39-5-1, and commencing on January 30, 1987, Credit Association published notice of the foreclosure sale in the local newspaper. It ran for four weeks, and included the time and place of the sale and a description of the property.
On March 2, 1987, the court-appointed special master conducted the sale of the real property in accordance with the judgment and decree of foreclosure, the proceeds from the foreclosure sale satisfying the Williamson's judgment and their indebtedness to Credit Association. Thereafter, the special master filed his report of sale along with an order approving and confirming the sale and directing delivery of the deed. The Williamsons' subsequent motion to set aside the special master's sale for failure of actual notice was denied because the court found that the sale had been conducted in compliance with the legal requirements for judicial sale and with the terms of the judgment of foreclosure, and that notice of sale had been given as required by statute.
According to the Williamsons, SCRA 1-005 mandates that they receive personal notice of the foreclosure sale. That rule provides that "every pleading subsequent to the original complaint * * * and every written notice, appearance, demand and similar paper shall be served upon each of the parties affected thereby * * * * " It is their argument that record owners should be given direct notice in accord with Rule 1-005 because notice of sale is a critical notice and record owners of real property are "affected thereby." A similar claim was made and rejected in United States v. New Mexico Landscaping, Inc., 785 F.2d 843 (10th Cir.1986) where loan guarantors claimed that their due process rights were violated because they had not been notified of the judgment's entry, nor of the foreclosure sale of the collateral. They asserted that constructive notice of the foreclosure sale by publication, as provided in Section 39-5-1, was insufficient to satisfy the direct notice requirement of Rule 1-005. The Tenth Circuit noted that Section 39-5-1 provides the only formal notice requirements for a judicial sale, and that if there were any holders of "residual" rights requiring personal notice of the sale, the guarantors had expressly waived such rights under the guarantee agreement. Observing that the lender had complied with Section 39-5-1, the court held that the guarantors had received sufficient notice of the foreclosure sale.
Section 39-5-1 explicitly and specifically addresses the kind of notice to be employed in cases of sales under execution and foreclosure. Rule 1-005, on the other hand, makes no specific reference to foreclosure sales. A well established principle of statutory construction recognizes that when one statute deals with a subject in general terms and another deals with a part of the same subject more specifically, the more specific statute will be considered an exception to the general statute, and will apply. City of Alamogordo v. Walker Motor Co., 94 N.M. 690, 616 P.2d 403 (1980); New Mexico Bureau of Revenue v. Western Elec. Co., 89 N.M. 468, 553 P.2d 1275 (1976); State v. Spahr, 64 N.M. 395, 328 P.2d 1093 (1958). Because of Section 39-5-1's specificity relating to foreclosure sales, and Rule 1-005's lack of it, Section 39-5-1 governs. Credit Association met the constructive notice provisions of Section 39-5-1.
The Williamsons next argue that the notice required by Section 39-5-1 is insufficient to satisfy the minimum constitutional requirements under the fourteenth amendment and the New Mexico Constitution. They contend that, even though they were parties to the foreclosure action and approved the judgment and decree of foreclosure, they are owners of the property with a recorded interest and a known address and, therefore, they should have been given actual notice of the foreclosure sale. Only personal notice, they say, will protect their constitutional guarantee that they will not be deprived of property without due process of law. They cite Mennonite Board of Missions v. Adams, 462 U.S. 791, 103 S.Ct. 2706, 77 L.Ed.2d 180 (1983), and Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 70 S.Ct. 652, 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950), to claim that their status as property owners with a recorded interest in the property entitled them to actual, not merely constructive, notice of the foreclosure sale.
Those cases, however, and others that hold notice by publication constitutionally infirm, are cases in which persons other than parties to the foreclosure action, having a recorded interest in the property, were deprived of that property with absolutely no notice that their interests in the property had been foreclosed, and without a hearing...
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...will be considered an exception to the general statute, and will apply.” Prod. Credit Ass'n of S. N.M. v. Williamson, 1988–NMSC–041, ¶ 5, 107 N.M. 212, 755 P.2d 56. In light of this opinion's foregoing holdings, we find it unnecessary to address this issue.{49} As we held above, the tort st......
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...stated within a statute conflicted with the notice requirements set forth in a rule. Prod. Credit Ass'n v. Williamson, 1988–NMSC–041, 107 N.M. 212, 755 P.2d 56. This Court held that the statute addressed the specific type of proceeding at issue in the case and was therefore controlling over......
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...Bank failed to serve PHC with the appropriate notice and that this omission was deliberate. 2 Relying on Production Credit Association v. Williamson, 107 N.M. 212, 755 P.2d 56 (1988), Western Bank intimates that even if it failed to serve notice on PHC, the notice by publication satisfies t......
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