Title: Weale v. Lund

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

Weale v. Lund (2005-365); 180 Vt. 551; 904 A.2d 119
2006 VT 66

[Filed 07-Jul-2006]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                                 2006 VT 66

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 2005-365

                              MARCH TERM, 2006


  William Weale                        }         APPEALED FROM:
                                       }
                                       }
       v.                              }         Orange Superior Court
                                       }  
  David Lund, Isabel Lund,             }
  Security Pacific Financial           }
  Corporation, Arthur Whitcomb, Inc.,  }         DOCKET NO. 213-12-04 Oecv
  Victory in Jesus Ministries and      }
  Occupants                            }
                                                 Trial Judge:  Amy N. Davenport 

             In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

       ¶  1.  Defendants, David and Isabel Lund, (FN1) appeal from the superior
  court's grant of summary judgment in favor of plaintiff, William Weale, to
  foreclose plaintiff's judgment lien against defendants' property. 
  Defendants claim the debt on which plaintiff seeks to recover through
  foreclosure is not a preexisting cause of action, and is thus subject to
  defendants' homestead exemption under 27 V.S.A. § 107, because the debt was
  not in default at the time defendants acquired their homestead.  As such,
  defendants argue that their homestead property is exempt from foreclosure
  under 27 V.S.A. § 101.  The superior court rejected defendants'
  construction of § 107.  We agree and affirm.
   
       ¶  2.  The pertinent facts are undisputed.  On February 14, 1990,
  defendants executed a promissory note in favor of plaintiff's assignor. 
  Defendants made regular monthly payments to plaintiff from March 1990 to
  May 1991, after which no further payments were made.  Defendants purchased
  the property in question, located in Newbury, Vermont, as their home on May
  8, 1991, and recorded the deed on May 22, 1991.  Plaintiff brought suit in
  late 1991 and obtained a writ of attachment, which was recorded on December
  9, 1991.  They obtained judgment in 1993, and it was affirmed by this Court
  on September 6, 1994.  Weale v. Lund, 162 Vt. 622,