Case Name: FORD MOTOR CREDIT COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ed SAMEC, Jr., Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant, BILL HANNA FORD, INC., Third-Party Defendant-Appellee
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1969-09-22
Citations: 227 So. 2d 164
Docket Number: No. 11257
Parties: FORD MOTOR CREDIT COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ed SAMEC, Jr., Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant, BILL HANNA FORD, INC., Third-Party Defendant-Appellee.
Judges: Before AYRES, DIXON and PRICE, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 227
Pages: 164–169

Head Matter:
FORD MOTOR CREDIT COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ed SAMEC, Jr., Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant, BILL HANNA FORD, INC., Third-Party Defendant-Appellee.
No. 11257.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana. Second Circuit.
Sept. 22, 1969.
Rehearing Denied Oct. 20, 1969.
Bodenheimer, Jones, Klotz & Simmons, Shreveport, for defendant and third-party plaintiff-appellant; Harry D. Simmons, Shreveport, of counsel.
Blanchard, Walker, O’Quin & Roberts, Shreveport, for plaintiff-appellee; Henry C. Walker, IV, Shreveport, of counsel.
Feist, Schober & Gray, Shreveport, for third-party defendant-appellee; James Fleet Howell, Shreveport, of counsel.
Before AYRES, DIXON and PRICE, JJ.

Opinion:
AYRES, Judge.
This is an action upon a promissory note for a deficiency judgment. The obligation sued upon represents the credit portion of the purchase price of a Ford automobile acquired by defendant from Bill Hanna Ford, Inc. Payment of the indebtedness was secured by a vendor's lien and chattel mortgage on the automobile.
Executory proceedings instituted by Ford Motor Credit Company, to whom the note had been negotiated, resulted in the car's sale to plaintiff. A balance allegedly due on the note after application of the proceeds of the sale constitutes the basis of this action.
A motion by plaintiff for a summary judgment was sustained and there was judgment accordingly against defendant for the sum of $2,765.00 together with a late charge of $3.95 for each month, not exceeding 35 in number, that payment of the indebtedness was in default, together with 25% of the whole of the indebtedness at the time of payment as attorneys' fees, less a credit of $819.62 realized from the sale of the car in the executory proceedings. From this judgment, defendant perfected a devolutive appeal to this court.
Defendant contended first, in an exception of no cause and of no right of action, and then in an answer, that, though the executory proceedings had been invoked with the benefit of appraisement, he had nevertheless been deprived of that benefit in the sale actually made.
The pertinent facts disclosed by the record are that, despite the fact the automobile was appraised at $1,315.00, plaintiff's bid, at which it acquired the automobile, was $876.00, a price less than two-thirds of the property's appraised value by the sum of 662/3%.
It appears appropriate to point out that in the course of the proceedings, defendant sought additional relief such as a rescission and annulment of the sale of the car to him by Bill Hanna Ford, Inc., for alleged red-hibitory vices and defects. For this purpose, Bill Hanna Ford, Inc., and the car's manufacturer, Ford Motor Company, were impleaded as third-party defendants. Through the sustaining of a motion for a summary judgment urged by the former and an exception of no cause and of no right of action urged by the latter, defendant's third-party demands were dismissed. No appeal was taken from these judgments which are now final. Hence the questions arising from defendant's demands for a rescission or annulment of the sale are not before us on this appeal. Moreover, the questions thereby raised involved factual matters with respect to which evidence was not adduced and, indeed, could not have been adduced on the trial of a motion for a summary judgment based upon the pleadings.
The sole, crucial question presented by this appeal is plaintiff's entitlement vel non to a deficiency judgment after sale by exec-utory process of the mortgaged property for a price less than two-thirds of its appraised value.
The deficiency judgment statute, LSA-R.S. 13:4106 provides, so far as pertinent:
"If a mortgagee or other creditor takes advantage of a waiver of appraisement of his property, movable, immovable, or both, by a debtor, and the proceeds of the judicial sale thereof are insufficient to satisfy the debt for which the property was sold, the debt nevertheless shall stand fully satisfied and discharged insofar as it constitutes a personal obligation of the debtor. "
See, also, LSA-C.C.P. Art. 2771.
This provision of the statute is declaratory of a public policy which cannot be waived by debtor. LSA-R.S. 13:4107.
A strict compliance with the letter of the law in executory proceedings is essential and prerequisite to a judgment for any deficiency in payment of a debt. Bourgeois v. Sazdoff, 209 So.2d 320, 323 (La.App., 4th Cir. 1968).
It is recognized that executory process, under which a creditor is permitted without citation or the lapse of the usual legal delays to seize the property of the debtor in satisfaction of a claim, is a harsh remedy. Though authorized and sanctioned by constitutional and statutory authority, there must be strict compliance with the provisions of law authorizing such a severe remedy. Myrtle Grove Packing Company v. Mones, 226 La. 287, 76 So.2d 305, 306 (1954).
No less reason for strict compliance with statutory requirements exists where recovery of a deficiency judgment is sought. The necessity for strict adherence to the requirements is further emphasized by the language quoted above from the statute itself. The principle has been so well established in the jurisprudence that circumvention through any means or method whatever or noncompliance with the provisions of the statute is an absolute bar to a deficiency judgment as to obviate the necessity for citation of specific cases.
Compliance with the requirements of a sale with the benefit of appraisement necessitates that the sale of the property be made for not less than two-thirds of its appraised value. LSA-C.C.P. Art. 2336. The sale price of the property with which we are now concerned was less than two-thirds of the property's appraised value. The error is attributable to neither the defendant nor the sheriff. The adjudication was made to plaintiff upon its bid.
The deficiency judgment statute, LSA-R.S. 13 :4106, declaratory of a public policy, LSA-R.S. 13:4107, requires strict compliance and admits of no departure from its provisions. Hence the legal maxim de minimis non curat lex has no application. To give the maxim effect would result in a nonadherence to public policy created by statute. A slight departure from the statutory requirements would be a precedent for other and greater departures in the future. Successive and progressive departures would eventually erode and render meaningless the provisions of the statute declarative of the public policy of this State.
Although an appraisal of the property is made, a debtor is not accorded the benefit of an appraisement of his property when proceeded against by his creditor if there is no compliance with the appraisement at the sale. Defendant was not accorded the benefit of the appraisement of his property in the executory proceedings instituted by plaintiff and to whom the property was adjudicated for a price less than two-thirds of its appraised value.
For the reasons assigned, the judgment appealed is annulled, avoided, reversed, and set aside; and
It is now ordered, adjudged, and decreed that defendant's exception of no cause and of no right of action he, and the same is hereby, sustained; and plaintiff's suit is accordingly dismissed at its costs.
Reversed and rendered.