Opinion ID: 1162817
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: postconfirmation litigation

Text: The Bank characterizes the guarantors' setoff plea as a compulsory affirmative defense. It urges the guarantors' failure to press that issue before judgment is fatal to their plea for credit. According to the Bank, that issue is no longer invocable because the guarantors neither appealed from nor sought to modify the January 12, 1987 judgment. The short answer to the Bank's contention is that because the setoff issue did not arise until after special execution on the mortgaged property had issued, it was not available as a counter-claim. [9] The landmark decision that distinguishes a postjudgment plea for credit from a quest to modify a judgment [10] is Willis v. Nowata Land and Cattle Co. Inc. [11] Willis was a foreclosure action in which the borrower sought credit for fire insurance proceeds on a previously adjudicated mortgage debt. We noted there that postconfirmation litigation, which ordinarily encompasses only issues that arose after the sheriff's sale and confirmation, may include pleas for credit on the judgment. The guarantors' guest for credit, here under consideration, clearly is a genuine postconfirmation issue. The decision to grant or deny credit for the property's fair market value would neither alter the terms of the now confirmed judicial sale nor modify the now unassailable judgment. It would merely define the amount the Bank may demand in satisfaction of its unpaid judgment. [12]