Opinion ID: 1865635
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: judicial forbearance

Text: The judicial power of forbearance in foreclosure proceedings, carried forward from the agricultural and economic crisis in the 1930's, is expressed in statutes which are collectively called the confiscatory-price defenses. Production Credit Association of Minot v. Lund, 389 N.W.2d 585 (N.D. 1986). The main sections are:  28-29-04. Power of courts when prices are confiscatory. Until the price of farm products produced in this state shall rise to a point to equal at least the cost of production, in comparison with the price of other commodities in general, entering into the business of agriculture, the supreme court of this state and all district and county courts in this state shall have power, when it is deemed for the best interests of litigants, to extend the time for serving and filing all papers requisite and necessary for the final determination of any cause. Any such court, in like manner, may stay the entry of judgment or the issuance of execution thereon, or may defer the signing of any order for judgment, or may defer terms of court, whenever in the judgment of the court the strictly legal procedure in any cause will confiscate or tend to confiscate the property of any litigant by forcing the sale of agricultural products upon a ruinous market.  28-29-05. Courts may delay orders in foreclosures. Whenever any foreclosure proceeding is pending in any court in this state and the amount of the debt is less than the value of the property involved, and when any order for judgment will have the force and effect of depriving a defendant of his home and confiscating his property, the court may construe further proceedings to be unconscionable, and may delay the signing of such order to such time as it shall deem it advisable and just to enter the same. See also, § 28-29-06, N.D.C.C., which authorizes courts to take judicial notice of the situation of producers when prices of farm products are confiscatory. (And see, Matter of Request For Advisory Opinion, 387 N.W.2d 239 (S.D.1986), where the South Dakota Supreme Court recently took judicial notice that agriculture in this state is undergoing serious financial problems because of deflating land prices, low commodity prices, and high operating expenses.) In Federal Land Bank of Saint Paul v. Thomas, 386 N.W.2d 29 (N.D.1986), we held that it was improper for a trial court to grant summary judgment foreclosing a real estate mortgage where the mortgagor filed an affidavit setting out a confiscatory-price defense. Here, Halverson's affidavit declared that the amount of the debt was less than the value of their property being foreclosed, so that foreclosure would have the effect of depriving them of their home and confiscating their property. This is one of the confiscatory-price defenses. When considered with Bullinger's affidavit that the Bank charged off a portion of the Halverson loan for lack of security, Halverson's affidavit demonstrates evident issues of material fact about this forbearance defense. Therefore, summary judgment of foreclosure was improper, just as it was in Federal Land Bank of Saint Paul v. Thomas, supra . Nevertheless, the Bank argues that confiscatory-price forbearance defenses do not apply because either the statutes are no longer in effect, they are unconstitutional, or they are preempted by federal law, and that the trial court exercised discretion in not granting any forbearance. Our recent holding that the confiscatory-price defense statutes were not self-repealing and are still in effect, Production Credit Association of Minot v. Lund, supra , disposes of the Bank's first avoidance argument. The record does not show that the rest of the Bank's arguments were considered by the trial court, nor does it show that the preemption argument was even made. If the trial court relied on any of those legal theories, it did not say so. The trial court simply declared that there are no issues of fact. It did not explain how it came to that conclusion amid the several theories submitted to it. While [f]indings of fact and conclusions of law are unnecessary on decisions of motions for summary judgment, Rule 52(a), N.D.R.Civ.P., a trial court certainly should explain why it deems summary judgment appropriate when several disputed legal theories are argued to it. When a trial court enters an order on any matter before it, responsible exercise of judicial power suggests a need for explanation of the court's reasons. Citizens involved in court matters should know and understand, to the greatest extent possible, the reasons for what is happening to them. The public, as well as the appellate courts, should have some way to evaluate actions of a trial court. Perhaps justice should be `blind,' in the sense of impartiality, but surely it should not be administered in silence or secrecy, in the sense of being done without apparent reason. Patten v. Green, 369 N.W.2d 105, 108 n. 1 (N.D.1985) (Meschke, J., concurring). It is well established that a legislative enactment is presumed to be constitutional. State v. Klein, 63 N.D. 514, 249 N.W. 118, 127 (1933); Snyder's Drug Stores, Inc. v. North Dakota State Board of Pharmacy, 219 N.W.2d 140, 153 (N.D. 1974). Therefore, a complete record of relevant facts and reasons by a trial court is normally necessary for appellate review of a constitutional issue. See Murie v. Cavalier County, 68 N.D. 242, 278 N.W. 243 (1938); Asbury Hospital v. Cass County, 326 U.S. 207, 66 S.Ct. 61, 90 L.Ed. 6 (1945). And, questions not fully developed and decided in the trial court are not usually addressed by this court. Colgate-Palmolive Company v. Dorgan, 225 N.W.2d 278, 282 (N.D.1974); Farmers State Bank of Leeds v. Thompson, 372 N.W.2d 862, 865 (N.D.1985). Therefore, we decline to address the issues of constitutionality of the confiscatory-price forbearance defense statutes and of the preemption of those statutes by federal law, just as we declined to address some premature issues in the companion case of Production Credit Association v. Halverson, 386 N.W.2d 905 (N.D. 1986). The facts have not been adequately developed and we do not have the trial court's reasons. Similarly, we decline to address the Bank's argument that the trial court exercised its discretion under § 28-29-05, N.D. C.C., by not granting any forbearance. The Bank pressed for favorable exercise of the trial court's discretion by urging that delay has a greater confiscatory effect than foreclosure since unpaid interest increases a debt that may not be realized from the land. But, the trial court did not deny forbearance to Halversons for any expressed reason. We are unwilling to recognize an exercise of discretion on summary judgment with a silent record. Exercise of discretion, where inferences must be made from the evidence, is inconsistent with the concept of summary judgment where no material issue of fact may exist. The importance of the policy of judicial forbearance embodied in our confiscatory-price defense statutes is emphasized by the repetition of our recent decisions about forbearance. Folmer v. State, 346 N.W.2d 731 (N.D.1984); Heidt v. State, 372 N.W.2d 857 (N.D.1985); Lang v. Bank of North Dakota, 377 N.W.2d 575 (N.D.1985); Federal Land Bank of Saint Paul v. Thomas, supra ; and Production Credit Association of Minot v. Lund, supra . Forbearance simply means some delay in enforcing the debt by the exercise of patience and restraint. It may depend upon appropriate conditions. See footnote 1, Federal Land Bank of Saint Paul v. Thomas, supra, 386 N.W.2d at 31. In exercising judicial discretion to deny or to grant forbearance under this important policy, a trial court should explain why it has chosen to do so.