Opinion ID: 1702363
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: the amount awarded as statutory damages exceeds the amount allowed by law.

Text: Miss. Code Ann. § 11-13-35 (1972) provides: When an injunction, obtained to stay proceedings on a judgment at law for money, shall be dissolved, in whole or in part, damages at the rate of five per centum shall be added to the judgment enjoined, or to so much thereof as shall be found due, including the costs... . Damages at the same rate shall be allowed upon the dissolution of injunctions to stay sales under deeds of trust ... and such damages may be added to the debt, and collected by the sale of the property, or execution may issue from the chancery court for the same, together with the costs of suit, unless the value of the property, the sale of which was restrained, be less than the amount of the debt, in which case the damages shall be computed on the value of the property... . Kelso contends that upon the dissolution of his injunction, the chancellor erred by imposing statutory damages amounting to five percent of $100,000, the principal debt secured by the subject deed of trust. Instead, Kelso argues, the chancellor should have calculated statutory damages as five percent of $20,000, the collateral debt which prompted the foreclosure. Pollack maintains, on the other hand, that the five percent penalty should be calculated by reference to the entire debt secured by the deed of trust. Thus, according to Pollack, the chancellor could have awarded even more than he did: He could have imposed damages amounting to five percent of all debt secured by the deed of trust (including the $100,000 principal debt, the $20,000 which prompted the foreclosure, and, in Pollack's view, the 25 percent bad check penalty of Miss. Code Ann. § 11-7-12 (1972) along with attorney's fees). Kelso justifies his position by noting that the $20,000 debt, not the $100,000 debt, gave rise to the foreclosure. The $20,000 debt was the only debt in default. Pollack counters in his brief by way of illustration: If [Kelso's] argument were accepted, the statutory penalty upon dissolution of an injunction enjoining foreclosure of a million dollar property securing a $750,000 installment loan two installments (@ $500.00 each) in arrears, would be only $50.00! That was obviously not the intent of the legislature. Pollack further observes that a deed of trust is indivisible. If a single deed of trust secures ten notes and only one is in default, the trustee must still sell the whole property; likewise, the proceeds from the sale are applied to the entire debt (all ten notes). The same principle demands that the § 11-13-35 penalty be calculated based on the entire debt, says Pollack. [1a] Pollack has the better argument. In any event, it is noteworthy that Kelso sought to enjoin the foreclosure of the deed of trust. He did not seek merely to enjoin the collection of the alleged $20,000 debt. Kelso was trying to stop the train, not just the caboose. His penalty is determined accordingly.