Court Opinion

ID: 9712283
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:50:43.395296+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:11.308176
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, J.,
dissenting.
If, as the majority has concluded, the value of property rights sold on foreclosure and the identity of bidders at the foreclosure sale are important equitable considerations in the judicial process of setting the proper amount of a money deficiency judgment, then, and in that event, it appears to me that it is fair and just and more administratively sound, to require the party seeking the deficiency judgment to provide the court with the facts material to those considerations. It is after all the general rule in both law and equity that a party seeking relief in court must bear the burden of establishing both a right to the relief and the proper parameters of that relief. ILE. Damages, § 185. A court, ignorant of the value of property at the time of the foreclosure sale and ignorant of the identity of bidders, cannot fairly assess either element of the claim for a deficiency judgment.
Practical considerations support the application of the general rule here. The party seeking the deficiency judgment commonly attends the foreclosure sale and commonly is prepared to bid, and is often the successful bidder. Consequently that party is ordinarily well-informed about the value of the property and the number and character of the bidders. On the other hand, the defaulting purchaser seldom attends, and is not a viable bidder. Few have the economic means to defend the deficiency claim. Given this background, and the equitable quality of the deficiency claim, and the need and transcendent duty of courts to render fair judgments irrespective of the lack of participation by parties defendant, it would be within the scope of our judicial authority, and most appropriate, to place the burden upon the party claiming a deficiency judgment to prove that the successful bid approximated the value of the property sold.