Court Opinion

ID: 9616957
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:51:01.069204+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:03.927389
License: Public Domain

*728VAN CISE, Judge,
dissenting:
After a default consisting of the debtor’s failure to make a required payment or payments, a creditor may not accelerate maturity of the unpaid balance of the note nor take possession of or enforce a security interest in the collateral unit twenty days after a notice of the debtor’s right to cure is given. Section 5-5-112(1), C.R.S. 1973 (1979 Cum.Supp.). “A creditor gives notice to the debtor ... when he delivers the notice to the debtor or mails the notice to him at his residence .. .. ” Section 5-5-111(1), C.R.S. 1973 (1979 Cum.Supp.).
In the instant case, it is undisputed that a notice in proper form was mailed by the creditor to the debtor at her correct address, see § 5-1-201(7), C.R.S. 1973, although the envelope was returned by the postal authorities marked “unclaimed.” Had it been sent by ordinary mail, the majority would have held that, under the statute, notice was given on mailing regardless of whether it was received by the debt- or; but, since it was sent by certified mail, the majority holds that the statute was not complied with. I disagree.
Werner v. Commonwealth Casualty Co., 109 N.J. 119, 160 A. 547 (1932), relied on by the majority, is distinguishable on its facts from the present case. There a notice of cancellation of an insurance policy was sent registered mail, return receipt requested, addressee only. The court held that by directing the letter “in a manner requiring a personal receipt, it is obvious it could not be delivered unless that person were available and the receipt personally given.” In the instant case, however, although the notice was sent certified mail, return receipt requested, there was no request for “addressee only.”
Even if the creditor here had required a receipt signed by addressee only, in my view the statutory requirement of mailing was met. “When the provision ... is that notice by mail is sufficient, that provision is broad enough to cover all the kinds of mail which are commonly used to convey messages. Registered mail is just as much mail as ordinary mail.” Westmoreland v. General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corp., 144 Conn. 265, 129 A.2d 623 (1957) (in which the court considered and did not agree with the reasoning in Werner, supra). In Gerard v. Massachusetts Bonding & Insurance Co., 106 N.H. 1, 203 A.2d 279 (1964), the court refers to Werner as being the “minority authority,” states that the view in Wer-ner does not “rest on a sound and logical basis,” and concludes that “[t]he fact that it was sent by registered mail, which is ordinarily considered a safer method than ordinary mail, should not militate against it.” Cf. Ledbetter v. School District Number 8, 163 Colo. 127, 428 P.2d 912 (1967).
To hold, as does the majority, that, since the creditor chose not to effect actual delivery, it “must use a method of mail likely to insure that the notice is actually delivered to the debtor’s residence,” is rewriting the statute. This we cannot do.
Although the defaulting debtor did not receive notice of her right to cure, the creditor used an accepted form of mailing and thereby complied with the statute. See Westmoreland, supra; Gerard, supra. Under the statute, the notice was given to the debtor when the letter was properly addressed, registered, and mailed.
Accordingly, I would reverse and reinstate the complaint.