Court Opinion

ID: 9660729
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:19:37.025994+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:21.594157
License: Public Domain

VERNON R. PEDERSON, Surrogate Judge,
concurring specially.
The opinion authored by Justice Meschke is thoughtful and scholarly and has convinced me that there are some valid justifications for a reversal of the judgment. I am convinced that I should join in that opinion but I am equally convinced that I am left with a few unanswered bothersome questions.
I start with the basic premise that “when you borrow, you have to repay.” Psalms, Chapter 37-Verse 21; Proverbs, Chapter 3-Verses 27 and 28; and Proverbs, Chapter 22-Verse 7, all seem to tell me that. Does a lender have to proceed with exactitude and be somehow “otherwise qualified” to collect when payments are overdue? What kinds of errors by the court will hereafter be held to be alterations of the basic premise? A fair trial is the usual standard, especially in criminal practice; since when are civil litigants entitled to a “perfect trial”? Is the cure in farm foreclosure cases more onerous than the disease? Or, does a hollow victory make it all worthwhile? Finally, are we not merely dangling a mythical carrot before the debtors, inviting them to battle on for an ultimate, costly, and certain defeat at the end?