Court Opinion

ID: 9856505
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:49:18.735849+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:38:52.212623
License: Public Domain

HOLMAN, J.,
dissenting.
There is no doubt but that the majority opinion is fully justified by the prior decisions of this court. However, these decisions are without a logical rationale. They lay down the rule that where alternate *786remedies are provided by the contract, one of them being a provision for immediate forfeiture upon notice by the seller, notice of impending forfeiture and an opportunity to cure the default must be given. This rule necessarily implies that if the provision for strict forfeiture had been the only remedy provided by the contract, no notice and opportunity to cure the default would be necessary. The purchaser has notice in either case at the time of the signing of the agreement that he is subject to strict forfeiture upon default at the will óf the seller. It would be just as logical under the majority’s rationale to say, in the case of a contract with only a strict forfeiture remedy, that because the seller has the option either to declare an immediate forfeiture or not, notice and an opportunity to cure the default must be given.
The true issue is whether the court, regardless of contractual provisions, is going to allow the remedy of immediate forfeiture. This issue has been and still is being dodged by this court under the guise of a rule that has no logical sustenance. I, for one, would allow the parties to enter into such a contract if they so chose.
The majority’s opinion has a logical result which is not discussed. The rule requires that the purchaser be given an opportunity to cure the default. This contract had, in addition to provisions for forfeiture upon notice from the seller and foreclosure by a suit in equity, a provision by which the seller could declare the entire unpaid purchase price immediately due and payable. If notice and opportunity to cure the default are the rights of a purchaser where there are alternative remedies, these rights must also be available whenever an attempt is made to enforce any form of foreclosure which is more stringent, whether it be an immediate forfeiture by notice or a demandfor the payment of the entire purchase price.
The result of all this court interference is going to be that purchasers will no longer have the opportunity *787to purchase property with a small down payment because sellers will be foolish to sell under those conditions when no summary method of foreclosure is available to them. I doubt that this is advantageous to impecunious purchasers as a class.