Hobl v. Lord

¶1Richard Hobl, the successful bidder at the sheriffs sale, appeals an order in a real estate mortgage foreclosure action denying the motion for confirmation of the sheriffs sale and allowing Donald Lord, the bankrupt mortgagor,1 to redeem his farm by paying *16to the mortgagee, Farm Credit Bank of Saint Paul, the property's fair value rather than the amount of the pre-bankruptcy judgment. We hold that the term "judgment" in sec. 846.13, Stats., means that part of the mortgage foreclosure judgment that survives bankruptcy proceedings.2 Consequently, because Lord's personal liability for his debt to Farm Credit was discharged in bankruptcy and Farm Credit's lien against the farm was "stripped down" to the value of the real estate under 11 U.S.C. sec. 506 (1979), the only part of the judgment that survived was an amount equal to the value of the real estate. Lord properly redeemed by paying this amount, and we thus affirm the order of the trial court.

¶2Farm Credit foreclosed on Lord's farm mortgage and received a judgment in the amount of $127,959.59, which included the amount of the mortgaged debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees. Lord subsequently filed for bankruptcy under ch. 7 of the bankruptcy code. At the sheriffs sale of the farm, Hobl was the successful bidder in the amount of $50,000. Before the confirmation hearing, the bankruptcy court entered an order discharging Lord of all personal liability to Farm Credit. In Lord's adversary proceeding against Farm Credit under sec. 506, the bankruptcy court valued the real estate at $48,000.3

¶3*17At the confirmation hearing, Lord moved for redemption of the property in the amount of $50,000. Hobl does not argue that Lord's redemption is too late because it was made after the sheriffs sale. Hobl concedes that "sale" under sec. 846.13, Stats., means the confirmation of the sale. See Gerhardt v. Ellis, 134 Wis. 191, 196, 114 N.W. 495, 496 (1908) ("It is clear that the title does not pass until confirmation so as to vest the purchaser with the right of possession. And it is equally clear that the right of redemption is not barred until confirmation of the sale."). The trial court granted the motion, finding that the state redemption statute must give way to federal bankruptcy law as to the redemption price, thus Lord had the right to redeem in the amount of the property's value as determined by the high bid at the sheriffs sale. Hobl filed a motion in the trial court to intervene as a formal party to the action for the purpose of filing an appeal. The trial court denied the motion.

¶4A preliminary issue is whether Hobl has standing to appeal the trial court's order. A person may not appeal a judgment or an order unless he or she is aggrieved by it. See Ford Motor Credit Co. v. Mills, 142 Wis. 2d 215, 217, 418 N.W.2d 14, 15 (Ct. App. 1987). A person is aggrieved if the judgment or the order bears directly and injuriously upon his or her interests. Id.A person may be an aggrieved party entitled to appeal a judgment or an order even though he or she is not a named party to the suit. Id. at 218, 418 N.W.2d at 15.

¶5Lord argues that Hobl is not aggrieved because the only issue in the trial court was the redemption price and Hobl was not entitled to receive any portion of an increased redemption price. This argument ignores the fact that if the trial court improperly allowed Lord to *18redeem at the stripped-down price, Hobl was improperly denied consideration and likely confirmation of his bid. Because we agree that Hobl was aggrieved, we hold that he has standing to bring this appeal.

¶6We next turn to the bankruptcy proceeding's effect on Lord's redemption. Hobl argues that the bankruptcy judgment merely relieved Lord from all personal liability for the mortgage debt. He asserts that Farm Credit's lien against the farm in the amount of the total mortgage foreclosure judgment survived unaffected by the bankruptcy proceedings and thus Lord can only redeem by paying this total judgment amount as required by sec. 846.13, Stats. However, Lord initiated an adversarial proceeding in the bankruptcy court under sec. 506. That section provides in part:

(a) An allowed claim of a creditor secured by a lien on property in which the estate has an interest ... is a secured claim to the extent of the value of such creditor's interest in the estate's interest in such property . . . and is an unsecured claim to the extent that the value of such creditor's interest... is less than the amount of such allowed claim. . . .

(d) To the extent that a lien secures a claim against the debtor that is not an allowed secured claim, such lien is void .... (Emphasis supplied.)4

¶7Although courts are not in agreement concerning the effect of sec. 506,5 the seventh circuit has stated that *19"[t]he combined effect of these subsections is to 'strip down' a lien to the value of the security." In re Lindsey, 823 F.2d 189, 189-90 (7th Cir. 1987). In Lindsey, farmers owned real estate subject to a first mortgage of $209,000 and a second mortgage of $341,000. They filed for bankruptcy under ch. 7, and the farmers asked the bankruptcy court to strip down the mortgages under sec. 506. The bankruptcy court found the current value of the real estate to be $233,000 so that all of the first mortgage but only $24,000 of the second was secured. The seventh circuit stated that:

[O]nce the stripdowns were complete and the secured claims allowed in their stripped-down amount . . . the only thing that remained to do in the bankruptcy proceeding was to discharge the debtors and let the creditors foreclose their stripped-down liens, subject to whatever rights of redemption the debtors might have, under state law, in the foreclosure proceedings.

¶8Id. at 191.

¶9Hobl argues that Lindsey cannot be cited as authority for a ch. 7 debtor to accomplish redemption at a stripped-down value. It is true that this was not the issue in Lindsey.6 However, we choose to follow Lindsey's interpretation of sec. 506 and conclude that Farm Credit's lien against the farm was reduced to fair value. Lord argues that this conclusion results in a conflict between sec. 506 and the redemption provisions of sec. *20846.13, Stats., and that the bankruptcy provision preempts the state statute.

¶10Our interpretation of sec. 846.13, Stats., avoids the conflict. We must harmonize the federal bankruptcy provision with sec. 846.13 if possible. See State v. Burkman, 96 Wis. 2d 630, 642, 292 N.W.2d 641, 647 (1980) (state statutes harmonized). Bankruptcy and redemption statutes are remedial in nature and, as such, are to be liberally construed in favor of the debtor. See State Central Credit Union v. Bigus, 101 Wis. 2d 237, 241, 304 N.W.2d 148, 150 (Ct. App. 1981) (bankruptcy); Skach v. Sykora, 127 N.E.2d 453, 457 (Ill. 1955) (redemption).

¶11Construction of a statute and its application to a particular set of facts is a question of law. State v. Mattson, 140 Wis. 2d 24, 27-28, 409 N.W.2d 138, 140 (Ct. App. 1987). The primary purpose of statutory construction is to ascertain the legislative intent and give effect to that intent. County of Columbia v. Bylewski, 94 Wis. 2d 153, 164, 288 N.W.2d 129, 137 (1980). Even where a statute appears unambiguous on its face, it can be rendered ambiguous by its interaction with and relation to other statutes. State v. White, 97 Wis. 2d 193, 198, 295 N.W.2d 346, 348 (1980).

¶12Section 846.13, Stats., gives Lord the right to redeem his farm for the amount of the judgment.7 A judgment on foreclosure is a judicial determination of the amount of the mortgagee's lien. See Marshall & Ilsley Bank v. Greene, 227 Wis. 155, 164, 278 N.W. 425, 429 (1938). Although the circuit court found the amount of the lien to be almost $128,000, the bankruptcy court *21reduced the lien to present value. In the language of sec. 506(d), the amount of the judgment in excess of the fair value was "void." Requiring Lord to redeem by paying the full foreclosure judgment would effectively nullify the bankruptcy court's actions. In order to give the bankruptcy court's stripdown the effect intended, we hold that "judgment" as used in sec. 846.13 means the amount of the judgment that survives bankruptcy proceedings.8

¶13Hobl next argues that even if sec. 506 preempts sec. 846.13, Stats., in this case the bankruptcy court merely found the present value of the property to be $48,000 and took all other matters relating to Lord's redemption rights under advisement. He asserts that absent more from the bankruptcy court, the redemption requirement under sec. 846.13 must be followed.

¶14Lord counters by arguing that under sec. 506, after the bankruptcy court determined the property's value, it need not have proceeded further because once it determined the value of the secured claim, the remaining unsecured balance was discharged. We agree that noth*22ing more is required under sec. 506 in order to effect its provisions. Section 506(d) states that the unsecured portion of the lien is void and provides for only two exceptions to this rule,9 neither of which apply in the present case. Consequently, the lien was stripped down, and Lord properly redeemed by paying the stripped-down amount.

¶15By the Court. — Order affirmed.