Malloy, et al. v. Behrens

Citations

• 2024 ND 199

Syllabus

Under N.D.C.C. § 28-21-06(1), when a sheriff receives an execution, the sheriff must satisfy the judgment out of the personal property of the judgment debtor, and if sufficient personal property cannot be found, out of the real property belonging to the debtor. Applying a statute retroactively results in the attachment of new legal consequences to past matters. Applying a statute prospectively results in the attachment of legal consequences to matters occurring after its effective date. The court must ask whether the new provision attaches new legal consequences to events completed before its enactment. A debtor is allowed to claim as exempt up to $150,000 of equity in the homestead under N.D.C.C. ch. 47-18. This is accomplished by requiring bids to be more than $150,000 plus the value of liens and encumbrances. See N.D.C.C. §§ 47-18-01 and 47-18-13. Superior liens are not extinguished by an execution sale. A purchaser of land subject to a mortgage is presumed to have deducted the amount of the senior liens from the amount he bids for the land. A purchaser taking subject to a prior lien is not entitled to an offset for the lien amount.