Armstrong v. Csurilla, 112 N.M. 579, 817 P.2d 1221 (N.M. 1991)
Legal information, not legal advice. Verify against the cited opinion.
- Citation: 112 N.M. 579, 817 P.2d 1221 (1991) (decided Aug. 27, 1991)
- Court / Year: Supreme Court of New Mexico, 1991
- Topic tags: foreclosure · election_of_remedies · deficiency · forfeiture
- Facts: Buyers (Csurillas) bought adjacent service-station and residence parcels under two standard long-term real estate contracts. After default, the sellers (Armstrongs) sued on the debt rather than repossessing: they obtained a money judgment for the contract balance, recorded a transcript of judgment to create a lien, and foreclosed that lien through a judicial sale, buying in the property and obtaining a deficiency judgment. The buyers attacked the sale price as inadequate and argued the sellers had improperly combined remedies.
- Holding: The foreclosure decree and deficiency judgment were affirmed. A seller may elect to sue on the REC debt and judicially foreclose the resulting judgment lien; that is not the same as repossession, so it does not violate the election-of-remedies rule. The two-thirds-of-appraised-value execution-sale statute (§ 39-5-5) does not apply to foreclosure sales; a grossly inadequate price can still be set aside if it “shocks the conscience,” but the debtor bears the burden and the Csurillas failed to prove inadequacy.
- Reasoning: Under Graham v. Stoneham, a seller who repossesses elects rescission and is precluded from further recovery; conversely a seller who sues for the balance is precluded from thereafter repossessing — but here the sellers sued and foreclosed, never retaking possession, so they validly pursued the debt path with a deficiency. The Court reaffirmed Bishop v. Beecher (an REC “is not a mortgage”) while permitting the judgment-lien-foreclosure route.
- Practical impact for CFD operators/buyers: Establishes the alternative (non-forfeiture) New Mexico remedy: suit on the debt → judgment lien → judicial foreclosure → deficiency. Confirms election of remedies: a seller picks forfeiture or the debt/foreclosure path, never both.
- Good-law status: Good law.
- Source (retrieved): https://static.case.law/nm/112/cases/0579-01.json · Verified: 2026-06-08
Jurisdictions that follow / cite: new-mexico
Disclaimer. Legal information, not legal advice. Confirm the opinion is still good law before relying on it.