Marple v. Wyoming Production Credit Ass’n, 750 P.2d 1315 (Wyo. 1988)
Legal information, not legal advice. Verify against the cited opinion.
- Citation: 750 P.2d 1315 (Wyo. 1988); 1988 Wyo. LEXIS 21
- Court / Year: Supreme Court of Wyoming, 1988
- Topic tags: equitable_interest, foreclosure
- Facts: A dispute over whether a real-estate financing arrangement was a true installment sale or a disguised security device (mortgage). The transaction history involved a contract for the purchase of property and later real-estate mortgages; the characterization mattered to whether forfeiture was available or whether foreclosure-with-redemption protections applied.
- Holding: Where an arrangement is ambiguous between a sale contract and a security device, “a security interest arrangement, in case of doubt, should be defined as a mortgage in order to protect all parties by denial of forfeiture and affording statutory rights of redemption.” The Court analyzes the parties’ intent from the written agreements and surrounding circumstances, considering the documents together.
- Reasoning: The Court relied on the equitable-mortgage analysis of Baldwin v. McDonald, 24 Wyo. 108, 156 P. 27 (1916) and treatise authority, noting the status of an executory sales agreement is foreclosed once fee title is actually conveyed. Whether a transaction is a mortgage turns on intent, but genuine doubt is resolved toward mortgage treatment to preserve redemption and bar forfeiture.
- Practical impact for CFD operators/buyers: Marple states the pro-buyer tiebreaker that softens Wyoming’s otherwise contract-governed forfeiture rule: if the instrument is genuinely ambiguous as to whether it is a sale contract or a security device, courts lean toward mortgage (foreclosure + redemption). It does not override a clear, ordinary contract for deed (see angus-hunt-ranch-v-reb-1978, younglove-v-graham-and-hill-1974) — it governs the doubtful case. Operators reduce recharacterization risk by drafting unambiguous installment-sale (not security) instruments.
- Good-law status: Good law.
- Source (retrieved): https://static.case.law/p2d/750/cases/1315-01.json · Verified: 2026-06-08
Jurisdictions that follow / cite: wyoming
Disclaimer. Legal information, not legal advice. Confirm the opinion is still good law before relying on it.