Lessard v. Smith

Can a chattel mortgagee who takes possession of the mortgaged property with the consent of the mortgagor, obtain a deficiency judgment measured by the difference between the amount of the note secured by the mortgage and the proceeds of a private sale of the mortgaged property, where the mortgagor does not know of or consent to that sale?

The trial court answered this question in the affirmative, and entered judgment for the plaintiff mortgagees. Defendant mortgagors have appealed.

The trial court found that defendants gave plaintiffs their promissory note in the sum of sixteen thousand…