In April of this year, Division One of the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled in Gold v. Helvetica Servicing, Inc. in favor of the lender.  Following a judicial foreclosure of a $3 million property, followed by a sheriff’s sale in which the lender bid $420k, Michael Pasquan filed an action in Court to have the Court make a fair market value determination.  Mr. Pasquan’s ex-wife assigned her interest to Ronald Gold, who filed suit to redeem the property.  The Court of Appeals ruled that the election by Mr. Pasquan to file suit for a fair market valuation precluded the ability of any other co-debtor from seeking to redeem the property.  The Court of Appeals relied on the language of the statutes to rule that the decision of one debtor would extinguish the rights of other co-debtors to redeem the property.  The Court of Appeals noted this would not affect the rights of junior lienholders to redeem.  The Court noted that the FMV determination had resulted in a finding that the property was worth more than $2.6 million at the time of the sale, which determination protected the ex-wife from a larger potential deficiency and to also allow her to redeem the property based on the $420k sales price would be inconsistent and a windfall to her which the legislature did not intend.