Jenco v. Valderra Land Holdings, 2025 UT 20

Valderra Land Holdings owned property in Utah encumbered by a performance trust deed, with Jenco, LC and others as beneficiaries.
After Valderra defaulted on its payment obligations, Jenco sought judicial foreclosure; Valderra counterclaimed, seeking determination of the payoff amount and an order to reconvey the property upon payment.
The district court ordered Jenco to instruct the trustee to reconvey the property upon Valderra’s payment of the determined amount.
Valderra tendered the required funds, but Jenco did not instruct reconveyance, instead appealing the judgment and moving for a stay of the reconveyance order under Utah Rule 62(b).
The district court granted Jenco’s stay; Valderra appealed, arguing the district court erred in granting a stay under 62(b) since the order was injunctive, not a money judgment.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Rule 62(b) allows a stay of an injunctive order	Reconveyance order is injunctive; rule 62(b) does not apply	Entitled to stay as of right under 62(b)	Rule 62(b) does not apply; reconveyance is injunctive
Whether a stay should have been considered under Rule 62(c)	Court must use discretion, consider fairness/harms	Sought stay as matter of right, no discretion required	Stay must be discretionary under 62(c) for injunctive orders
Whether Valderra's rights were prejudiced by use of 62(b)	Was not protected by discretionary balancing	Any error harmless, outcome same	District court's error prejudiced Valderra
Whether Valderra is entitled to appellate attorney fees	Fees should follow victory on appeal	Valderra not awarded fees below	Fees denied; Valderra not granted fees at trial below

Simler v. Chilel, 379 P.3d 1195 (Utah 2016) (standard of review for interpretation of procedural rules)
Utah Res. Int’l, Inc. v. Mark Techs. Corp., 342 P.3d 779 (Utah 2014) (court’s discretion in stay decisions)
Armed Forces Ins. Exch. v. Harrison, 70 P.3d 35 (Utah 2003) (prejudice required for reversal based on error)