Deere Credit, Inc. v. Spitler

In 2007 Indiana Golf and Sports Turf, LLC (Indiana Golf) purchased five pieces of equipment for maintaining golf courses. Indiana Golf executed two purchase agreements with Deere Credit, Inc. (plaintiff), and Timothy D. Spitler (defendant) served as guarantor. When Indiana Golf defaulted on both agreements, Deere Credit repossessed the equipment and sold it. Deere Credit sold the equipment via an online auction attended by official John Deere dealers and 80 brokers of used equipment. The site was secured and could only be accessed by these parties, and only designated bidders were permitted to bid. Parties that were not wholesalers could not attend the auction. Also, before the sale, Deere Credit gave Spitler proper notice of the private sale. Deere Credit also had each piece of equipment inspected before the equipment was added to the auction site. During the auction, Deere Credit did not accept bids that were too low. After the sale of the equipment, Deere Credit sued Spitler for the deficiency amount, and moved for summary judgment. The trial court ruled in Deere Credit’s favor, and Spitler appealed. On appeal, Spitler acknowledged receiving proper notice for a private sale, but argued that what Deere Credit conducted was not a private sale but a public sale. As such, the notice, which was proper for a private sale, was insufficient for a public sale, which should have barred Deere Credit’s recovery. Alternatively, Spitler argued that the public sale was not conducted in a commercially reasonable manner, because it was not open to the public but only to the dealers and brokers who had access to Deere Credit’s secure online auction site.