Freedland v. Greco
California Supreme Court
45 Cal. 2d 462 (1955)
- Written by Daniel Clark, JD
Facts
Morton Freedland (plaintiff) sold his liquor business to Domenick Greco (defendant). Greco paid the purchase price partially in cash and the remaining $7,000 with two promissory notes. The notes had face values of $7,000 each, but Freedland and Greco understood the notes together to comprise a single $7,000 debt. One note was secured by a chattel mortgage on the business’s equipment. The other note was secured by a deed of trust on unrelated real property owned by Greco. Greco defaulted on the notes. Freedland held a nonjudicial foreclosure sale of the real property, but the proceeds totaled only a few hundred dollars. Freedland then filed an action to hold a judicial sale of the equipment under the chattel mortgage and to receive a judgment for any remaining deficiency. The court held the sale, generating a few hundred more dollars, and granted Freedland a deficiency judgment of $6,671. Greco appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Carter, J.)
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