Guardian Savings & Loan Association v. MD Associates
California Court of Appeal
64 Cal. App. 4th 309, 75 Cal. Rptr. 2d 151 (1998)
- Written by Mary Phelan D'Isa, JD
Facts
Parties to a series of complicated secured transactions involving the cross-purchases of California commercial real estate included a choice-of-law provision in their agreement providing that Texas law would govern their transactions. Two promissory notes that secured one of the properties were not paid when they matured, and Guardian Savings & Loan Association (Guardian) (plaintiff), a Texas entity, brought a foreclosure action of its security interest in the property against its development partner, Michael D. Barker, and several business entities (developers) (defendants). Applying Texas law, the trial court entered judgment for Guardian of foreclosure, ruled that the developers were personally liable on the secured notes, and entered a deficiency judgment for Guardian on the unpaid balance due on the notes. The developers appealed and argued that the trial court erred by enforcing the choice-of-law provision because it was contrary to California law, which barred a deficiency judgment following foreclosure of a purchase-money security interest. Texas law authorized such a deficiency judgment.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Swager, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
