Heritage Bank v. Bruha
Nebraska Supreme Court
812 N.W.2d 260 (2012)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Bruha (defendant) signed a promissory note in favor of Sherman County Bank (Sherman) in exchange for a line of credit. The note stated that Bruha would pay $75,000 “or so much as may be outstanding.” The note also stated that it “evidence[d] a revolving line of credit,” meaning that Bruha could request up to $75,000. Sherman failed, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was appointed as the bank’s receiver. Heritage Bank (Heritage) (plaintiff) purchased Bruha’s promissory note from the FDIC. Heritage brought suit against Bruha to enforce the note. Bruha argued that Heritage was not a holder in due course of the note. Bruha also argued that Sherman fraudulently induced him into borrowing the funds for risky investments by understating potential losses and misinforming him on the potential benefits of leaving funds in his trading account. The district court found that Heritage was not a holder in due course but rejected Bruha’s fraud-in-the-inducement defense. The court granted summary judgment to Heritage as an assignee of FDIC. Bruha appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Connolly, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 802,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 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.