BANK OF NEVADA VS. PETERSEN

2016 NV 64
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 12, 2016
Docket66568
StatusPublished

This text of 2016 NV 64 (BANK OF NEVADA VS. PETERSEN) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
BANK OF NEVADA VS. PETERSEN, 2016 NV 64 (Neb. 2016).

Opinion

132 Nev., Advance Opinion (.94 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA

BANK OF NEVADA, A NEVADA No. 66568 BANKING CORPORATION, Appellant, vs. MURRAY PETERSEN, AN FILED INDIVIDUAL, AUG 1 2 2016 Respondent. IE LINDEMAN

F DE CLE K

Appeal from district court orders granting and den ng cross- motions for summary judgment and denying a post-judgment motion to alter or amend in an action for a deficiency on a commercial guaranty. Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark County; Kenneth C. Cory, Judge. Reversed and remanded.

Snell & Wilmer, L.L.P., and Michael D. Stein and Bradley T. Austin, Las Vegas, for Appellant.

The McKnight Law Firm, PLLC, and Richard McKnight, Las Vegas, for Respondent.

BEFORE HARDESTY, SAITTA and PICKERING, JJ.

OPINION By the Court, PICKERING, J.: This appeal requires us to interpret NRS 40.455 and NRS 40.4639 and to decide whether, in the context of a suit by an undersecured creditor on a commercial guaranty, a pre-foreclosure complaint for the deficiency allowed by NRS 40.495(4) satisfies the requirements of NRS SUPREME COURT OF NEVADA

(0) 1947A .C.9. 25() It Chapter 40. We hold that it does and therefore reverse the district court's summary judgment in favor of the guarantor. I. Respondent Murray Petersen defaulted on a commercial guaranty agreement with appellant Bank of Nevada (BON) by failing to repay the more than $2,500,000 loan BON made to Petersen's company, Red Card, LLC. The loan was evidenced by two promissory notes, Note A and Note B, which were secured by first and second deeds of trust on the real property located at 8490 Westcliff Dr., Las Vegas, Nevada, on which Red Card operated its gas station and convenience store business (the Property). Petersen personally guaranteed both Note A and Note B. Further, Petersen agreed to waive any rights or defenses he may have under NRS 40.430, Nevada's one-action rule. When Red Card defaulted on the Notes, and Petersen did not make good on his guaranty, BON sued Petersen. BON filed its action against Petersen on April 12, 2013, after sending a notice of default and election to sell but before foreclosing the deeds of trust on the Property. In its complaint, BON did not seek from Petersen the full amount due on the Notes. Instead, paraphrasing the guarantor deficiency provision in NRS 40.495(4), BON's complaint sought damages from Petersen in: (a) The amount by which the Indebtedness exceeds the fair market value of the property as of the date of commencement of this action; or (b) If a foreclosure sale is concluded before a judgment is entered, the amount that is the difference between the amount for which the property was actually sold and the Indebtedness; whichever is the lesser amount.

SUPREME COURT OF NEVADA 2 (C) I947A

ZIff nor: BON proceeded to foreclosure sale on the first and second deeds of trust on June 18, 2013, roughly two months after it sued Petersen. BON acquired the Property at foreclosure by means of a $1,400,000 credit bid. Six weeks later, BON and Petersen filed the joint case conference report required by NRCP 16.1. The joint case report identified "[t]he key issue in this case [as] the fair market value of the [P]roperty." After several months of discovery, BON and Petersen resolved the issue, submitting a stipulation and order, which the district court signed and filed on December 13, 2013, declaring that, "The fair market value of the [P]roperty at issue in this action. . , as of the date of the commencement of this action, is $1,990,000." On January 16, 2014, BON moved for summary judgment. It supported its motion with evidence establishing that, as of the date of commencement of the action, the amounts owed on Notes A and B were $1,843,726.54 and $1,256,071.75, respectively. The stipulated fair market value of the Property as of that date ($1,990,000) was enough to satisfy the entire indebtedness on Note A ($1,843,726.54), and a portion ($1,990,000 — $1,843,726.54 = $146,273.46) of the indebtedness on Note B ($1,256,071.75), yielding a deficiency due on Note B, after foreclosure of the first and second deeds of trust, of $1,109,798.29 ($1,256,071.75 — $146,273.46 = $1,109,798.29). Applying this math, BON's motion for summary judgment sought a deficiency judgment against Petersen in the principal amount of $1,109,798.29, plus prejudgment interest, attorney fees, and costs. Petersen opposed BON's motion for summary judgment with a cross-motion for summary judgment of his own. Petersen argued that, because BON let more than six months elapse between the date of the

SUPREME COURT OF NEVADA 3 (0) 1947A foreclosure sale (June 18, 2013) and the date it filed its motion for summary judgment (January 16, 2014), BON forfeited its right to obtain a deficiency judgment by operation of NRS 40.455, which requires a foreclosing lender to make "application" for a deficiency judgment "within 6 months after the date of the foreclosure sale." In response, BON argued that its pre-foreclosure complaint satisfied all applicable requirements in NRS Chapter 40, to wit: NRS 40.495(4), which allows a commercial lender whose guarantor has waived NRS 40.430's one-action rule, to bring an action for a deficiency before conducting a foreclosure sale; and NRS 40.4639, which applies to junior lienholders and requires that "a civil action," not a separate "application," be filed "within 6 months after the date of the foreclosure sale." The district court agreed with Petersen and granted summary judgment in his favor and against BON.

A. We review the district court's NRCP 56 summary judgment de novo. Wood v. Safeway, Inc., 121 Nev. 724, 729, 121 P.3d 1026, 1029 (2005). There are no contested facts, only questions of statutory interpretation, which also receive de novo review. Walters v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 127 Nev. 723, 727, 263 P.3d 231, 234 (2011). B. Petersen defends the correctness of the summary judgment in his favor based on NRS 40.455(1), as interpreted in Lavi v. Eighth Judicial District Court, 130 Nev., Adv. Op. 38, 325 P.3d 1265 (2014). Like this case, Lavi grew out of a defaulted commercial real estate loan. The loan was secured by a first deed of trust on the real estate. After the borrower defaulted, the beneficiary of the deed of trust, Branch Banking and Trust (BB&T), "filed a complaint seeking full recovery of the loan's SUPREME COURT OF NEVADA 4 (0) 1947A 4440419

Astiy,Sis balance from Lavi," who had guaranteed the loan and, in his guaranty, waived the protections of NRS 40.430. Id.

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2016 NV 64, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bank-of-nevada-vs-petersen-nev-2016.