Beal Bank, SSB v. Biggers

227 S.W.3d 187, 2007 Tex. App. LEXIS 1151, 2007 WL 491207
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 15, 2007
Docket01-05-00789-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 227 S.W.3d 187 (Beal Bank, SSB v. Biggers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beal Bank, SSB v. Biggers, 227 S.W.3d 187, 2007 Tex. App. LEXIS 1151, 2007 WL 491207 (Tex. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

SAM NUCHIA, Justice.

Beal Bank, SSB, appellant, sued Alton Biggers and Glenda Hensley Biggers, ap-pellees, to recover $130,800 on guaranties appellees executed for payment of a loan to Clark Warehouses, Inc. The ease was tried to the court, which rendered judgment that appellees were liable to the Bank in the principal amount of $70,800. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

The facts of this case are uncontested. Glenda Hensley Biggers was the sole shareholder and corporate secretary and Alton Biggers was the president of Clark Warehouses. In January 1993, Clark Warehouses executed a note to the Small Business Administration for $70,800. The note was signed by appellees in their capacities as president and secretary of the corporation. Each appellee also executed a Small Business Administration Guaranty as guarantor of the note. The Guaranty provided, in pertinent part:

The Undersigned hereby grants to Lender full power, in its uncontrolled discretion and without notice to the undersigned, but subject to the provisions of any agreement between the Debtor or any other party and Lender at the time in force, to deal in any manner with the Liabilities and the collateral, including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the following powers:
(a) to modify or otherwise change any terms of all or any part of the Liabilities or the rate of interest
thereon (but not to increase the principal amount of the note of the Debtor to Lender),....

In September 1993, appellees executed a Modification of Promissory Note that changed the principal amount of the loan to $130,800 and increased the monthly payment and term of the loan. The Modification stated, “It is further understood and agreed that all other terms, conditions, and covenants of the aforesaid Note, not otherwise modified hereby, shall be and remain the same.... ” The appellees signed the Modification twice: once in their corporate capacity (secretary or president) and once as “Borrower.” Beneath these signatures, the Modification states:

The undersigned endorsers, guarantors, and/or sureties on the above described Note hereby join in and consent to the above Modification Agreement.

Dated this 24th day of September, 1993. The signature lines under this statement are blank.

Clark Warehouses filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1997. In 2000, the SBA sold the note and guaranties to Loan Participant Partners, Ltd., which contracted with the Bank to service the loan.

The Bank sued appellees to collect on the note, and after a one-day bench trial, the trial court made findings of fact and conclusions of law and rendered judgment awarding the Bank $87,861.81 (principal and interest) and $7,500 in attorney’s fees. The Bank asserts that the following finding of fact number 7 and conclusions of law numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5 are relevant to this appeal.

7. The Biggers each consented to the Modification, but neither of the Biggers agreed to increase their respective liabilities under their guarantees by the additional $60,000.00 loaned to Clark.
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*190 2. The Guarantees contractually limited the personal liability of the Biggers to the original principal amount of the Note, together with interest accrued thereon.
3. Because of such contractual limitation, the Modification was ineffective to increase the Biggers’ personal liability under the guarantees by the additional $60,000.00 loaned to Clark by the SBA.
4. The Modification did not constitute a material alteration of the Note sufficient to completely discharge from their Guarantees because (a) the Modification was not effective to increase the Biggers’ personal liability under their guarantees, and (b) the increase in monthly payments and the extension of the maturity date of the Note did not work to the Biggers’ personal detriment.
5. The Biggers remain liable to the Bank for the original $70,800.00 principal of the Note, together with interest accrued on such principal.

DISCUSSION

Appellees’ Issue: Waiver of Complaint

As a threshold matter, appellees assert that the Bank has waived its right to complain about the judgment by submitting the judgment to the trial court without reserving its right to appeal. Generally, a party who files a motion for rendition of a judgment waives its right to complain about that judgment. See Litton Indus. Prods., Inc. v. Gammage, 668 S.W.2d 319, 822 (Tex.1984). However, the supreme court has said, “There must be a method by which a party who desires to initiate the appellate process may move the trial court to render judgment without being bound by its terms.” First Nat’l Bank v. Fojtik, 775 S.W.2d 632, 633 (Tex.1989). In Fojtik, the motion for judgment stated, While Plaintiffs disagree with the findings of the jury and feel there is a fatal defect which will support a new trial, in the event the Court is not inclined to grant a new trial prior to the entry of judgment, Plaintiffs pray the Court enter the following judgment. Plaintiffs agree only as to the form of the judgment but disagree and should not be construed as concurring with the content and result.

Id. at 633. The supreme court called Fo-jtik’s reservation of the right to complain “appropriate” and distinguished it from the motion for judgment in Litton Industrial. Id. In Litton Industrial, the defendant moved for judgment in the amount of actual damages found by the jury and attempted to reserve its right to appeal in a trial brief. Litton Indus., 668 S.W.2d at 321-22. However, the trial brief was not properly a part of the appellate record, and, as a result, the appellant’s reservation was not in the record. Id. at 322.

In this case, having been told by the trial court that the court would be inclined to render judgment for the Bank on only the initial amount guaranteed, the Bank filed a motion for judgment in which it first requested judgment for the entire $130,800 in the modified note. The Bank attached, as Exhibits A and B, the proposed judgment and proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law supporting that judgment.

Alternatively, the Bank requested judgment for the original $70,800 principal of the note and attached, as Exhibits C and D, a proposed judgment and proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. In its argument regarding the judgment on the lesser amount, the Bank stated,

In the alternative, as a matter of contractual interpretation the Court may construe the Guarantees’ limitation on the SBA’s right to unilaterally “increase *191

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Bluebook (online)
227 S.W.3d 187, 2007 Tex. App. LEXIS 1151, 2007 WL 491207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beal-bank-ssb-v-biggers-texapp-2007.