C & D INVESTMENTS v. Beaudoin

364 N.W.2d 850, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4069
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedMarch 26, 1985
DocketC9-84-1494
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 364 N.W.2d 850 (C & D INVESTMENTS v. Beaudoin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
C & D INVESTMENTS v. Beaudoin, 364 N.W.2d 850, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4069 (Mich. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

LANSING, Judge.

Respondent C & D Investments (C & D), in a declaratory judgment action, sought to enjoin appellant Loren H. Beaudoin from foreclosing. a mortgage on respondent’s property and to have the mortgage set aside. The trial court granted judgment in favor of C & D, determining that' the consideration for the obligation underlying the mortgage had failed and that Beaudoin had breached the parties’ agreement to exhaust other collateral before foreclosing on the mortgage. We reverse.

FACTS

This case arises from a complicated loan and guarantee transaction involving David Johnson and Clifford Hanson, the partners of C & D Investments; Loren H. Beaudoin; and a third party, Thomas Langseth. Langseth initiated the transaction by approaching the other parties with the idea of forming a partnership to acquire the interests of Langseth’s solely owned corporation, H & L Investments, Inc., in “Señor T’s,” a bar and restaurant located in West St. Paul.

Langseth proposed this plan in mid-1981 when he was delinquent on personal and corporate debts amounting to approximately $300,000. He had approached the Riverside Community Bank for a loan, but the bank refused to lend him additional money without collateral. Langseth then began the series of discussions with Beaudoin and the partners of C & D that forms the basis of this litigation. Although the discussions occurred over the same time period, Beau-doin and the C & D partners never met one another, nor did they converse together until the day they signed the agreement to form the partnership.

Langseth’s discussions with C & D were primarily with Johnson, whom Langseth knew and worked with in the real estate *852 business. Langseth was aware that Johnson and Hanson jointly owned a parcel of vacant commercial land in Waseca, Minnesota, and he proposed that the C & D partners pledge the Waseca property as collateral for the loan in return for receiving “units” in the proposed partnership.

Langseth approached Beaudoin at approximately the same time. Beaudoin had previously guaranteed bank loans and made personal loans to Langseth and H & L. Beaudoin held a mortgage on Lang-seth’s condominium property and a second mortgage on his house as security for these loans, which exceeded $100,000. Langseth told Beaudoin that he wanted to secure a $300,000 bank loan and discussed his partnership plan. Beaudoin refused to guarantee the entire $300,000 loan, but agreed to guarantee $150,000. The bank, however, would not accept this arrangement and proposed, instead, that Beaudoin be the sole guarantor of the $300,000 loan.

A written “agreement to form partnership” was signed on September 16,1981, by Johnson, Hanson, Beaudoin, and Langseth. The agreement provided for 20 partnership units: eight would be kept by Langseth; one each would go to Beaudoin, Johnson, and Hanson;' and nine would be sold to other unknown investors for $40,000 each. The partnership’s purpose was to acquire from H & L its interest in Señor T’s (including equipment, fixtures, trade name, and a leasehold interest including an option to purchase) and then lease the equipment, etc., back to Señor T’s.

In return for his one partnership share, Beaudoin agreed to personally guarantee a $300,000 bank loan given either to Lang-seth or H & L Investments. Langseth was to pay $100,000 of this loan to Beaudoin, which Beaudoin would then deposit in a certificate of deposit to be kept at the bank as collateral until the $300,000 loan was paid off in full.

H & L agreed to pay the interest on the loan. Langseth agreed to give Beaudoin a second mortgage on his homestead and a first mortgage on his condominium as security. These appear to be the same mortgage interests that Beaudoin already held as security for prior loans to Langseth.

In return for their two partnership units, Johnson and Hanson agreed to mortgage to Beaudoin free and clear of encumbrances the commercial property they owned in Waseca. They warranted the property was worth $150,000 and agreed to be personally liable to Beaudoin in the event a public foreclosure sale produced less than $150,000. In order to pledge the property free of encumbrances, C & D paid off an existing mortgage and obtained fee title to the property.

The parties signed an additional agreement specifying that in the event of default on the loan, Beaudoin would enforce his security interests in the following order: first by foreclosing on the H & L stock and assets, next by foreclosing on the second mortgage on Langseth’s homestead, then by foreclosing on the mortgage on Lang-seth’s condominium property, and finally by foreclosing on the Waseca property. Beaudoin, Hanson, and Johnson signed this agreement.

Documents necessary to effectuate the agreement were executed at or about the same time. These included the mortgage on the Waseca property, the loan agreement between H & L and the Riverside Community Bank, the guarantee by Johnson and Hanson to Beaudoin of the value of the Waseca property, Beaudoin’s guarantee to the Riverside Community Bank, Langseth’s guarantee to the Riverside Community Bank, the parties’ agreement on the order of foreclosure on collateral, and a promissory note signed by Langseth in favor of C & D for $150,000 payable in the event the Waseca property went to Beaudoin, after foreclosure.

On December 21, 1982, the parties executed an addendum to their September 16, 1981, agreement which changed the sequence in which Beaudoin could foreclose on collateral. The addendum allowed Langseth to refinance his condominium and apply the proceeds to the outstanding loan from Beaudoin. The remaining collateral could be foreclosed in any order, except *853 that the Waseca property still had to be foreclosed last.

The partnership proposed in the agreement was never formed. Langseth went into default on the bank loan, and Beau-doin, as guarantor, paid the $250,000 balance. Beaudoin unsuccessfully sought a buyer for the assets of Señor T’s. He eventually foreclosed on the H & L stock, purchasing it for a minimal price at a sheriffs sale. Langseth’s homestead had already been foreclosed on by the first mortgagee, and Beaudoin made no attempt to redeem the mortgage or to foreclose on his second mortgage on the property.

Beaudoin began foreclosure proceedings on the remaining collateral, the Waseca property. C & D then commenced this litigation to enjoin the foreclosure and to invalidate the mortgage on the grounds that (1) there was a failure of consideration because Johnson and Hanson never got their partnership shares, and (2) Beaudoin had breached the parties’ agreement on the order of foreclosing on collateral by failing to redeem Langseth’s homestead after foreclosure by the first mortgagee.

ISSUES

1. Did the consideration for Beaudoin’s mortgage on the Waseca property fail because the C & D partners did not receive their partnership shares?

2. Did Beaudoin’s failure to foreclose his second mortgage on Langseth’s homestead, or to redeem it after foreclosure by the first mortgagee, breach the parties’ agreement?

ANALYSIS

I

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Byars v. Dart Transit Company
M.D. Tennessee, 2019
In the Matter of the Estate of: John Stanley LaSha
Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2015
Cityscapes Development, LLC v. Larry Scheffler
866 N.W.2d 66 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2015)
Thomsen v. Famous Dave's of America, Inc.
606 F.3d 905 (Eighth Circuit, 2010)
Thomas B. Olson & Associates, P.A. v. Leffert, Jay & Polglaze, P.A.
756 N.W.2d 907 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2008)
Marriage of Kielley v. Kielley
674 N.W.2d 770 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 2004)
Brooksbank v. Anderson
586 N.W.2d 789 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1998)
Chalmers v. Kanawyer
544 N.W.2d 795 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1996)
Travelers Insurance v. Westridge Mall Co.
826 F. Supp. 289 (D. Minnesota, 1992)
Overholt Crop Insurance Service Co. v. Bredeson
437 N.W.2d 698 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1989)
Fischer Bros. v. NWA, Inc.
117 F.R.D. 144 (D. Minnesota, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
364 N.W.2d 850, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4069, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/c-d-investments-v-beaudoin-minnctapp-1985.