Interstate 35/Chisam Road, L.P. v. Moayedi

377 S.W.3d 791, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 6391, 2012 WL 3125148
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 2, 2012
DocketNo. 05-11-00209-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 377 S.W.3d 791 (Interstate 35/Chisam Road, L.P. v. Moayedi) 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
Interstate 35/Chisam Road, L.P. v. Moayedi, 377 S.W.3d 791, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 6391, 2012 WL 3125148 (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion By

Justice LANG.

This appeal raises a question of whether general language waiving defenses in a debt guaranty agreement includes waiver of a specific statutory right of offset under section 51.003(c) of the Texas Property Code. We conclude under the facts of this case that it does.

In this case, Interstate 35/Chisam Road, L.P., and Malachi Development Corporation (“1-35”) appeal from a summary judgment that they take nothing in their suit against Mehrdad Moayedi who guaranteed a loan made by 1-35 to Villages of Sanger, Ltd. 1-35 sued Moayedi based upon his guaranty to recover the balance remaining on Villages’s promissory note after the non-judicial foreclosure sale of real property that secured the note. See Tex. Prop. Code Ann. § 51.003 (West 2007). Because the property was sold for less than the fair market value, Moayedi pleaded in response to I-35’s petition that he was entitled to offset the deficiency by the difference between the fair market value and the sale price pursuant to section 51.003(c) of the property code. See id. § 51.003(c). [794]*7941-35 replied that Moayedi waived the right of offset pursuant to the language in the guaranty.

Moayedi filed a traditional motion for summary judgment which argued the right of offset pursuant to section 51.003(c) could not be waived by the general terms in the guaranty agreement. 1-35 filed a motion for summary judgment arguing conversely that the general language of the guaranty agreement waived any defense of offset to I-35’s deficiency claim. The trial court granted Moayedi’s motion and denied that of 1-35.

We conclude the trial court’s judgment granting summary judgment for Moayedi and denying I-35’s motion for summary judgment is in error. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s judgment and render judgment that Moayedi’s motion for summary judgment is denied. Further, because it is without dispute the language of the guaranty agreement limits Moayedi’s liability to $196,000 plus interest and collection costs, we render judgment that I-35’s motion for summary judgment is granted and that it recover $196,000 from Moayedi plus interest and costs as specified in the guaranty. This case, as rendered, is remanded to the trial court for a determination of the recoverable interest and costs.

I. Background

A. The Facts

The facts are undisputed. Villages, a Texas limited partnership, executed a $696,000 promissory note payable to 1-35 over a three-year period. The note was secured by a deed of trust covering real property in Denton County. Moayedi, as president of Villages’s general partner Pars Investment, Inc., signed the note and guaranty agreement. The guaranty agreement provided in relevant part that Moayedi’s liability would be limited to $196,000 plus “accrued interest, and ... collection costs including but not limited to attorney fees and costs of court.” The agreement also contained the following two paragraphs at issue in this appeal:

7. Guarantor further agrees that this Guaranty shall not be discharged, impaired or affected by ... (b) any defense (other than the full payment of the indebtedness hereby guaranteed in accordance with the terms hereof) that the Guarantor may or might have as to Guarantor’s respective undertakings, liabilities, and obligations hereunder, each and every such defense being hereby waived by the undersigned Guarantor.
13. To the extent permitted by law, Guarantor expressly waives and relinquishes all rights and remedies of surety, including but not limited to, all rights and remedies provided under Chapter 34 of the Business and Commerce Code of the State of Texas.

When Villages defaulted less than a year after execution of the note, 1-35 foreclosed on the property. At the time, the fair market value of the realty was $840,000, but 1-35 purchased the property at the foreclosure sale for $487,200. After applying all credits and offsets, including the proceeds from the foreclosure sale, 1-35 claimed a balance due of $266,748.84 remained “together with attorney’s fees and related expenses.”

1-35 sued Moayedi after he and Villages failed to pay the balance 1-35 claimed was due. Moayedi answered, asserting as affirmative defenses ambiguity of contract, limitation of liability, and the right to offset under section 51.003 of the property code. 1-35 then supplemented its petition and claimed Moayedi had contractually waived his right to offset.

[795]*795 B. The Summary Judgment Motions and Argument on Appeal

The parties’ arguments on appeal are the same arguments they presented to the trial court in their motions for summary judgment. Moayedi does not dispute he personally guaranteed the note or that he failed to pay the amount 1-35 alleged remained after Villages’s default and the property’s foreclosure sale. Instead, he defends against I-35’s deficiency claim by asserting the right of offset pursuant to section 51.003 of the property code.

Section 51.003 provides for a determination of the fair market value of the property sold at foreclosure. See Tex. Prop.Code Ann. § 51.003(b). Then, if the fact-finder determines the fair market value is greater than the foreclosure sale price, the person obligated on the indebtedness is entitled to offset the deficiency amount by the difference between the fair market value and the sale price. See id. § 51.003(c).

Moayedi maintains because the property was sold at foreclosure for less than the fair market value, he was entitled to an offset against the deficiency in an amount of $352,800, the difference between the fair market value of the property and the sale price. See id. Also, he asserts because the offset amount was greater than the $196,000 sum plus interest and costs for which he was responsible, he was entitled to judgment as a matter of law that any deficiency is extinguished by the offset. See id.

Addressing I-35’s contention he waived the right of offset, Moayedi argues that “the broad, vague language of Paragraphs 7 and 13 of the Guaranty [was] not a waiver of any rights ... much less the § 51.003 right to offset.” Moayedi reasons paragraph seven’s language purporting to waive “any defense ... to [any] undertakings, liabilities, and obligations” did not encompass his “right” to offset because the offset “right” is not a defense to actual payment, but a claim for proper calculation of the deficiency. He contends paragraph thirteen’s language stating he waived “all rights and remedies of surety” did not encompass his section 51.003 right to offset because by its own terms it applied to sureties.

Next, Moayedi cites recent cases he contends support his position that the waivers in paragraph seven and thirteen are too broad and general to waive his specific statutory right to offset pursuant to section 51.003. Those cases hold very specific language waiving offset rights is enforceable. See LaSalle Bank Nat’l Ass’n v. Sleutel, 289 F.3d 837, 842 (5th Cir.2002); Segal v. Emmes Capital, L.L.C.,

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Bluebook (online)
377 S.W.3d 791, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 6391, 2012 WL 3125148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/interstate-35chisam-road-lp-v-moayedi-texapp-2012.