Cal. COM § 9604 — California Code / Code com / Division 9 / Chapter 6 / Section 9604
Section 9604
Status: in_force

(a) If an obligation secured by a security interest in personal property or fixtures is also secured by an interest in real property or an estate therein:

(1) The secured party may do any of the following:

(A) Proceed, in any sequence, (i) in accordance with the secured party’s rights and remedies in respect of real property as to the real property security, and (ii) in accordance with this chapter as to the personal property or fixtures.

(B) Proceed in any sequence, as to both, some, or all of the real property and some or all of the personal property or fixtures in accordance with the secured party’s rights and remedies in respect of the real property, by including the portion of the personal property or fixtures selected by the secured party in the judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure of the real property in accordance with the procedures applicable to real property. In proceeding under this subparagraph, (i) no provision of this chapter other than this subparagraph, subparagraph (C) of paragraph (4), and paragraphs (7) and (8) shall apply to any aspect of the foreclosure; (ii) a power of sale under the deed of trust or mortgage shall be exercisable with respect to both the real property and the personal property or fixtures being sold; and (iii) the sale may be conducted by the mortgagee under the mortgage or by the trustee under the deed of trust. The secured party shall not be deemed to have elected irrevocably to proceed as to both real property and personal property or fixtures as provided in this subparagraph with respect to any particular property, unless and until that particular property actually has been disposed of pursuant to a unified sale (judicial or nonjudicial) conducted in accordance with the procedures applicable to real property, and then only as to the property so sold.

(C) Proceed, in any sequence, as to part of the personal property or fixtures as provided in subparagraph (A), and as to other of the personal property or fixtures as provided in subparagraph (B).

(2) (A) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (3), provisions and limitations of any law respecting real property and obligations secured by an interest in real property or an estate therein, including, but not limited to, Section 726 of the Code of Civil Procedure, provisions regarding acceleration or reinstatement of obligations secured by an interest in real property or an estate therein, prohibitions against deficiency judgments, limitations on deficiency judgments based on the value of the collateral, limitations on the right to proceed as to collateral, and requirements that a creditor resort either first or at all to its security, do not in any way apply to either (i) any personal property or fixtures other than personal property or fixtures as to which the secured party has proceeded or is proceeding under subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1), or (ii) the obligation.

(B) Pursuant to, but without limiting subparagraph (A), in the event that an obligation secured by personal property or fixtures would otherwise become unenforceable by reason of Section 726 of the Code of Civil Procedure or any requirement that a creditor resort first to its security, then, notwithstanding that section or any similar requirement, the obligation shall nevertheless remain enforceable to the full extent necessary to permit a secured party to proceed against personal property or fixtures securing the obligation in accordance with the secured party’s rights and remedies as permitted under this chapter.

(3) (A) Paragraph (2) does not limit the application of Section 580b of the Code of Civil Procedure.

(B) If the secured party commences an action, as defined in Section 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and the action seeks a monetary judgment on the debt, paragraph (2) does not prevent the assertion by the debtor or an obligor of any right to require the inclusion in the action of any interest in real property or an estate therein securing the debt. If a monetary judgment on the debt is entered in the action, paragraph (2) does not prevent the assertion by the debtor or an obligor of the subsequent unenforceability of the encumbrance on any interest in real property or an estate therein securing the debt and not included in the action.

(C) Nothing in paragraph (2) shall be construed to excuse compliance with Section 2924c of the Civil Code as a prerequisite to the sale of real property, but that section has no application to the right of a secured party to proceed as to personal property or fixtures except, and then only to the extent that, the secured party is proceeding as to personal property or fixtures in a unified sale as provided in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1).

(D) Paragraph (2) does not deprive the debtor of the protection of Section 580d of the Code of Civil Procedure against a deficiency judgment following a sale of the real property collateral pursuant to a power of sale in a deed of trust or mortgage.

(E) Paragraph (2) shall not affect, nor shall it determine the applicability or inapplicability of, any law respecting real property or obligations secured in whole or in part by real property with respect to a loan or a credit sale made to any individual primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.

(F) Paragraph (2) does not deprive the debtor or an obligor of the protection of Section 580a of the Code of Civil Procedure following a sale of real property collateral.

(G) If the secured party violates any statute or rule of law that requires a creditor who holds an obligation secured by an interest in real property or an estate therein to resort first to its security before resorting to any property of the debtor that does not secure the obligation, paragraph (2) does not prevent the assertion by the debtor or an obligor of any right to require correction of the violation, any right of the secured party to correct the violation, or the assertion by the debtor or an obligor of the subsequent unenforceability of the encumbrance on any interest in real property or an estate therein securing the obligation, or the assertion by the debtor or an obligor of the subsequent unenforceability of the obligation except to the extent that the obligation is preserved by subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2).

(4) If the secured party realizes proceeds from the disposition of collateral that is personal property or fixtures, the following provisions shall apply:

(A) The disposition of the collateral, the realization of the proceeds, the application of the proceeds, or any one or more of the foregoing shall not operate to cure any nonmonetary default.

(B) The disposition of the collateral, the realization of the proceeds, the application of the proceeds, or any one or more of the foregoing shall not operate to cure any monetary default (although the application of the proceeds shall, to the extent of those proceeds, satisfy the secured obligation) so as to affect in any way the secured party’s rights and remedies under this chapter with respect to any remaining personal property or fixtures collateral.

(C) All proceeds so realized shall be applied by the secured party to the secured obligation in accordance with the agreement of the parties and applicable law.

(5) An action by the secured party utilizing any available judicial procedure shall in no way be affected by omission of a prayer for a monetary judgment on the debt. Notwithstanding Section 726 of the Code of Civil Procedure, any prohibition against splitting causes of action or any other statute or rule of law, a judicial action which neither seeks nor results in a monetary judgment on the debt shall not preclude a subsequent action seeking a monetary judgment on the debt or any other relief.

(6) As used in this subdivision, “monetary judgment on the debt” means a judgment for the recovery from the debtor of all or part of the principal amount of the secured obligation, including, for purposes of this subdivision, contractual interest thereon. “Monetary judgment on the debt” does not include a judgment which provides only for other relief (whether or not that other relief is secured by the collateral), such as one or more forms of nonmonetary relief, and monetary relief ancillary to any of the foregoing, such as attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in seeking the relief.

(7) If a secured party fails to comply with the procedures applicable to real property in proceeding as to both real and personal property under subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1), a purchaser for value of any interest in the real property at judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings conducted pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) takes that interest free from any claim or interest of another person, or any defect in title, based upon that noncompliance, unless:

(A) The purchaser is the secured party and the failure to comply with this chapter occurred other than in good faith; or

(B) The purchaser is other than the secured party and at the time of sale of the real property at that foreclosure the purchaser had knowledge of the failure to comply with this chapter and that the noncompliance occurred other than in good faith.

Even if the purchaser at the foreclosure sale does not take his or her interest free of claims, interests, or title defects based upon that noncompliance with this chapter, a subsequent purchaser for value who acquires an interest in that real property from the purchaser at that foreclosure takes that interest free from any claim or interest of another person, or any defect in title, based upon that noncompliance, unless at the time of acquiring the interest the subsequent purchaser has knowledge of the failure to comply with this chapter and that the noncompliance occurred other than in good faith.

(8) If a secured party proceeds by way of a unified sale under subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1), then, for purposes of applying Section 580a or subdivision (b) of Section 726 of the Code of Civil Procedure to any such unified sale, the personal property or fixtures included in the unified sale shall be deemed to be included in the “real property or other interest sold,” as that term is used in Section 580a or subdivision (b) of Section 726 of the Code of Civil Procedure.