Opinion ID: 2815245
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mutual Deviation

Text: Chadwick next argues the district court erred in granting summary judgment on his wrongful foreclosure claim because there was a jury question as to whether the parties mutually departed from the terms of the Security Deed. Chadwick’s theory is that BANA and Chadwick departed from the terms of the Security Deed and formed a quasi-new agreement when BANA, on several occasions, accepted late and partial payments from Chadwick. Under this quasi-new agreement, BANA was not permitted to foreclose without providing Chadwick yet another notice of its intent to do so. See O.C.G.A. § 13-4-4 (“Where parties, in the course of the execution of a contract, depart from its terms and pay or receive money under such departure, before either can recover for failure to pursue the letter of the agreement, reasonable notice must be given to the other of intention to rely on the exact terms of the agreement. The contract will be suspended by the departure until such notice.”). The district court correctly rejected this argument. There is no evidence the parties agreed, much less mutually agreed, to depart from the terms of the Security Deed. In fact, Paragraph 1 of the Security Deed (to which both parties assented) expressly provides that “[BANA] may accept any payment or partial payment insufficient to bring the Loan current, without waiver of any rights hereunder or prejudice to its rights to refuse such payment or partial payments in the future.” 9 Case: 14-14555 Date Filed: 07/08/2015 Page: 10 of 12 Chadwick tries to circumvent the unequivocal anti-waiver provision of Paragraph 1 by claiming it, too, is waived. Chadwick did not raise this argument in his response to BANA’s motion for summary judgment before the district court. His argument is therefore waived. See Hurley v. Moore, 233 F.3d 1295, 1297 (11th Cir. 2000) (“Arguments raised for the first time on appeal are not properly before this Court.”). Even if Chadwick’s new argument were not waived, though, it has no merit. BANA accepted only a small handful of late payments from Chadwick over the course of several years, and each time Chadwick defaulted BANA imposed late fees and warned Chadwick about the consequences of failing to cure his breach. The undisputed evidence in this case is insufficient to establish a waiver of the express terms of the Security Deed. See Crawford v. First Nat. Bank of Rome, 223 S.E.2d 488, 490 (Ga. App. Ct. 1976) (“The mere fact that the defendant paid some installments after they were due and in amounts less than the stipulated sum, without any subsequent agreement to do so and without any consideration therefor, would not be sufficient to show such a departure from the original contract as to require notice from the plaintiff of intention to comply with the strict terms thereof before the plaintiff could insist upon a forfeiture of the same.” (quotation omitted)). 10 Case: 14-14555 Date Filed: 07/08/2015 Page: 11 of 12