Court Opinion

ID: 3032977
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-10-13 22:48:49.176892+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:33:23.600978
License: Public Domain

*99
   
  OPINION OF THE COURT
 

  RENDELL, Circuit Judge.
 

  We are asked on this appeal to overturn the District Court’s conclusion that the language of the Guarantee Agreement dated January 19, 2001 (“Guarantee Agreement”), encompassed all obligations, rather than just future obligations, of Goldmark Plastic Compounds Inc. to Aristech Chemical Corporation and/or Sunoco, Inc. The salient facts are undisputed. Because we disagree with the District Court’s interpretation of the language of the Guarantee Agreement, we will reverse and remand.
 

  The District Court granted summary judgment against individual defendants Kenneth Gross and Stanley Goldmark, concluding that they were personally responsible for all obligations of related corporations by virtue of the Guarantee Agreement. The Guarantee Agreement was given to Aristech Chemical Corporation and/or Sunoco, Inc., “in order to induce [them] to extend credit to Goldmark Plastic Compounds, Inc.” The relevant language of the Guarantee Agreement reads as follows:
 

  In order to induce you to extend credit to GOLDMARK PLASTIC COMPOUNDS INC. (Herein “Debtor”), concerning the purchase of products and services from you, the undersigned hereby guarantee, jointly and severally, the full and prompt payment to you of any indebtedness and any other monetary liabilities and obligations of Debtor to you in connection therewith, together with all expenses of obtaining payment thereof or enforcing any collateral security or this Guarantee, including court costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees (said indebtedness, liabilities, obligations and expenses being referred to herein as “Such Obligations”).
 

  The District Court believed that the guarantee of “any indebtedness” “necessarily encompassed any existing debt at the time the instrument was executed, which included the $2.4 million promissory note that was executed on the same date.” (Apx.33A) The District Court also reasoned that the “continuing, absolute and unconditional Guarantee” language reflected the intent to extend to future indebtedness as well. Thus, the District Court concluded, “[t]hus, the language used in the instrument objectively reflects a clear intent to guarantee both the existing and future indebtedness of Goldmark Plastics to Aristech and/or Sunoco, which is only reinforced by the circumstances and context in which the personal guarantee was executed.” (Apx.34a)
 

  Returning to the language of the Guarantee Agreement itself, we conclude that the express terms of the Guarantee Agreement reveal an intent to include only future obligations within the terms of the guarantee. We begin by examining the critical “hereby guarantee” language, which states that the guarantee is given in order to induce Aristech to “extend credit ... concerning the purchase of products and services from you.”
 

  The guarantee language then states that what is guaranteed is “the full and prompt payment to you of any indebtedness and any other monetary liabilities and obligations of debtor to you
  
   in connection therewith
  
  ...” (Emphasis added)
 

  These liabilities, together with expenses, etc., are identified and referred to as “Such Obligations.” Thereafter, throughout the guarantee, it is clear that what is guaranteed is “Such Obligations.”
 

  Because the parties themselves agreed to the guarantee of liabilities in connection with the extension of credit concerning purchase of products prospectively, we cannot agree with the District Court that
   
   *100
   
  pre-existing obligations were included under the term of “Such Obligations.”
 

  Accordingly, we will REVERSE and REMAND for further proceedings.
  
   1
  

   1
  

   . We need not address the issue as to choice of law because we believe that, under any applicable law, the contract terms are limited to future extensions of credit for future purposes.