Court Opinion

ID: 9665331
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:45:08.672248+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:14.784143
License: Public Domain

CARVER, Justice,
dissenting.
The facts found by the jury, as well as undisputed facts in the record, conclusively show that First City Bank did not dispose of any collateral of Guex, consequently, I would hold that Guex had failed to prove his case.
The record reflects without dispute that the collateral was a sailboat purchased jointly by Guex and Marróte, using the bank’s funds as a part of the purchase price for which the bank received the jointly executed note and lien from Guex and Marotte. It is also undisputed that Guex and Marotte subsequently agreed in writing between themselves that Guex would acquire Mar-otte’s interest in the sailboat if he paid the remaining payments when due; otherwise, Marotte would reacquire the full interest in the sailboat if Guex defaulted and Marróte would pay the payments remaining from Guex’s default. It is further undisputed that Guex defaulted and, by the agreement, Marotte was the owner of the sailboat and obligated to pay the balance due the bank. It is additionally undisputed that the bank had taken possession of the sailboat but had surrendered it to Marotte, the only debtor entitled to the collateral under the agreement between the joint debtors. By these undisputed facts, Guex’s rights in the collateral [sailboat] were disposed of by his own agreement coupled with his own default, not by the bank. I would hold that Guex cannot complaint when the creditor bank merely honored the specific written agreement between the two debtors that, upon debtor Guex's default debtor Marotte was entitled to the boat and was solely burdened with their note’s balance.
As to Kaprielian’s involvement with the boat, the evidence is also undisputed that Kaprielian lived in the same house with Marotte; that after the bank repossessed the boat, Kaprielian’s check for $508.25 (note arrears plus boat storage) was exchanged for a release of the boat to Mar-otte; that Marotte removed the boat to the residence occupied by him and Kaprielian; that Kaprielian’s note proffered to the bank stated on its face that it was a renewal of the original obligation of Guex-Marotte and was guaranteed by Marotte; and that Guex appeared at the bank, paid the unpaid balance of Guex-Marotte note, and received the Texas Certificate of Title reflecting Guex and Marotte as owners and showing the bank’s lien as released. It is evident Kaprielian’s note to the bank, guaranteed by Marotte, was in pursuit of Marotte’s written contract with Guex that, upon Guex’s default, Marotte would own the boat and be obligated to pay the bank. It is likewise evident that Guex’s payment of the balance due the bank, despite his earlier default, was in pursuit of his equity of redemption. Whatever the merits of the respective claims between these common debtors, it is clear that the bank did not “dispose” of the common collateral to anyone save the collateral’s common, though disputing, owners.
The pleadings of the parties are illuminating. Guex pleads that the bank, disposed of the collateral without notice to him. Ka-prielian pleads that the bank breached its contract to dispose of the collateral to her. Both Guex and Kaprielian rely on the identical conduct of the bank but insist it produced opposite results. The jury was submitted 18 issues which produced findings that the bank disposed of the collateral to Kaprielian to Guex’s damage, but failed to dispose of the collateral to Kaprielian to her damages. I submit that a valid judgment cannot rest upon such an irreconcilable conflict in the jury’s findings.
The real dispute in this case did not involve the bank at all but rested in the effect to be given to the agreement between the parties and applicable after Guex defaulted. Did Guex have a right of redemption against his co-debtor despite his own default? The trial court held that Guex was entitled to redeem and command*743ed by its judgment that Marotte endorse their common title to Guex. Did Marotte have and retain Guex’s rights in the boat so long as he paid the balance due the bank? The written agreement expressly so provides. Until Guex exercised his court-declared right of redemption, was Marotte free to adjust his obligation to the bank by getting Kaprielian to renew the Guex-Mar-otte note guaranteed by Marotte? Since Guex’s only right (before redemption) was protection against any claim by the bank and since the renewal doubled the debtors protecting Guex, the renewal would seem consistent with the written agreement of Guex and Marotte. Before Guex redeemed, was the bank free to treat Marotte as the owner of the collateral? The Guex-Marotte agreement expressly so provides and the record reflects that Guex redeemed after the renewal note.
Under this record, I would hold that the renewal note could not constitute a “sale, lease or other disposition” of a debtor’s collateral without notice because at the time of the asserted “disposition” Guex’s default in his agreement with his common owner had, by the terms of that agreement, vested all rights in the collateral in Mar-otte. The bank’s “disposition” of collateral to, or at the instance of, the only owner and debtor with an interest in the collateral at the time is not a “disposition” contemplated by section 9.504(c) Tex.Bus. & Com.Code Ann. (Vernon Supp.1982).