Court Opinion

ID: 9623629
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:38:34.84325+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:32.642576
License: Public Domain

*906On Motion for Rehearing.
Defendant/movant contends that under Barbree v. Allis-Chalmers Corp., 250 Ga. 409 (297 SE2d 465) a surety or guarantor must be given notice of disposition of collateral under OCGA § 11-9-504(3) (Code Ann. § 109A-9—504) and that plaintiffs were required to show the sale of collateral was commercially reasonable under First Nat. Bank v. Rivercliff Hardware, 161 Ga. App. 259 (287 SE2d 701). It is argued that a failure to accomplish this is a bar to plaintiffs’ recovery.
First, as to notice this court has held that: “In a suit by a creditor against the surety or guarantor of a principal debtor, proper proof of the rendition of a judgment in favor of the creditor against the debtor is not conclusive against the surety or guarantor, but it does establish prima facie that the creditor has a valid claim against the debtor for the amount of the judgment. The burden is upon the surety or guarantor to introduce evidence sufficient to rebut the correctness of the judgment. This rule applies to litigated cases against the principal debtor and, by virtue of CPA § 55 (a), to judgments rendered against him by default.” Escambia Chemical Corp. v. Rocker, 124 Ga. App. 434 (2) (184 SE2d 31). Accord, Graybar Elec. Co. v. Opp, 138 Ga. App. 456, 458 (226 SE2d 271). The defendant failed to raise any issue as to notice or to make any showing that no notice was given.
Moreover, Barbree v. Allis-Chalmers Corp., 250 Ga. 409, 412, supra, as we construe it, did not broadly hold that a guarantor, under the terms of a separate contract from the one regarding the principal debt, constituted a debtor to whom notice must be given. Instead it was stated: “We hold that one who is a seller of chattel paper, whether or not he is the owner of the underlying collateral, with full recourse against him in the event of a deficiency is a debtor entitled to notice of the post-default proceedings disposing of the collateral pursuant to Code Ann. § 109A-9—504(3). Bank of Forest Park v. Gray, 159 Ga. App. 42, supra; McNulty v. Codd, 157 Ga. App. 8 (276 SE2d 73) (1981), and Brinson v. Commercial Bank, 138 Ga. App. 177, supra, are hereby overruled to the extent that they are inconsistent with this opinion.”
In view of the limited and specific part of the Court of Appeals’ decisions which were overruled, we find that those cases and similar ones such as Twisdale v. Ga. R. Bank, 129 Ga. App. 18, 21 (198 SE2d 396);Dunlap v. C & S DeKalb Bank, 134 Ga. App. 893, 896 (216 SE2d 651) and Vickers v. Chrysler Credit Corp., 158 Ga. App. 434, 437 (280 SE2d 842), are still viable authority for the proposition that a *907guarantor or surety, under the terms of a separate contract, may waive such protection as notice or the right to contest the commercial reasonableness of the disposition of collateral.
Here the language of the contract which is sought to be enforced clearly evinces a waiver by the defendants.

Motion for rehearing denied.