Tri-Continental Leasing Corp. v. Cicerchia

• Decision Date: 19 June 1987
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 85-4163-Y.
• Citation: 664 F. Supp. 635
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts
• Parties: TRI-CONTINENTAL LEASING CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. Anthony P. CICERCHIA, Freddy A. Cicerchia, Richard A. Gordon, Turn-Key Distributor Systems, Inc., Ronald A. Mini, Ronald A. Wysocki, and Lynda E. Mini, Defendants.

664 F. Supp. 635

TRI-CONTINENTAL LEASING CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. Anthony P. CICERCHIA, Freddy A. Cicerchia, Richard A. Gordon, Turn-Key Distributor Systems, Inc., Ronald A. Mini, Ronald A. Wysocki, and Lynda E. Mini, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 85-4163-Y.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

June 19, 1987.

Russell Chin and Howard B. Cloth, Phillips, Cloth & Branson, Boston, Mass., for plaintiff.

Robert Loventhal, Loventhal & Shamban, Braintree, Mass., for Richard Gordon.

Kevin Keating, Boston, Mass., for Turn-Key Distributor Systems, Inc., Mini and Wysocki.

Evan Lawson and William Coyne, Jr., Lawson & Wayne, Boston, Mass., for Cicerchia.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

YOUNG, District Judge.

This case is before the Court on unrelated cross motions for summary judgment and partial summary judgment.¹ For the reasons given below, both motions are denied.

THE PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

The plaintiff, Tri-Continental Leasing Corporation ("Tri-Continental"), moved for summary judgment on the ground that the defendants, Anthony Cicerchia, Freddy Cicerchia, and Richard Gordon, as guarantors of an equipment lease entered into between Tri-Continental and Beverages International, Inc. ("Beverages"), are absolutely liable for the amount owed on the lease as a result of Beverage's default. It is undisputed that, after the default, Tri-Continental sold the equipment which served as collateral for the lease but the amount realized from the sale did not eradicate Beverage's debt. Tri-Continental has brought the present action against these defendants to recover this deficiency.

In opposing Tri-Continental's motion, the defendants asserted in their initial brief that, first, the lease is a secured transaction governed by Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code ("Code"), second, that a guarantor is a debtor under Article 9 of the Code and, third, as guarantors they are entitled to invoke the defense of commercially unreasonable practices in connection with the sale of the collateral. Specifically, the defendants allege that Tri-Continental failed to give them notice of the sale and that the equipment was sold for less than it was worth. In support of this position, the defendants relied primarily upon Massachusetts decisions, apparently assuming that Massachusetts law governs in this particular situation.

The defendants, however, were relying upon an erroneous assumption, as Tri-Continental was quick to point out in a supplemental brief, since both the lease and the guaranty agreements state that the law of New Jersey shall govern. While ultimately, under the New Jersey conflict of law rules, the law of another state may control, see Royal Store Fixture Co. v. New Jersey Butter Co., 114 N.J. Super. 263, 267, 276 A.2d 153 (App.Div.1971) (setting forth "most significant relationship" standard for secured transactions), the law of New Jersey must be looked to initially in determining the rights of the parties.

Tri-Continental went on to argue that, even if the defendants were entitled to invoke the defense of commercially unreasonable practices, this defense had been waived in the guaranty agreements signed by the defendants. In support of this position, Tri-Continental relied upon the decisions of federal courts involving guarantors who enter into guaranty agreements with the Small Business Administration ("Administration"). See, e.g., United States v. Mallett, 782 F.2d 302 (1st Cir. 1986) (collecting cases); United States v. Kurtz, 525 F.Supp. 734 (E.D.Pa.1981), aff'd, 688 F.2d 827 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 991, 103 S.Ct. 347, 74 L.Ed.2d 387 (1982). In those cases it was held that, even though a guarantor might well be entitled to assert the commercially unreasonable practices defense generally, this defense had been waived in the particular guaranty form supplied by the Administration. Tri-Continental argues that the language contained in the guaranty agreements signed by the defendants in the instant case is similar to the language contained in the Administration guaranty and the federal cases are therefor persuasive.²

The defendants responded to Tri-Continental's argument that all defenses had been waived by a further brief relying upon the Massachusetts decision in Shawmut Worcester County Bank, N.A. v. Miller, 398 Mass. 273, 496 N.E.2d 625 (1986), a case which analyzes this issue thoroughly. In that decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that a guarantor is a debtor under Article 9 of the Code, id. at 278, 496 N.E.2d 625, and that a guarantor cannot waive Article 9 defenses prior to default. Id. at 280, 496 N.E.2d 625. With respect to the guarantor issue, the court noted that a majority of the jurisdictions which have construed the definition of the term "debtor" have decided that the term includes guarantors as well as other obligors. With respect to the waiver issue, the court stated that, although there are decisions on both sides of the issue, the better course is to hold that a waiver, prior to default, is precluded. Id.

With the briefing in this posture, the cross motions came on for oral argument. At this point, with both sides in apparent agreement that the law of New Jersey governs, counsel turned to that body of law with a vengeance. Tri-Continental cites A.J. Armstrong Co. v. Janburt Embroidery Corp., 97 N.J. Super. 246, 234 A.2d 737 (Law Div.1967) as standing for the proposition that a guarantor is not a debtor under Article 9 of the Code in New Jersey. The defendants cite T. & W. Ice Cream, Inc. v. Carriage Barn, Inc., 107 N.J. Super. 328, 332-33, 258 A.2d 162 (Bergen County Ct. 1969) as standing for the opposite proposition. The Court took the matter under advisement.

Thereafter, on March 13, 1987, the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court decided Lenape State Bank v. Winslow Corp., 216 N.J. Super. 115, 523 A.2d 223 (App.Div.1987). Lenape State Bank involves an Administration guaranty and, to that extent, is inapposite with respect to the instant case. See supra note 2. Nevertheless, the same issues raised in the instant case were raised there, namely, whether a guarantor is a debtor under Article 9 of the Code in New Jersey and whether, under Article 9 in New Jersey, the defense of commercially unreasonable practices can be waived prior to default. N.J. Stat.Ann. §§ 12A: 9—105(1)(d),—504(3). While Lenape State Bank did not decide these issues, holding that New Jersey real property law applied and not the Uniform Commercial Code, it does confirm that they remain unresolved in New Jersey. As stated by the court, "These questions have not yet been addressed in New Jersey nor will they be here." 216 N.J.Super. at 130, 523 A.2d 223.

Consequently, this Court must try to predict how the New Jersey Supreme Court will resolve these issues when confronted with them. Erie R.R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938); Erie Castings Co. v. Grinding Supply, Inc., 736 F.2d 99 (3d Cir.1984); see Warren Bros. Co. v. Cardi Corp., 471 F.2d 1304, 1307-08 (1st Cir.1973) (applying predictive approach).³ First, however, this Court must consider whether the lease in question is a secured transaction. N.J. Stat.Ann. § 12A: 1—201(37); BSL Leasing Corp. v. Whittington, Singer, Davis and Co., 204 N.J.Super. 314, 498 A.2d 1262 (App.Div.1985). This is an important threshold issue since were the lease not considered a secured transaction, all arguments regarding the defenses available under Article 9 are moot. As mentioned above, the defendants have argued that the lease is governed by Article 9. Tri-Continental, on the other hand, has never directly addressed this issue. In considering Tri-Continental's motion for summary judgment, however, all inferences must be indulged in favor of the nonmoving party, Emery v. Merrimack Valley Wood Products, Inc., 701 F.2d 985, 986 (1st Cir.1983), in this case the defendants. This Court will therefore assume, for the purposes of this motion only, that the lease in question is governed by Article 9.⁴

Turning now to the central guarantor and waiver issues, this Court, in attempting to predict how the New Jersey Supreme Court will decide these matters "may `consider relevant state precedents, analogous decisions, considered dicta, scholarly works, and any other reliable data tending convincingly to show how the highest court in the state would decide the issue at hand.'" Kifer v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 777 F.2d 1325, 1329-30 (8th Cir. 1985) (quoting McKenna v. Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp., 622 F.2d 657, 663 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 976, 101 S.Ct. 387, 66 L.Ed.2d 237 1980).

For the reasons discussed below, this Court rules that the New Jersey Supreme Court will hold that a guarantor is a debtor under Article 9 of the Code in New Jersey and that Article 9 defenses cannot be waived prior to default.

First, the language of the Code itself in dealing with the rights of debtors under Article 9 specifically states that Article 9 defenses cannot be waived prior to default. N.J.Stat.Ann. § 12A:9—504(3). This Court is persuaded by the considered analysis of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Shawmut, that the better course is to hold that guarantors, like debtors, cannot waive Article 9 defenses prior to default. The cases cited by Tri-Continental in which waiver is allowed are not persuasive as they are concerned with the Administration guaranty and, as stated by the court in Mallett, there are special policy considerations for allowing waiver in these cases, namely, to protect small businesses and not individual guarantors. Mallett, 782 F.2d at 305; see supra note 2.

Second, though the indications are scant, the jurisprudence of trial courts in New Jersey appears to favor this result. The case cited by the defendants, T. & W. Ice Cream, is the more recent of the precedents relied upon by the parties and it specifically states that a guarantor is a debtor under Article 9 of the Code in...