U.S. v. Lattauzio, 82-2335

• Decision Date: 21 November 1984
• Docket Number: No. 82-2335,82-2335
• Citation: 748 F.2d 559
• Parties: 39 UCC Rep.Serv. 1799 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John A. LATTAUZIO, Janet M. Lattauzio, Theodore M. Bennett and Carol Ann Bennett, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 559

748 F.2d 559

39 UCC Rep.Serv. 1799

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John A. LATTAUZIO, Janet M. Lattauzio, Theodore M. Bennett and Carol Ann Bennett, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 82-2335.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

Nov. 21, 1984.

Wayne A. Jordon of Durrett, Jordon & Grisham, P.C., Alamogordo, N.M., for defendants-appellants.

Eric S. Benderson, Small Business Administration, Washington, D.C. (William L. Lutz, U.S. Atty., and Sandra M. Kemrer, Asst. U.S. Atty., Albuquerque, N.M., with him on the brief), for plaintiff-appellee.

Before SETH and McWILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and CAMPOS, ^* District Judge.

McWILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.

For value received, Rancho Shur-Sav, Inc., a New Mexico corporation, promised to pay to the order of the First City National of El Paso, Texas, the sum of $375,000, with interest, payment to be made in certain described installments. The promissory note evidencing such indebtedness was signed on behalf of Rancho Shur-Sav, Inc., by Theodore Bennett, as its president, and John Lattauzio, as its secretary. As a part of this transaction, Theodore and Carol Bennett and John and Janet Lattauzio signed a Small Business Administration Guaranty Agreement whereby they promised, inter alia, to unconditionally guarantee payment of the promissory note signed by Rancho Shur-Sav. Ninety percent of Rancho Shur-Sav's indebtedness to the bank was guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The promissory note was later assigned by the bank to the SBA.

The SBA brought the present suit against the four guarantors, alleging that the principal obligor, and its successor, had defaulted on payments, and that the guarantors, under the continuing guaranty agreement, were obligated to pay a deficiency judgment. By answers, the defendants denied there was a default on any monies due and owing from them, and alleged certain affirmative defenses. One such affirmative defense was that the SBA had not sold the collateral, i.e., inventory, equipment, goodwill, and the trade name of Rancho Shur-Sav in a "commercially reasonable manner" as required by N.M.Stat.Ann. Sec. 55-9-504 (1978), and that, accordingly, they were entitled to a credit on the amount claimed by SBA to be due and owing.

Later, SBA filed a motion for summary judgment, supported by a memorandum brief with certain exhibits attached thereto. It was SBA's basic position that the principal obligator was in default; that the obligation of the four guarantors was absolute and unconditional; and that, accordingly, the guarantors could not successfully raise the defense that the sale of the collateral securing the principal indebtedness was not made in a "commercially reasonable manner."

The four guarantors responded to the SBA's motion for summary judgment with a memorandum of their own. The guarantors' position is that they can raise the defense that the sale of the collateral was not conducted in a commercially reasonable manner, i.e., that the sale was not adequately advertised, that there was inadequate electricity at the sale site, and that certain of the collateral could only be seen by aid of a flashlight; also that they failed to use a professional auctioneer, and the like, and that they were therefore entitled to a credit. By reply memorandum, the SBA asserted that the sale of the security was made in a commercially reasonable manner and that in fact the sale realized the sum of $156,000, but that such was irrelevant under the terms of the guaranty agreement.

As stated, by their answers to the SBA's complaint, the four defendants denied that the principal debtor, Rancho Shur-Sav, was in default and further denied that they, the four defendants, owed SBA anything. On appeal, the four defendants-appellants argue that because they, in their answers, denied default and denied owing SBA any monies, such denials posed genuine issues of material facts which precluded the entry of summary judgment. Such is not our view.

SBA's motion for summary judgment, together with the supporting memorandum and the exhibits attached thereto, was clearly based on the premise that the debtor was in default and that the defendants were liable under their guaranty agreement. The issue raised by the SBA's motion for summary judgment was whether the defense that the collateral was not sold in a "commercially reasonable manner" was available to guarantors, such as these defendants. By their response to the SBA's motion for summary judgment, the four defendants joined the issue thus raised, and took the position that such defense was available to them. The defendants in their opposition to the motion for summary judgment did not assert that the debtor was not itself in default, and that accordingly, they were not liable under their guaranty. Such being the posture of the matter, the defendants cannot now raise in this Court an issue which they did not raise in the trial court. A party generally cannot lose in a trial court on one theory and thereafter prevail on appeal on a different theory. See United States Steel v. Warner, 378 F.2d 995, 999 (10th Cir.1967). Moreover, the trial court's grant of summary judgment was clearly correct under Rule 56(e)'s provision that a party opposing a properly supported motion for summary judgment may not rest on the mere allegations or denials of his pleadings. C. Wright, Federal Courts Sec. 99, at 667 (1983). Further, from the record before us, there is little doubt but that the debtor, Rancho Shur-Sav, defaulted.

There is a contrariety of authority bearing on the question of whether a person, situated as these four defendants, can avail himself of the defense that the security holder failed to dispose of the security in a commercially reasonable manner. See, for example, United States v. Bertie, 529 F.2d 506 (9th Cir.1976) vis-a-vis United States v. Willis, 593 F.2d 247 (6th Cir.1979). In United States v. Kimbell Foods, Inc., 440 U.S. 715, 99 S.Ct. 1448, 59 L.Ed.2d 711 (1979), the court reaffirmed that "federal law governs questions involving the rights of the United States arising under nationwide federal programs." Id. at 726. In addition, pertinent regulations prescribe that federal law governs in the instant case. 13 C.F.R. Sec. 101.1(d)(2) & (4) (1984). For general background, see United States v. Yazell, 382...