The transcript of the video follows below for further review.
CASE BRIEF: An SBA guarantor can be discharged from personal liability under California state U.C.C. law to the extent that the lender or the SBA (as assignee) unjustifiably impairs any collateral pledged as security for the SBA loan even though the SBA Unconditional Guarantee Agreement contains an express waiver of such a defense.
CASE NAME: Alcock v. SBA
CITATION: 50 F.3d 1456 (9th Cir. Cal. 1995)
FACTS:
Top Pac Growers and Shippers ("Top Pac"), a tomato packing and shipping company, borrowed $600,000 from Crocker Bank secured by a note guaranteed by the SBA for seventy-five percent of the amount due (SBA Note). On the same day, Crocker extended Top Pac an additional $ 500,000 line of credit ("Crocker Line"). The SBA was secured by a first deed of trust to the real property at one of Top Pac plant locations. Crocker was secured by a deed of trust on the real property, subordinated to the SBA first-priority deed. Crocker and the SBA were also secured by a perfected security interest in Top Pac's equipment; in its intangible assets; and by the personal guaranties of several parties, including Charles Alcock, a Top Pac stockholder.
Prior to closing on the loans, Crocker Bank informed the SBA that it was not willing to advance the $500,000 line of credit if it only had the second lien on the real property. The SBA agreed to subordinate its interest in the real to that of Crocker Bank on September 29, 1982, retaining the first-priority interest in the equipment. The SBA entered into this new agreement because it felt adequately collateralized by the interest in the equipment and the net worth of the guarantors. The guarantors were not informed of the change in priority of the real estate liens.
In the spring of 1984, Top Pac defaulted on the loan. The SBA honored its guaranty to Crocker Bank, and the SBA Note was assigned to it. The SBA declined any interest in the real property. Crocker foreclosed on the real property in March 1985 and purchased it for only $130,000 at a trustee's sale in partial satisfaction of the amount owed on the Crocker Bank Line of Credit.
BRIEF OVERVIEW:
Charles Alcock (Guarantor on the SBA loan) argued that the bankruptcy panel committed error in allowing, in a chapter 11 proceeding, the SBA claim on a loan deficiency. The guarantor urged his discharge from the guaranty obligation because the SBA unjustifiably impaired the collateral, both land and equipment, disposed of it in a commercially unreasonable manner, and failed to give him notice of the disposition.
Citing to California Commercial Code Section 3606, the court agreed. It said that when the SBA's lien on land became subordinated, the land and equipment could not be sold as a going concern and the market value as a whole fell. While the subordination was justified with respect to Top Pac as an obligor, it prejudiced any guarantor, including Charles Alcock. The court further ruled that the SBA guaranty agreement did not act to waive the guarantor's impairment-of-collateral defense under Section 3606, and that Alcock's discharge from personal liability under the SBA Unconditional Guarantee, pursuant to Section 3606(1)(b), was completely due to the difficulty in measuring monetary loss.
OUTCOME:
The order allowing a claim by the SBA for a deficiency on a loan that Charles Alcock signed as a guarantor was reversed, because the SBA agreement to a later lien subordination only on land, not equipment, severely prejudiced the SBA guarantor when the entire property could not be sold as a going concern and the market value as a whole fell.
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We analyze your SBA loan problems and advise you on potential solutions such as an SBA offer in compromise for your SBA loan default or SBA personal guarantee.
Millions of Dollars in SBA Debts Resolved via Offer in Compromise and Negotiated Repayment Agreements without our Clients filing for Bankruptcy or Facing Home Foreclosure
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Our Attorneys are Authorized by the Agency Practice Act to Represent Federal Debtors Nationwide before the SBA, The SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, the Treasury Department, and the Bureau of Fiscal Service.
Clients executed personal and corporate guarantees for an SBA 7(a) loan from a Preferred Lender Provider (PLP). The borrower corporation defaulted on the loan exposing all collateral pledged by the Clients. The SBA subsequently acquired the loan balance from the PLP, including the right to collect against all guarantors. The SBA sent the Official Pre-Referral Notice to the guarantors giving them sixty (60) days to either pay the outstanding balance in full, negotiate a Repayment (Offer in Compromise (OIC) or Structured Workout (SW)), challenge their alleged guarantor liability or file a Request for Hearing (Appeals Petition) with the SBA Office of Hearings & Appeals.
Because the Clients were not financially eligible for an OIC, they opted for Structured Workout negotiations directly with the SBA before the debt was transferred to the Bureau of Fiscal Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Treasury for enforced collection.
The Firm was hired to negotiate a global Workout Agreement directly with the SBA to resolve the personal and corporate guarantees. After submitting the Structured Workout proposal, the assigned SBA Loan Specialist approved the requested terms in under ten (10) days without any lengthy back and forth negotiations.
The favorable terms of the Workout included an extended maturity at an affordable principal amount, along with a significantly reduced interest rate saving the Clients approximately $181,000 in administrative fees, penalties and interest (contract interest rate and Current Value of Funds Rate (CVFR)) as authorized by 31 U.S.C. § 3717(e) had the SBA loan been transferred to BFS.
Our firm successfully negotiated an SBA offer in compromise (SBA OIC), settling a $974,535.93 SBA loan balance for just $18,000. The offerors, personal guarantors on an SBA 7(a) loan, originally obtained financing to purchase a commercial building in Lancaster, California.
The borrower filed for bankruptcy, and the third-party lender (TPL) foreclosed on the property. Despite the loan default, the SBA pursued the offerors for repayment. Given their limited income, lack of significant assets, and approaching retirement, we presented a strong case demonstrating their financial hardship.
Through strategic negotiations, we secured a favorable SBA settlement, reducing the nearly $1 million debt to a fraction of the amount owed. This outcome allowed the offerors to resolve their liability without prolonged financial strain.
Small business sole proprietor obtained an SBA COVID-EIDL loan for $500,000. Client defaulted causing SBA to charge-off the loan, accelerate the balance and refer the debt to Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Service for aggressive collection. Treasury added $180,000 in collection fees totaling $680,000+. Client tried to negotiate with Treasury but was only offered a 3-year or 10-year repayment plan. Client hired the Firm to represent before the SBA, Treasury and a Private Collection Agency. After securing government records through discovery and reviewing them, we filed an Appeals Petition with the SBA Office of Hearings & Appeals (OHA) court challenging the SBA's referral of the debt to Treasury citing a host of purported violations. The Firm was able to negotiate a reinstatement and recall of the loan back to the SBA, participation in the Hardship Accommodation Plan, termination of Treasury's enforced collection and removal of the statutory collection fees.
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