CAPITAL BANK, APPELLANT,
v.
H. STUART ENGAR AND MARLENE D. ENGAR, APPELLEES
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Capital Bank's restructuring of a guaranteed corporate debt to subordinate payments to a personal debt of a corporate principal, undertaken without guarantors' consent and after their revocation of future guarantees, materially altered the obligation and released the guarantors from liability.
A creditor's material alteration of a guaranteed debt's terms without the guarantor's consent, particularly subordinating payments to a personal debt of a corporate principal, releases the guarantor from the continuing guarantee.
[1] A creditor's material alteration of a guaranteed debt's terms without the guarantor's consent, including subordinating payments to unrelated personal debts of corporate p…
Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceCapital Bank restructured a corporate debt that H. Stuart Engar and Marlene D. Engar had guaranteed, making payments apply first to a new personal deb…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Subordination Of Debt cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
This is an appeal by defendant Capital Bank from an adverse declaratory judgment which discharged the plaintiffs H. Stuart Engar and Marlene D. Engar from a continuing guarantee on a corporate debt owed to Capital Bank. We affirm the declaratory judgment under review upon a holding that Capital Bank’s subsequent restructuring of the guaranteed corporate debt [without the consent of the plaintiff guarantors and after they had revoked the guarantee as to any new debts pursuant to the terms of the guarantee] so that any payments on the restructured debt would first have to be applied to and satisfy a new personal debt of one of the corporate principals before being applied to the guaranteed corporate debt, materially altered the principal debtor’s obligation to the detriment of the subject guarantors — and, accordingly, the guarantors were released from the continuing guarantee. Contrary to Capital Bank’s argument, the terms of the continuing guarantee did not permit [particularly after the guarantors’ revocation] the aforesaid restructuring of the original guaranteed debt so as to place any payments on the guaranteed debt behind payments on the personal indebtedness of one of the corporate principals. Causeway Lumber Co. v. King, 502 So. 2d 80, 81 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987); Warner v. Caldwell, 354 So. 2d 91, 96 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977), cert. denied, 361 So. 2d 836 (Fla.1978); Dorsy v. Maryland Nat’l Bank, 334 So. 2d 273, 274 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976); Ahrens Materials, Inc. v. J.D. Yaun Roofing Corp., 227 So. 2d 87 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969); Miami Nat’l Bank v. Fink, 174 So. 2d 38, 40 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 180 So. 2d 658 (Fla.1965);
Affirmed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Boneh, Inc. v. Daly, 743 So. 2d 542 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999)…to properly preserve the collateral justifies a release of the guarantor to the extent that he was damaged by the loss of the collateral.” Baitcher v. National Indus. Bank of Miami, 368 So. 2d 439 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979). See also Capital Bank v. Engar, 545 So. 2d 317 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989) (holding that where bank had restructured corporate debt without the consent of the guarantor, to the detriment of the guarantor, the guarantor was released from the guarantee); Dorsy v. Maryland Nat’l Bank, 334 So. 2d 273, 274 (F…
Authorities Cited
- Miami Nat'l Bank v. Fink, 174 So. 2d 38 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965)
- Dorsy v. Md. Nat'l Bank, 334 So. 2d 273 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976)
- Warner v. Caldwell, 354 So. 2d 91 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977)
- Hansen v. Ponce de Leon Hotel, 180 So. 2d 658 (Fla. 1965)
- Silver v. State, 180 So. 2d 658 (Fla. 1965)
- Causeway Lumber Co., Inc. v. King, 502 So. 2d 80 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987)
- Dade Tomato Co., Inc. v. Homestead Tomato Packing Co., Inc., 502 So. 2d 80 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987)
- Ahrens Materials, Inc. v. J. D. Yaun Roofing Corp., 227 So. 2d 87 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969)