United States Cold Storage v. Great Western Savings & Loan Ass'n

This is an appeal from a judgment of nonsuit after plaintiff’s opening statement. The case concerns notice requirements for foreclosure sales.

The judgment is affirmed.

Statement of Facts

Plaintiff United States Cold Storage of California is a corporation engaged in the building and operating of refrigerated warehouses. In 1975, plaintiff sold a refrigerated warehouse to the Sapp family (hereafter, Sapps). The sale price was $3.6 million. Sapps paid $400,000 in cash and borrowed the remaining $3.2 million under the following terms. They obtained from defendant Great Western Savings & Loan Association (hereafter, Great Western) $2.25 million, secured by a first trust deed. They executed two promissory notes in favor of plaintiff, in the sums of $600,000 and $350,000, secured by second and third deeds of trust, respectively. The deeds of trust were executed as one transaction on the date of closing, December 30, 1975.

Sapps made payments to Great Western in a timely fashion throughout 1976, but soon defaulted on their notes held by plaintiff. Plaintiff at this time did not seek to foreclose, but instead chose to assist Sapps in improving their business. Nonetheless,…