Trust One Mortgage Corp. v. Invest America Mortgage Corp.

Introduction

Defendants Invest America Mortgage Corporation (Invest America) and Lynda Sens appeal from a summary judgment entered in favor of plaintiff Trust One Mortgage Corporation (Trust One) on claims of breach of contract, indemnity, breach of guaranty, and declaratory relief. We affirm.

Invest America and Trust One were parties to a broker agreement by which Trust One funded real estate secured loans brokered by Invest America. This lawsuit arose out of two loans made, pursuant to that broker agreement, to a Georgia resident and secured by real property in Georgia. After the borrower’s early default, the real property security was foreclosed nonjudicially, leaving a substantial deficiency. Trust One sued Invest America to recover its losses under the broker agreement’s indemnification provision, which required Invest America to indemnify losses or repurchase loans in the event of a borrower’s early default or fraud in the loan application.

Invest America argues Trust One is barred from recovery because it did not comply with Georgia law requiring a nonjudicial foreclosure to be submitted to and approved by a court before seeking to recover a deficiency. Trust…