Jones
Jones v. Union Bank of California
Opinion
Opinion
Gilbert, J.
A lender successfully defends an action to set aside a foreclosure sale. Here we hold the antideficiency provisions of Code of Civil Procedure section 580d do not prohibit an award of attorney fees. In addition, Civil Code sections 2924c and 2924d do not limit the amount of fees the court may award. We affirm.
FACTS
In June of 1988, Peppertree Corporate Business Park and three other entities borrowed $8,700,000 from the predecessor of Union Bank of California (hereafter Bank). The loan was personally guaranteed by Jerve M. and Alice Jones and Gilbert and Evelyn Dreyfuss. (Borrowers and guarantors are hereafter collectively Borrowers.) The loan was secured by a trust deed on a 35-acre parcel in the City of Simi Valley, known as the Peppertree parcel. The parcel was later subdivided into eight lots.
The note provided that if it is not paid, the makers would “pay all costs of collection including, . . . reasonable attorney fees, and all expenses in connection with the protection or realization of the collateral securing th[e] Note . . . .” The guarantee of the note contained a provision for attorney fees in “proceedings involving Guarantors that in any way affect the…