Taniguchi

If all or part of the principal secured by a mortgage or deed of trust becomes due as the result of the borrower's default in paying interest or installments of principal, Civil Code section 2924c 1 allows the borrower to pay the amount in default, plus specified fees and expenses, and thereby cure the default, reinstate the mortgage loan, and avoid foreclosure. The borrowers in this appeal missed four monthly payments on a mortgage loan that had been modified after an earlier default. The modification deferred certain amounts due on the original loan, including principal, and provided that any default would allow the lender to void the modification and enforce the original loan terms. The question before *708 us is this: to cure the default and reinstate the loan under section 2924c, must the borrowers pay the amount of the earlier default on the original loan, which had been deferred under the modification to the end of the loan term, as well as paying the missed modified monthly payments that caused the default on the modified loan?

The trial court answered that question "yes," and on that basis granted the lender's motion for summary adjudication on the borrowers' claim that…