Bullard v. Elgin Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n
Bullard v. Elgin Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n
Opinion of the Court
In this case’s first appearance this Court affirmed the superior court’s grant of defendant West Star Financial Corporation’s (“West Star”) motion to set aside default judgment for lack of service of process.
1. We decline to grant Elgin’s motion to dismiss the appeal, noting that while plaintiff has voluntarily dismissed her cause of action against all of Elgin’s alleged subagents less AFI, she has not done so as to Elgin. This result is not inconsistent with the recent decision of our Supreme Court in Miller v. Grand Union Co.,
2. Further, we conclude that the superior court erred in granting summary judgment to Elgin.
Elgin supported its motion for summary judgment by pointing to a document denominated “First Mortgage Participation Agreement” (the “Agreement”), arguing that it could not be vicariously liable for the actions of its co-defendants for want of an agency relationship under the Agreement with respect to the enforcement of loans in default.
Under the Agreement Fulton Federal Savings & Loan Association of Atlanta (predecessor-in-interest to Elgin’s co-defendants) as “Owner” and servicing agent assigned and transferred to Elgin as “Participant” a 90 percent
Owner shall have the sole discretion as to how and when to take the necessary steps to enforce collections of loans in default, including, without limiting the general terms, the right to employ counsel and incur expenses incidental to collection, foreclosure or otherwise; provided that loans in default more than ninety (90) days shall be the subject of prompt foreclosure procedure, unless Owner and Participant agree otherwise in writing.
(Emphasis supplied.)
While Paragraph 11 of the Agreement thus gave the co-defendant owners and servicing agents sole authority to decide “how” and “when” enforcement action should be taken as to loans in default, it did not expressly give them the authority to determine “whether” such action should be initiated. Moreover, by its own terms, Paragraph 11 gave participant Elgin a right to participate in decisions excepting distressed mortgages from prompt foreclosure.
Plaintiff opposed Elgin’s motion for summary judgment by filing her response to which she attached a West Star letter to Elgin, dated August 10, 1994. Therein West Star recommended that plaintiff’s loan be foreclosed for uncollectible debt and sought Elgin’s approval of foreclosure action. On its face, the letter shows Elgin’s apparent
Upon the appeal of the grant of summary judgment; this Court reviews the evidence de novo. Summary judgment is proper where the movant shows no genuine issue of material fact exists and entitlement to summary judgment as a matter of law. A defendant carries this burden by demonstrating the absence of evidence as to one essential element of plaintiff’s case. Should the defendant do so, the plaintiff “ ‘cannot rest on (her) pleadings, but rather must point to specific evidence giving rise to a triable issue.’ ”
Viewed in a light most favorable to plaintiff, the evidence shows that a genuine issue of material fact remains on the issue of imputed liability.
Judgment reversed.
Bullard v. West Star Financial Corp., 231 Ga. App. 521 (500 SE2d 51).
The Agreement when signed in 1971 gave Elgin a 75 percent participation interest; by 1973, Elgin’s interest had grown to a 90 percent participation interest.
(Citations omitted.) Jackson v. K-Mart Corp., 242 Ga. App. 274, 275 (529 SE2d 404).
Id.; see also Taverrite v. Lowe’s of Franklin, Inc., 166 Ga. App. 346, 348 (1) (304 SE2d 78).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.