Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-11-1991

Abstract

efendants-appellants Guardian Diversified Services, Inc. ("GDSI") and Louis B. Bernstein and Susan L. Bernstein, his wife, ("the Bernsteins") appeal from a partial summary judgment in the amount of $175 million plus interest entered in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Mishler, J.) against GDSI and the Bernsteins and in favor of plaintiff-appellee Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") as Receiver of Guardian Bank, N.A. The judgment represents the amount due on a loan made by Guardian Bank to GDSI. The loan is documented by a loan agreement and note executed by GDSI and is guaranteed by the Bernsteins, who executed a Guaranty and Suretyship Agreement with the Bank to guarantee payment.

In the district court, GDSI and the Bernsteins contended that the FDIC procured the default of the note and loan agreement by inducing the termination of a mortgage servicing contract between a subsidiary of GDSI and the Government National Mortgage Association ("GNMA"). The Bernsteins also contended that their guaranty, having been given as part of a divestiture transaction the FDIC claims is void, is unenforceable for failure of consideration. The district court found that these contentions raised no issues as to any material fact and concluded that the FDIC was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on both the loan and the guaranty as successor to the rights of the Guardian Bank.

On appeal, GDSI and Bernstein advance the same arguments they put forward in the district court. In addition, they claim that this court lacks appellate jurisdiction because the district court improperly granted certification for partial summary judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b). We affirm the judgment of the district court in all respects.

Comments

944 F.2d 101 (1991) FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION, as receiver of Guardian Bank, N.A., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Louis B. BERNSTEIN; Susan L. Bernstein; Guardian Diversified Services, Inc., a Delaware Corporation, Defendants-Appellants. No. 1191, Docket 90-6315. United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued March 18, 1991. Decided September 11, 1991.

New York Law School location: File #1182, Box #127

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