Beckley Capital Ltd. P'ship v. DiGeronimo

In Beckley Capital Ltd. P'ship v. DiGeronimo, 184 F.3d 52, 58 (1st Cir. 1999), the First Circuit considered whether FIRREA's six-year limitations period applied to expand a state statute of limitations requiring that suit be brought against an estate within one year after a decedent's death. 184 F.3d at 55. DiGeronimo guaranteed a note that was in default while the FDIC held it. DiGeronimo, 184 F.3d at 54. The FDIC later sold the note to Beckley Capital and DiGeronimo died a month later. DiGeronimo, 184 F.3d at 58. Because the note was already in default when the FDIC transferred the note, Digeronimo was already subject to suit as guarantor while the FDIC held the note. Despite this, the court refused to extend the statute of limitations: The one-year New Hampshire statute for bringing suit against an estate had not begun to run at the time of the transfer because Beckley acquired the note and the guaranty in June 1994 and DiGeronimo did not die until July 1994. Accordingly, Beckley had the same one-year period to sue as any other person (apart from the FDIC) who happened to have a claim against a New Hampshire decedent. And because Beckley acquired the guaranty before this period even began to run, its position is closely analogous to the assignee in Cadle that acquired its note prior to the default. Put differently, there is no reason why a special statute of limitations is needed in this case to make the obligation marketable to a purchaser, and absent such a reason, the policy behind state statutes of limitation--vivid in this case--ought to be respected. DiGeronimo, 184 F.3d at 58.