Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Fort Worth Aviation

In Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Fort Worth Aviation, 806 F.2d 575, 577 (5th Cir. 1986), officers of an airplane leasing company obtained a $ 3 million loan by signing promissory notes, pledging several aircraft and three aircraft leases as collateral, and personally guaranteeing the loan. Id. at 576. FDIC brought an action to collect on notes and guaranties. The court rejected the borrowers' argument that their indebtedness should be reduced because FDIC failed to pursue collection of the aircraft lease payments in a commercially reasonable manner under section 9.502. After noting that FDIC had no obligation to pursue collection of the leases before suing on the notes and guaranties, the court said: The commercial reasonableness requirement thus comes into play when the secured party takes possession and control of the accounts, preventing the debtor from acting on the accounts himself, or when the secured party undertakes collection so as to entitle the debtor to rely on the former to protect the accounts.Id. at 577. The court noted that the debtors presented no evidence that the FDIC took possession and control of the leases and that the parties stipulated that FDIC had not pursued collection. Therefore, it concluded that section 9.502 did not apply. Id.