Lender Liability and the Duty of Good Faith

Lender Liability and the Duty of Good Faith

I. Introduction

From time to time, lenders and their attorneys announce that lender liability is no longer an issue with which the lending community needs to be concerned. What usually prompts this proclamation of the death of lender liability is a recent case in which a court has summarily rejected a borrower’s claim that the lender violated the duty of good faith and fair dealing. Many courts have rejected borrowers’ lawsuits which are based on allegations of the violation of the lender’s duty of good faith. Nevertheless, lender liability should continue to be an area of concern to lenders.

Although courts often dismiss cases based on a borrower’s claims of lender bad faith, in other cases courts find that lenders have indeed engaged in conduct that constitutes bad faith. Most courts carefully examine the unique facts of each case, consider the testimony of experts, and listen to the ever-inventive arguments of counsel. A loan agreement, like every other contract governed by the Uniform Commercial Code (the “U.C.C.”), imposes on both the borrower and the lender “an obligation of good faith in its performance or enforcement.” This simple good faith performance obligation may appear to be an uncontroversial codification of a basic, minimal standard of human behavior. It is proving, however, to be problematic to commercial lenders.

Some courts have been quick to hold that, under certain circumstances, a lender, which believed it was merely exercising its contractual rights, nevertheless may have breached the duty of good faith performance obligation. For example, in 1985 the Sixth Circuit, invoking the good faith performance obligation, affirmed a jury verdict awarding $7,500,000 to a borrower whose lender refused to advance funds under a loan agreement, which specifically and unequivocally permitted the lender to exercise sole and absolute discretion to refuse to advance additional funds. The Alaska Supreme Court, likewise invoking the good faith performance obligation, held that a borrower could recover both actual and punitive damages from a lender who had taken possession of collateral without notice, notwithstanding the unambiguous terms of the loan and security agreement authorizing such repossession.

On the other hand, many courts have abandoned the imposition of good faith obligations on the lender beyond what is set forth in certain loan agreements. In 1987, the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts held that the holder of a demand note does not need a good faith reason or any reason at all to demand payment.