JB Mortgage Co., LLC v. Ring, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-109-16)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 15-P-1258 Appeals Court JB MORTGAGE CO., LLC vs. JORDAN L. RING, THIRD, & another.[1] No. 15-P-1258. Middlesex. May 18, 2016. – August 26, 2016. Present: Katzmann, Carhart, & Sullivan, JJ. Guaranty. Limitations, Statute of. Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on March 4, 2014. The case was heard by Peter B. Krupp, J. Michael P. Utke (Steven F. Smoot with him) for the plaintiff. Luke Rosseel for Jordan L. Ring, III. KATZMANN, J. The plaintiff, JB Mortgage Co., LLC, appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court dismissing its action to enforce defendant Jordan L. Ring, III’s guaranty of a promissory note secured by a mortgage on real property. The trial judge found that the plaintiff’s suit was barred by the applicable statute of limitations because it was filed more than twenty years after a default existed on the underlying note. The central issue before us is when the cause of action on the guaranty of the note accrued. We affirm. Background. On July 21, 1988, Edward C. Simonian, as trustee of the DX Trust (trust), executed a promissory note in favor of Bank Five for Savings (bank) in the face amount of $ 400,000. Under the note, the trust was required to make monthly payments of principal and interest, with all remaining unpaid balances due two years from the date of execution. In addition to other penalties for failure to make timely payments, the note provided that, “If default be made in the payment of any installment under this note, or if there is a failure to carry out the terms and conditions of the mortgage or any other instrument given as security for this note, . . . the entire principal sum and accrued interest shall at once become due and payable without notice at the option of the holder of this note.”[2] The note was secured by a first mortgage on commercial property in Hull. The note was also backed by a guaranty executed by Simonian and Ring under seal the same day, July 21, 1988. In pertinent part, the guaranty stated: “[T]he undersigned hereby guarantees to the [b]ank the prompt payment and the faithful performance and observance of every liability, obligation, covenant and condition . . . to be paid, performed […]