Court Overturns Summary Judgment In Favor Of Lender In WRI Opportunity Loans II LLC V. Cooper

In this case, the lender sued the guarantors on a loan. The trial court granted summary judgment against the guarantors, in favor of the lender. The guarantors successfully argued that their defense of usury, and that the terms of the loan had been waived, had been improperly disregarded by the trial court. Court of appeals reversed the trial court’s ruling granting summary judgment after the trial court found that a guaranty was enforceable. The court of appeals found that the subject loan did not meet the statutory requirements for a shared appreciation loan, and trial court erred in concluding the loan was exempt from the usury law on that basis where the terms guaranteed lender a usurious rate of interest. Rule against the enforcement of unlawful transactions precludes guarantor from waiving usury defense. This decision is helpful in analyzing the propriety of a loan where the amount of interest exceeds ten percent.