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The Indiana Supreme Court granted a transfer of one case last week in which the appellate court affirmed the award of summary judgment to a bank.
The case—Jeffery L. Foster, et al. v. First Merchants Bank, N.A., 24S-PL-75—was affirmed in August after the appellate court found the Benton Circuit Court was correct in entering summary judgment for First Merchants Bank based on the doctrine of laches.
First Merchants Bank, in a related underlying action, sought to enforce a promissory note against Treslong Dairy LLC, which had been secured by a security agreement that had granted the bank a security interest in all of Treslong Dairy’s haylage and silage.
The lawsuit centered on a 2010 real estate transaction. The trial court had ordered the bank to sell the collateral. The bank did so but for an amount less than the dull judgment owed to the bank. Jeffrey Foster, Kathie Foster and the Earl Goodwine Trust, who were junior lienholders, received nothing from the sale.
Both Fosters and the trust filed a complaint against the bank concerning the collateral sale. Next, the lawsuit went through several periods of inactivity.
In 2022, the trial court entered summary judgment in favor of the bank, finding the dismissal was appropriate due to the Fosters and the trust’s failure to prosecute the action.
The appellants then filed a motion to correct error, but were denied by the trial court.
The justices denied transfer to eight other cases.
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