Access Point Financial, LLC v. Everhardt (Eve-of-Foreclosure Transfer and Bankruptcy Trigger Full Recourse Under Hotel Loan Guaranty)
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a Northern District of Georgia summary judgment holding hotel borrower principal and guarantor Charles Everhardt personally liable for $3,954,244.04, the balance left on a $56.33 million loan after foreclosure sales, after the entity holding the Houston collateral transferred 100% of its membership interests without lender Access Point Financial's consent and then, under its new management, filed a same-day Chapter 11 petition on the eve of a scheduled foreclosure sale. The August 26, 2026 unpublished opinion held that the voluntary bankruptcy filing alone was a full-recourse event under the guaranty, rejecting Everhardt's argument that it did not count because the new owner was not authorized to file it.
Why it matters
The ruling reinforces that eve-of-foreclosure ownership transfers and bankruptcy filings, common last-resort maneuvers by distressed CRE borrowers, routinely convert non-recourse hotel and commercial mortgage loans into full personal-recourse exposure for guarantors, even where the guarantor argues the petition was filed by new owners who were not authorized to file it. It is a caution for principals and asset managers facing loan defaults that a borrower's voluntary bankruptcy filing can trigger a 'bad boy' guaranty carve-out even when the guarantor did not direct it.
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