§ 11-9-626. Action in Which Deficiency or Surplus Is in Issue

1. Applicable rules if amount of deficiency or surplus in issue.    In an action arising from a transaction, other than a consumer transaction, in which the amount of a deficiency or surplus is in issue, the following rules apply:
   1. A secured party need not prove compliance with the provisions of this part relating to collection, enforcement, disposition, or acceptance unless the debtor or a secondary obligor places the secured party’s compliance in issue;
   2. If the secured party’s compliance is placed in issue, the secured party has the burden of establishing that the collection, enforcement, disposition, or acceptance was conducted in accordance with this part;
   3. Except as otherwise provided in Code Section 11-9-628, if a secured party fails to prove that the collection, enforcement, disposition, or acceptance was conducted in accordance with the provisions of this part relating to collection, enforcement, disposition, or acceptance, the liability of a debtor or a secondary obligor for a deficiency is limited to an amount by which the sum of the secured obligation, expenses, and attorney’s fees exceeds the greater of:
      1. The proceeds of the collection, enforcement, disposition, or acceptance; or
      2. The amount of proceeds that would have been realized had the noncomplying secured party proceeded in accordance with the provisions of this part relating to collection, enforcement, disposition, or acceptance;
   4. For purposes of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (3) of this subsection, the amount of proceeds that would have been realized is equal to the sum of the secured obligation, expenses, and attorney’s fees unless the secured party proves that the amount is less than that sum;
   5. If a deficiency or surplus is calculated under subsection (f) of Code Section 11-9-615, the debtor or obligor has the burden of establishing that the amount of proceeds of the disposition is significantly below the range of prices that a complying disposition to a person other than the secured party, a person related to the secured party, or a secondary obligor would have brought.
2. Nonconsumer transactions; no inference.    The limitation of the rules in subsection (a) of this Code section to transactions other than consumer transactions is intended to leave to the court the determination of the proper rules in consumer transactions. The court may not infer from that limitation the nature of the proper rule in consumer transactions and may continue to apply established approaches.

History. Code 1981, § 11-9-626 , enacted by Ga. L. 2001, p. 362, § 1.

Cross references.

Additional provisions regarding disposition of goods repossessed after default, § 10-1-10 .

Law reviews.

For note discussing repossession and foreclosure as creditor’s remedies under the Uniform Commercial Code, see 3 Ga. L. Rev. 198 (1968).

For article, “The Revisions to Article IX of the Uniform Commercial Code,” see 15 Ga. St. B.J. 120 (1977).

For article surveying developments in Georgia commercial law from mid-1980 through mid-1981, see 33 Mercer L. Rev. 33 (1981).

For comment on a secured party’s burden of proof in seeking a deficiency judgment after resale of collateral, see 33 Mercer L. Rev. 397 (1981).

For article, “Nonjudicial Foreclosures in Georgia: Fresh Doubts, Issues and Strategies,” see 23 Ga. St. B.J. 123 (1987).

For annual survey of commercial law, see 43 Mercer L. Rev. 119 (1991).

For article, “Georgia Foreclosure Confirmation Proceedings in Today’s Recessionary Real Estate World: Back to the Future,” see 16 (No. 4) Ga. St. B.J. 11 (2010).