In Godoy v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., a bank sued a guarantor to recover on a deficiency following a foreclosure sale. No. 18-0071, 2019 Tex. LEXIS 443 (Tex. May 10, 2019). The defendant guarantor alleged that any such claim was barred by the two-year statute of limitations. The lender argued that the guarantor waived the statute-of-limitations defense had been waived by provisions in the loan documents. The guarantor argued that a statute-of-limitations defense can only be waived if the language in the waiver is specific and for a defined period of time, and claimed that the waiver was indefinite and void as against public policy because it allowed the lender to bring suit at any time in the future. The lender argued that, by signing a broad waiver of all defenses, a party can waive all statute-of-limitations defenses indefinitely.

Regarding waivers of a statute of limitations defense, the Texas Supreme Court held:

In Simpson v. McDonald, we stated: “It appears to be well settled that an agreement in advance to waive or not plead the statutes of limitation is void as against public policy.” Since Simpson was decided, courts of appeals have built upon its holding to require that a waiver of a statute of limitations is void unless the waiver is “specific and for a reasonable time.” Indeed, the requirement that in order to be enforceable the statute-of-limitations waiver must be “specific” and “only for a reasonable time” was already understood to be part of the law at the time Simpson was decided.… Blanket pre-dispute waivers of all statutes of limitation are unenforceable, but waivers of a particular limitations period for a defined and reasonable amount of time may be enforced.

Id. The Court ruled that the clause in the case was sufficiently specific and was for a reasonable time and ruled for the lender.

Interesting Note: Fiduciaries are often in the position of a lender. For example, a trustee may make a loan to a beneficiary of a trust. Sometimes the trustee has to collect on that debt when the borrower defaults, and that fight can revolve around the statute of limitations. Indeed, a trustee never wants to sue its beneficiary for any reason, and delay is often present in these circumstances. For example, recently, a court of appeals held that the statute of limitations did not apply to bar a trustee’s claim on a promissory note under the facts of that case. DeRoeck v. DHM Ventures, LLC, No. 03-15-00713-CV,  2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 4721 (Tex. App.—Austin June 7, 2019, no pet. history). The Godoy opinion arms a trustee with one more tool. A trustee can have the note, guaranty agreement, or other similar document expressly state that the borrower waives the defense of the statute of limitations for a certain period of time (negotiate notes have a six year statute of limitations in Texas, and potentially, a waiver clause could extent that to eight years).

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Photo of David Fowler Johnson David Fowler Johnson

[email protected]
817.420.8223

David maintains an active trial and appellate practice and has consistently worked on financial institution litigation matters throughout his career. David is the primary author of the The Fiduciary Litigator blog, which reports on legal cases and issues impacting the fiduciary…

[email protected]
817.420.8223

David maintains an active trial and appellate practice and has consistently worked on financial institution litigation matters throughout his career. David is the primary author of the The Fiduciary Litigator blog, which reports on legal cases and issues impacting the fiduciary field in Texas. Read More

David’s financial institution experience includes (but is not limited to): breach of contract, foreclosure litigation, lender liability, receivership and injunction remedies upon default, non-recourse and other real estate lending, class action, RICO actions, usury, various tort causes of action, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and preference and other related claims raised by receivers.

David also has experience in estate and trust disputes including will contests, mental competency issues, undue influence, trust modification/clarification, breach of fiduciary duty and related claims, and accountings. David’s recent trial experience includes:

  • Representing a bank in federal class action suit where trust beneficiaries challenged whether the bank was the authorized trustee of over 220 trusts;
  • Representing a bank in state court regarding claims that it mismanaged oil and gas assets;
  • Representing a bank who filed suit in probate court to modify three trusts to remove a charitable beneficiary that had substantially changed operations;
  • Represented an individual executor of an estate against claims raised by a beneficiary for breach of fiduciary duty and an accounting; and
  • Represented an individual trustee against claims raised by a beneficiary for breach of fiduciary duty, mental competence of the settlor, and undue influence.

David is one of twenty attorneys in the state (of the 84,000 licensed) that has the triple Board Certification in Civil Trial Law, Civil Appellate and Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Additionally, David is a member of the Civil Trial Law Commission of the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. This commission writes and grades the exam for new applicants for civil trial law certification.

David maintains an active appellate practice, which includes:

  • Appeals from final judgments after pre-trial orders such as summary judgments or after jury trials;
  • Interlocutory appeals dealing with temporary injunctions, arbitration, special appearances, sealing the record, and receiverships;
  • Original proceedings such as seeking and defending against mandamus relief; and
  • Seeking emergency relief staying trial court’s orders pending appeal or mandamus.

For example, David was the lead appellate lawyer in the Texas Supreme Court in In re Weekley Homes, LP, 295 S.W.3d 309 (Tex. 2009). The Court issued a ground-breaking opinion in favor of David’s client regarding the standards that a trial court should follow in ordering the production of computers in discovery.

David previously taught Appellate Advocacy at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law located in Fort Worth. David is licensed and has practiced in the U.S. Supreme Court; the Fifth, Seventh, and Eleventh Federal Circuits; the Federal District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas; the Texas Supreme Court and various Texas intermediate appellate courts. David also served as an adjunct professor at Baylor University Law School, where he taught products liability and portions of health law. He has authored many legal articles and spoken at numerous legal education courses on both trial and appellate issues. His articles have been cited as authority by the Texas Supreme Court (twice) and the Texas Courts of Appeals located in Waco, Texarkana, Beaumont, Tyler and Houston (Fourteenth District), and a federal district court in Pennsylvania. David’s articles also have been cited by McDonald and Carlson in their Texas Civil Practice treatise, William v. Dorsaneo in the Texas Litigation Guide, and various authors in the Baylor Law ReviewSt. Mary’s Law JournalSouth Texas Law Review and Tennessee Law Review.

Representative Experience

  • Civil Litigation and Appellate Law