Mark Mengelberg and Anthony Burney Published in Real Estate Finance "Proceed with Caution: Enforcing a Defaulted Loan within the Framework of California's One Action Rule"

Mark Mengelberg and Anthony Burney's article, "Proceed with Caution: Enforcing a Defaulted Loan within the Framework of California's One Action Rule," was published in the August 2008 issue of Real Estate Finance. In their article, they discuss how a real property secured creditor must be careful to ensure that its remedies against a defaulting borrower or guarantor are carried out in way which does not violate California's anti-deficiency laws. They go on outline the protection and pitfalls of California's anti-deficiency laws, focusing particularly on the "one action rule," which encompasses three aspects regarding the enforcement of a real property secured obligation (the security first rule, the one action principle, and the one form of action rule).

The authors conclude: "The one action rule requires that a creditor must look to all of its security before it may sue the borrower on the underlying debt. In looking to the security, a creditor must be careful not to perform certain acts that would constitute an action for purposes of the one action rule since doing so might result in the loss of the security. In enforcing its security, a creditor is generally entitled to a deficiency judgment following a judicial foreclosure, but generally is not entitled to a deficiency judgment following a non-judicial foreclosure."