First Bank v. Fischer & Frichtel, Inc.

Fischer & Frichtel (F&F) (defendant), a developer, owed First Bank (plaintiff) $1.1 million on a matured loan and defaulted rather than repay it, prompting First Bank to foreclose on the unsold lots, which it purchased itself at the foreclosure sale for $466,000 -- leaving a roughly $667,000 deficiency. F&F argued the deficiency should instead be measured against the property's fair market value, which the jury found to be $918,000, yielding a much smaller deficiency of roughly $215,000; the jury agreed with F&F, but the trial court granted First Bank a new trial, and the case reached the Missouri Supreme Court after transfer from the court of appeals.