Florida Statute 679.626 - Full Text and Legal Analysis

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title XXXIX
COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

Chapter 679
UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE: SECURED TRANSACTIONS

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679.626 Action in which deficiency or surplus is in issue.—In an action arising from a 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 s. 679.628, 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, reasonable expenses, and, to the extent provided for by agreement and not prohibited by law, attorney’s fees exceeds the greater of:

(a) The proceeds of the collection, enforcement, disposition, or acceptance; or

(b) 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 paragraph (3)(b), 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 s. 679.615(6), 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.

History.—s. 7, ch. 2001-198; s. 165, ch. 2025-92.

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Amendments to 679.626

Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 679.626

Total Results: 4 | Sort by: Relevance | Newest First

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Textron Fin. Corp. v. Lentine Marine Inc., 630 F. Supp. 2d 1352 (S.D. Fla. 2009).

Cited 6 times | Published | District Court, S.D. Florida | 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33874, 2009 WL 1064839

...Where a debtor places in issue the commercial reasonableness of a secured party's disposition of collateral, the secured party bears the "burden of establishing that the collection, enforcement, disposition, or acceptance was conducted in accordance with this part." § 679.626(2), Fla....

...Louis Lentine's affidavit asserts, on the basis of his extensive experience in the marine retail industry that the boats resold were "new ... and could have been sold for at least the cost of the boats." (Louis Lentine Affidavit, dkt # 70-2, ¶¶ 6-8). Under § 679.626, Florida Statutes commercial reasonableness need merely be "placed in issue" for the burden to shift to Plaintiff. A debtor need not affirmatively establish commercial unreasonableness, and Plaintiff cites no authority suggesting that Florida Statutes § 679.626 has been or should be interpreted to impose such a requirement....

...However, it is Plaintiff as the moving party here who bears the burden in the first instance of proving the absence of material issues of fact before the burden of rebuttal shifts to Defendants, Adickes, 398 U.S. at 157, 90 S.Ct. 1598, and Florida law further burdens Plaintiff with proving commercial reasonableness. § 679.626, Florida Statutes....

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S. Developers & Earthmoving, Inc. v. Caterpillar Fin. Servs. Corp., 56 So. 3d 56 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011).

Cited 5 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 2216, 2011 WL 637332

...Burley, 976 So.2d at 101 . Accordingly, if the debtor places the commercial reasonableness of the disposition of collateral “in issue,” the secured party has the burden to establish that every aspect of that disposition was commercially reasonable. See § 679.626(2); see also Weiner, 482 So.2d at 1364-65 ; Burley, 976 So.2d at 100 ....

...e to amend its answer at any time prior to the filing of the motion at issue. Second, Southern’s proposed amendment would not have been futile because section 679.625(4) specifically provides that “[a] debtor whose deficiency is eliminated under s. 679.626 may recover damages for the loss of any surplus.” Third, there is nothing in the record to show that CAT would have been prejudiced by Southern’s amendment, particularly since the proposed counterclaim arose from the same transaction a...

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Burley v. Gelco Corp., 976 So. 2d 97 (Fla. 5th DCA 2008).

Cited 2 times | Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 2008 WL 534816

...1st DCA 1995). If a debtor places the creditor's compliance with the U.C.C. requirements in issue, it becomes the creditor's "burden of establishing that the collection, enforcement, disposition, or acceptance was conducted in accordance with this part." § 679.626(2), Fla....

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Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC v. Thomas Arwine (Fla. 1st DCA 2019).

Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal

...he type of property being disposed. § 679.627(2), Fla. Stat. However, a secured party need not prove disposition of the collateral was done in a commercially reasonable manner unless the debtor places the secured party’s compliance in issue. See § 679.626(1), Fla....

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