ALTON BANKING & TRUST COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. JESSE R. SWEENEY et al., Defendants-Appellants, 135 Ill. App. 3d 96

Summary

The debtor and her purported husband signed personal guaranties to promissory notes in exchange for the bank's financing of an automobile dealership, which initially was run as a used car lot managed by the husband and the debtor. Later the business operated as a new car franchise ostensibly owned only by the husband, but after the franchise went out of business, the business reverted to a used car lot. None of the notes signed by the debtor expressed that she was signing in anything other than a personal capacity. After the franchise went out of business, but while the used car lot was operating, the debtor notified the bank that she was terminating her personal guaranty on the notes. The bank sued on the notes and obtained judgment against both the husband and the debtor. On the debtor's appeal, the court affirmed the trial court's judgment. The court held that, despite the debtor's attempt to repudiate her guaranty, she remained personally liable on the notes, because there had been...