Bice Construction Company, Inc. v. Cit Corporation of the South, Inc.

In 1979 defendant-appellant, Bice Construction Company, an Arkansas corporation, contracted with plaintiff-appellee, CIT Corporation, a Georgia corporation, for a loan to purchase equipment for its business. CIT obtained and perfected a security interest in that equipment. When Bice filed a bankruptcy petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in 1980, CIT requested a modified stay and sought to foreclose its security interest. Bice counterclaimed alleging that the interest rates in the contract were usurious under Arkansas law, and, therefore, the contract was void. The bankruptcy…