Mertola, LLC, Plaintiff/apellant v. Alberto J. Santos, Defendants/appellees.

Summary

The court held that a credit-card creditor's cause of action to collect the entire outstanding balance accrues when the debtor first fails to make a full, agreed-upon minimum payment, even if the agreement contains an optional acceleration clause that the creditor does not exercise. Because the action was filed more than six years after the debtor's uncured default, the statute of limitations barred the claim, and summary judgment for the debtor was proper. The court vacated the court of appeals' decision and affirmed the trial court's judgment.