A legal ruling potentially could give many debt-holders across the U.S. new grounds to recover money from landlords who lost their properties to foreclosure.

In December, an appellate court in Michigan surprised many industry observers when it upheld a lower-court ruling against the former owner of a Traverse City, Mich., strip mall, David Schostak, who surrendered his company's property in 2010 after defaulting on an $8.7 million loan. This debt was carved up and sold as commercial mortgage-backed securities when the loan was made.

Rather than just accept the keys to the property, the bondholders, represented by Wells Fargo as a trustee, sued Schostak personally.