All Creatures Animal Hospital, Inc. v. Finova Capital Corp.

374 S.W.3d 38, 2010 Ark. App. 18, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 13
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 6, 2010
DocketNo. CA 09-435
StatusPublished

This text of 374 S.W.3d 38 (All Creatures Animal Hospital, Inc. v. Finova Capital Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
All Creatures Animal Hospital, Inc. v. Finova Capital Corp., 374 S.W.3d 38, 2010 Ark. App. 18, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 13 (Ark. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

WAYMOND M. BROWN, Judge.

liAppellee Finova' Capital Corporation sued appellants All Creatures Animal Hospital and Marion Smith, D.V.M., alleging that the hospital had breached a lease of certain office equipment.1 The Garland County Circuit Court entered summary judgment in Finova’s favor. The hospital now appeals, raising five points for reversal. We affirm.

On March 31, 1994, the hospital entered into a written lease for office equipment manufactured by Recomm International Display Corporation (“Recomm”). Fino-va’s predecessor-in-interest provided financing for the transaction and was assigned Recomm’s rights in the transaction. In 1996, Recomm and its affiliated companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. |2The hospital was one of over 12,000 lessees of Recomm’s equipment. In March 1996, the bankruptcy court enjoined all lessors and lessees from pursuing claims against one another.

A debtor’s plan of reorganization was filed. The plan included a modification of the agreements between Finova and its lessees, which provided for several lease-payment options. The bankruptcy court entered an order confirming the reorganization plan on May 13, 1998. The confirmation order released Finova from all claims that otherwise may have been raised by the lessees in connection with the matters occurring prior to the June 80, 1998 effective date of the confirmation order.

On June 30,1998, Finova sent the hospital a letter, which advised it of the modifications to their lease agreement and presented them with options to pay the amount owed under the lease as modified. The hospital failed to select a payment option and was deemed to have selected “Option 4,” which obligated the hospital to pay the balance due over a period of time. On May 31, 2002, Finova filed suit in the Pulaski County Circuit Court, alleging that the hospital was in breach of the modified agreements and was, therefore, liable to Finova in the amount of $12,868.91.

The hospital filed a motion to dismiss based on improper venue in Pulaski County and the running of the statute of limitations. By agreed order, the case was transferred to Garland County Circuit Court. Thereafter, the hospital amended its motion to dismiss so as to withdraw the statute of limitations as a defense.

On October 26, 2006, Finova filed its motion for summary judgment against the Ishospital. Finova also filed the affidavit of Ellen Brandt, a portfolio manager, in which she set out the history of the transaction and Recomm’s bankruptcy. Brandt also averred that the hospital made nineteen payments prior to the bankruptcy filing, that the hospital had failed to make any payments under the modified lease, and that the hospital owed $12,868.91.

In response, the hospital contended that there were two issues of material fact: whether the hospital had received proper notice of the bankruptcy proceedings and the amount owed under the lease. Attached to the response was the affidavit of Marion Smith stating that the hospital had not received any of the notices of the bankruptcy case, that the payout history attached to Brandt’s affidavit was inaccurate, and that the hospital did not owe the amounts claimed in Brandt’s affidavits because some payments had been made. The affidavit of Paul Hogue was also submitted. Hogue stated that he could not, under any scenario, verify that Finova’s calculation of the amount due of $12,868.91 was accurate. He also said that Finova may have calculated interest on interest in determining the amount due, which he opined violated the Arkansas Constitution’s prohibition against usury. Finally, Hogue said that he had not had access to the raw data on which Finova’s calculations were based.

The motion for summary judgment was heard before Judge David Switzer in July 2008. The main issues argued were whether the hospital was bound by the bankruptcy court’s confirmation order and the amount owed by the hospital. The court ultimately denied the motion based on its finding that there was an unresolved legal issue — whether the hospital had been served with process in the bankruptcy case. The court reserved the right to revisit the issue 1 /‘if and when” the parties file supplemental motions and briefs on the issue. The court also indicated that, if the hospital was bound by the confirmation order, summary judgment would be granted for Finova.

Finova filed a “Supplemental and Additional Motion for Summary Judgment” on November 19, 2008. The motion was identical to the earlier motion. Copies of the earlier affidavits submitted by Ellen Brandt and Marion Smith were attached to the motion, as was a copy of the order denying the earlier motion. In its response to the supplemental motion, the hospital asserted that Finova had not addressed the inaccuracies in Brandt’s affidavit such as payments being posted to the account prior to Finova’s acceptance of the lease or the hospital’s claim that the lease was usurious.

The circuit court held a hearing on the supplemental motion for summary judgment on December 15, 2008. The hearing focused on the notice issue left unresolved from the prior hearing. The hospital argued that Ellen Brandt’s affidavit could not show that the hospital had been served because Brandt was not the party who mailed the notices from the bankruptcy court. The circuit court found that the hospital was bound by the confirmation order from the bankruptcy court and granted the motion for summary judgment. The court also found that the hospital’s usury defense had to be resolved before the bankruptcy court.

On January 9, 2009, the circuit court2 entered its written order granting summary judgment to Finova. The court found that Finova had resolved the legal issue that had been left 1 r,unresolved in the earlier hearing and was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The court awarded Finova judgment of $12,868.91, together with attorney’s fees of $2,573.78. The court also awarded both pre- and postjudgment interest.

On January 20, 2009, the hospital filed a motion for reconsideration, asking the court to reconsider its decision on the usury issue. The hospital also asserted that the statute of limitations began to run when the bankruptcy court entered its order approving the reorganization plan and barred the action. The circuit court denied the motion for reconsideration by order entered on January 22, 2009. This appeal timely followed.

Summary judgment may be granted only when there are no genuine issues of material fact to be litigated. Greenlee v. J.B. Hunt Transp. Servs., 2009 Ark. 506, 342 S.W.3d 274. The moving party is then entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. Once the moving party has established a prima facie entitlement to summary judgment, the opposing party must meet proof with proof and demonstrate the existence of a material issue of fact. Id. On appellate review, we determine if summary judgment was appropriate based on whether the evidentiary items presented by the moving party in support of the motion leave a material fact unanswered. Id. We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion was filed, resolving all doubts and inferences against the moving party. Id. Our review focuses not only on the pleadings, but also on the affidavits and other documents filed by the parties. Id.

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Bluebook (online)
374 S.W.3d 38, 2010 Ark. App. 18, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 13, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/all-creatures-animal-hospital-inc-v-finova-capital-corp-arkctapp-2010.