American National Bank & Trust Co. v. United States

36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,966, 22 Cl. Ct. 7, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 427, 1990 WL 176024
United States Court of Claims·Decided November 13, 1990·No. No. 215-86C·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

OPINION

ROBINSON, Judge:

This is a suit brought under the Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1491, for damages for breach of contract. The matter is before the court on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. The Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) awarded a contract to St. Bernice Manufacturing Company (St. Bernice) to manufacture 84,000 sleeping bags. American National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago (plaintiff or American) by its motion seeks a determination that as assignee of that contract’s proceeds it is entitled to a judgment in its favor for $218,277.94 erroneous[9] ly paid to St. Bernice. Defendant, by its motion, opposes any award to plaintiff and seeks a determination that there was not a valid assignment of the contract to plaintiff and that the defendant is entitled on its counterclaim to recover a total of $764,-897.76 erroneously paid to plaintiff.

For the reasons which follow, the court will deny plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and will grant in part defendant’s motion for summary judgment. However, with respect to defendant’s counterclaim, the court has determined that resolution of the issues presented by that counterclaim will require further proceedings which will be addressed in a separate order.

Factual Background

In 1976 St. Bernice executed a security agreement covering its accounts receivable and opened a line of credit at Mercantile Bank of Chicago (Mercantile). By the fall of 1979 St. Bernice was indebted to Mercantile for $257,552.52. This debt was evidenced by St. Bernice’s promissory notes which were issued on various dates and secured by the personal guarantees of David Goldberg, President of St. Bernice, and his wife Marjorie Goldberg. Thereafter, one promissory note dated September 3,1979 was issued by St. Bernice in the amount of $257,552.52 to replace the prior notes. This note was collateralized by the same security agreement and the personal guarantees of David Goldberg, Edward Rivera, and Frank Diaz, which were executed at various times between 1979 and 1981.

Mercantile sold its assets to American in the fall of 1979 and went out of business. The secured loan to St. Bernice was included in the sale. Mercantile Holdings, Inc., (Mercantile Holdings) was formed to assume the unsold assets and obligations of Mercantile when the latter ceased doing business in December 1979. Under the terms of the purchase agreement, American had the right to have Mercantile Holdings repurchase the uncollected balance of any loan sold. About the same time that American acquired St. Bernice’s debt, St. Bernice defaulted on its September 3, 1979 note to Mercantile.

In the spring of 1980, Nicholas A. Alexander, a Senior Vice President at American, and the loan officer responsible for Mercantile’s account with St. Bernice, instituted several collection suits on behalf of American against St. Bernice and Goldberg.1

Despite St. Bernice’s poor financial condition, the state court proceedings pending against it, and the fact that St. Bernice had never before performed a Government contract, it was awarded DLA Contract 100-80-C-3347 (the DLA contract) on July 22, 1980. This contract provided for an initial quantity of 42,000 sleeping bags to be manufactured for $1,984,920. However, in August 1980, before actual production had commenced, the contract was modified and a set-aside portion was added for the manufacture of an additional 42,000 sleeping bags. This brought the total contract award to approximately $3,969,840.

Goldberg approached American for financing for the DLA contract. During the period July 22 through September 29,1980, Goldberg met several times with American’s Alexander and representatives of Trident Industries (Trident), a supplier of raw textile materials, to discuss financing of the DLA contract. However, American refused to extend any credit to St. Bernice to finance the contract. At that time St. Bernice’s accumulated debt to American was about $313,348.47, including interest and legal fees incurred in American’s collection attempts.2 Trident, to which St. Bernice was also indebted from past business dealings, then agreed to provide the [10] raw materials needed by St. Bernice for the DLA contract, but only if American would agree to forego immediate collection efforts and perhaps capture and distribute the Government’s progress payments due to St. Bernice. Thus, subsequent to the award of the DLA contract, American, Mercantile Holdings, St. Bernice, and Trident entered into an agreement dated September 29, 1980 (the September Agreement), which became effective on October 10, 1980. It was to remain in effect until the preexisting indebtedness of St. Bernice was extinguished. It authorized American, in consideration of American’s forbearance from its collection efforts, to receive the Government’s progress payments and distribute them as follows: Trident, 90 percent; St. Bernice, 5 percent; and American, 5 percent. American’s 5 percent would be applied against St. Bernice’s indebtedness. Further, the September Agreement required St. Bernice to issue a new promissory note to American for $268,348.37 accompanied by the personal guarantees of Goldberg, Diaz and Rivera, and to make $6,000 monthly payments to American commencing November 10, 1980. It also required Diaz and Rivera to purchase all of St. Bernice’s outstanding common stock for $55,000, on or before October 10, 1980. The purchase transaction contemplated that $45,000 of the $55,000 would be forwarded to American in payment of its outstanding legal fees and litigation costs incurred in the state court proceedings,3 and that within five days of its receipt of the $45,000, American would dismiss its pending state court suits. Also, the September Agreement obligated St. Bernice to assign all of its accounts receivable “due and owing” to it from the Government.

In October 1980, Diaz and Rivera failed to pay the $55,000 under the stock purchase agreement. American promptly declared St. Bernice in default of the September Agreement. Subsequently, on January 19, 1981 American, Mercantile Holdings, Trident and St. Bernice executed another agreement (the January Agreement) which superseded the September Agreement. Although it contained no stock purchase provisions, it was similar to the September Agreement except that the distribution of the proceeds from the DLA contract was changed as follows: Trident, 90 percent; American, 10 percent or double its former percentage. This arrangement left nothing for St. Bernice to cover its operational costs. Although under the January Agreement American was to receive the same $6,000 monthly payment, it contained no provision for payment of American's litigation costs and dismissal of American’s state court suits. Thus, the January Agreement which St. Bernice signed to evidence its new indebtedness for $330,528.53 consisted of the amount of the September note ($268,348.37), legal fees and costs ($45,000) and interest for the five month period from September 1980 through January 1981.4

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American National Bank & Trust Co. v. United States, 36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,966, 22 Cl. Ct. 7, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 427, 1990 WL 176024 (cc 1990).

36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,966 (American National Bank & Trust Co. v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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