Barrister's Land Co. v. Merchants & Farmers Bank of Columbus (In re Barrister's Land Co.)

57 B.R. 863, 1985 Bankr. LEXIS 4865
United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Mississippi·Decided December 2, 1985·No. Bankruptcy No. E85-10153; Adv. No. 85-1206·Published

Opinion

[864]*864OPINION

DAVID W. HOUSTON, III, Bankruptcy Judge.

On consideration of the complaint filed by the Plaintiff, Barrister’s Land Company, Inc., hereinafter referred to as Barrister’s, against the Defendants, Merchants & Farmers Bank of Columbus, Mississippi, and National Bank of Commerce of Mississippi, hereinafter respectively referred to as M & F Bank and NBC; answers to said complaint filed by the Defendants; on consideration of the motions seeking to modify the automatic stay filed by M & F Bank and NBC, as well as, the motion to dismiss filed by NBC; responses to said motions filed by Barrister’s; all parties being represented by their respective attorneys of record; on proof before the Court; and the Court having heard and considered same, finds as follows, to-wit:

I.

The Court has jurisdiction of the parties to and the subject matter of this proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334 and 28 U.S.C. § 157. These adversary and contested matters are all core proceedings as defined in 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(A), (B), (0).

II.

Pursuant to an agreed order, dated October 10, 1985, approved by all parties to this proceeding, each of these adversary and contested matters were consolidated for hearing.

Essentially, Barrister’s is a real estate holding corporation whose sole assets are two office buildings located in the City of Columbus, Mississippi. Barrister’s filed its voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in this Court on April 10, 1985.

The two office buildings were occupied several years ago by the law firm of Bur-gin, Gholson, Hicks, and Nichols. At that time, there was free inside access between the two buildings, both of which were utilized by the law firm. Following the dissolution of the law firm partnership, the inside access between the two buildings was eliminated, so that for all practical purposes, the two buildings became independent of each other, although they are situated side by side. The western most building will be referred to as the “old building”, and the eastern most building will be referred to as the “new building”.

On January 5, 1978, Barrister’s executed a promissory note in favor of National Bank of Commerce of Mississippi in the principal sum of $120,000.00, which was to be repaid in 120 monthly installments of $1,536.40, each. The note was secured by a deed of trust encumbering all of the real property owned by Barrister’s. This note has been in default since November, 1984, and effective November 1, 1985, the amount of the indebtedness, including accrued interest and attorney’s fees, was $69,630.63. (See Defendants’ Exhibit 12).

On April 30, 1980, Barrister’s executed a promissory note in favor of Merchants & Farmers Bank in the principal sum of $35,-648.32, which was secured by a second deed of trust encumbering only the “new building”. This note has been in default since February 15, 1985, and effective November 1, 1985, the amount of the indebtedness, also including accrued interest and attorney’s fees, was $78,468.39. Interest accrues on this indebtedness at the rate of $22.83, per day, and accrues on the NBC indebtedness at the rate of $15.57, per day. (See Defendants’ Exhibit 12).

In August, 1984, William G. Burgin, Jr., Vice President of Barrister’s, approached Hampton Couchman, a Vice President at M & F Bank, with an offer to deed certain real property owned by Barrister’s to M & F Bank in exchange for the following: (a) M & F Bank was to cancel and/or satisfy the Barrister’s indebtedness owed to M & F Bank; and (b) M & F Bank was to service the Barrister’s indebtedness owed to NBC until the debt was paid in full. At this time, Couchman was under the mistaken impression that the M & F Bank lien, like the NBC lien, encumbered both the “new building”, as well as, the “old building”. In this same context, Couchman testified that he thought the Barristers’ offer, ex[865]*865tended through Burgin', applied to all of the property owned by Barrister’s which had formerly been utilized as the law offices for the Burgin, Gholson, Hicks, and Nichols firm. On the other hand, Burgin unequivocally testified that the offer applied exclusively to the “new building”, which was the only property encumbered by the M & F Bank deed of trust. Couchman indicated that he would bring the offer before the bank’s board of directors. In a letter dated September 14, 1984, (Plaintiffs Exhibit 4), M & F Bank agreed to take the “Barristers Land property”, in what was apparently thought to be in conformity with Burgin’s proposal. The letter also requested that a deed be prepared and delivered to the bank. On September 18, 1984, Burgin delivered a duly executed deed to Couchman at M & F Bank, encompassing only the “new building”. As a result of an apparent verbal communication between Couchman and Burgin between September 14, 1984, and September 18, 1984, Couchman did not record the deed, but retained it in his possession until January 23, 1985. (See Plaintiffs Exhibit 6).

It is important to note at this point that the loan committee minutes for M & F Bank, dated August 28, 1984, (Defendants’ Exhibit 13) tend to underscore Couchman’s opinion that all of the Barrister’s real property was to be conveyed to the bank. A paragraph in the minutes reflects the following pertinent language: “Approval was given for the Bank to accept deed from Barrister Land Co. for former Burgin, Gholson, Hicks and Nichols firm and assume payments at NBC provided all legal aspects are all right.”

On September 19, 1984, Couchman, having realized that the deed delivered by Bur-gin only covered the “new building”, rather than all of the Barrister’s real property, immediately advised Ronald W. Tew, the President of M & F Bank, of this discrepancy. Following discussions with Tew, Couchman wrote Burgin a letter, dated September 19, 1984, (Plaintiff’s Exhibit 7), stating that it was not the bank’s understanding that Barrister’s only wanted to convey one building; and if this was the case, that M & F Bank would require an assignment of the rents applicable to the “old building”. Burgin testified. at trial that this condition was not acceptable to Barrister’s.

Although an assignment of rental income exists by virtue of the deed of trust held by NBC, contrary to its position that a binding contract was in effect with M & F Bank, Barrister’s accepted and utilized all of the rental income generated by both buildings from September, 1984, until the present. During this same time frame, Barrister's attempted to sell the properties, and on March 1, 1985, leased a part of the “new building” to the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority. (See Defendants’ Exhibit 5). Additionally, subsequent to the Couchman letter of September 19, 1984, Barrister’s attempted to borrow additional monies from M & F Bank to pay ad valorem taxes owed on the property, as well as, to service the NBC indebtedness. However on two occasions, (see Defendants’ Exhibits 2 and 16), M & F Bank indicated that it was unwilling to lend additional monies to Barrister’s.

III.

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Barrister's Land Co. v. Merchants & Farmers Bank of Columbus (In re Barrister's Land Co.), 57 B.R. 863, 1985 Bankr. LEXIS 4865 (Miss. 1985).

57 B.R. 863 (Barrister's Land Co. v. Merchants & Farmers Bank of Columbus (In re Barrister's Land Co.)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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