Beaulieu v. Campbell

CourtSuperior Court of Maine
DecidedFebruary 21, 2018
DocketPENcv-14-100
StatusUnpublished

This text of Beaulieu v. Campbell (Beaulieu v. Campbell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beaulieu v. Campbell, (Me. Super. Ct. 2018).

Opinion

) )

STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT PENOBSCOT, ss. CIVIL ACTION DKT. NO. CV-14-100 ) TODD BEAULIEU, derivatively ) o/b/o BEAUCAMP, LLC, . ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ORDER ) THOMAS CAMPBELL and ) PIXIE CAMPBELL, ) ) Defendants. )

Both parties have filed post judgment motions describing a variety of alleged

errors and omissions contained in the Court's February 21, 2018 Judgment in this case.

Both parties ask the Court to amend that judgment and, additionally, the Campbells

want the Court to now take judicial notice of residential home price statistics. It is not

known why defense counsel did not ask the Court to take judicial notice of these facts at

the time of trial.

A. The Campbells' Motion

Depending on how one computes the tally, the Campbells allege up to 13 errors

in the Court's Judgment. Most have already been raised and rejected. The Court will

place them in the following categories.

1. 27 Green Lake Rd.

The Campbells reiterate arguments they made at the time of trial concerning the

disposition of 27 Green Lake Rd. (27). The Court does not alter its relevant conclusions,

even if it took judicial notice of the offered facts concerning nationwide real estate prices )

at this late date.' The crux of this dispute centers upon the Court's determination that

permitting Beaulieu to move into the property was a Beaucamp LLC decision. In

support of this, the Court found that by moving in, obtaining title, and financing the

LLC' s indebtedness in their own names, the Beaulieus benefited the LLC with lower

borrowing costs. The Court also indicated, based on believable testimony that Beaulieu

had looked into selling the property and had concluded that it would not be

advantageous for the LLC to market it, that the LLC was experiencing difficulty in

selling it. These factors made it advantageous to the LLC for the Beaulieus to move in.

As work progressed on Pine Trail, which was being built with LLC funds on land the

Campbells held personally, it became clear that the finished house would be their

property. Beaulieu continued to work there just as Campbell had continued to work on

27 after the Beaulieus had moved in. Ultimately, the Court's finding that there was tacit

LLC agreement concerning the disposition of the two properties is supported by record

evidence and defeats the Campbells' various arguments based on a contrary view of the

evidence.

The result urged by the Campbells - that.the Beaulieus keep 27 Green Lake Rd.,

remain responsible for the related indebtedness that had been LLC debt, and pay a

large sum to the Campbells - while the Campbells will continue to own the valuable

Pine Trail residence free of any indebtedness - is absolutely unsupported by any

reasonable version of the evidence.

2. The Footnote

It is the Court's recollection that at the beginning of the trial, in response to the

Court's specific question, the parties represented that they would not argue that one

1 It would be preferable to ask the Court to take judicial notice of facts before it makes factual findings so that it

could reflect on all of the facts at one time before making its decision. )

contributed more than the other to the LLC effort. Regardless of the representations and

after considering all of the evidence, the Court makes no findings that one contributed

more than the other.

3. Daley Rd. and South St. Proceeds

Because the Court has found that the corporate books were accurate, it found

that Beaulieu did not receive a disproportionate share from the sale of the Daly Rd. and

South St. properties.

4. The Operating Agreement

The clause concerning membership certificates that the Campbells cite clearly

pertains to contributions at the inception of the LLC only and is irrelevant to the trial

issues of subsequent contribution.

5. Other Accounting Complaints

Again, the Court has accepted the accounting records as accurate, a decision

supported by record evidence. The Court is not going to make additional findings in

this regard.

6. Considering Increased Market Value

Because the Court has found that Beaulieu and Campbell agreed on the

disposition of 27 Green Lake Rd. and Pine Trail, neither was entitled to expected profit

from the transfer of property to the other.

7. Value of and shares in 28 Green Lake Rd.

Because the Court believed that other testimony concerning the value of this

property was inflated, it valued it at $40,000, somewhat less than the price at which it

had been marketed. This value, and the fact that Beaulieu will be awarded this asset, is

to be considered in the winding up equation.

B. Beaulieu's Motion ) )

The Court agrees that it failed to make an explicit finding concerning the claim

for $10,000 that Beaulieu contributed to purchase Pine Trail. Simply put, the Court finds

that the Beaulieus made the expenditure, but the Campbells paid it back.

The Court is hopeful that based on the underlying Judgment and this Order, the actual

winding up can be resolved without further controversy. The court remains responsive

to issues that may arise, however.

The Order is: Motions granted. The content of the Court's Judgment is

altered as described herein, but the disposition expressed in the Judgment

remains unchanged.

Dated: August 3, 2018 WI LIAM ANDERS JUSTICE, SUPERIOR COURT ORDER/JUDGMENT ENTERED IN THE COURT DOCKET ON: <6 - CJ - I '6' (

STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT PENOBSCOT, SS. CIVIL ACTION DOCKET NO CV-14-100

TODD BEAULIEU and TODD BEAULIEU derivatively o /b / o BEAUCAMP LLC,

Plaintiff, V. JUDGMENT THOMAS CAMPBELL and PIXIE CAMPBELL,

Defendant.

Hearing was held and post-trial briefs filed by June 13, 2017. The plaintiff was

present and represented by Charles Cox, Esq. while the defendants were present and

represented by A.J. Greif, Esq. Plaintiff's complaint is both derivative, in which Mr.

Beaulieu asks the court to require the defendants to pay sums to the LLC and then order

its dissolution, as well as personal, in which he asks the Court to order the defendants

to pay him sums directly. Derivative plaintiff has alleged breach of contract, quantum

meruit, and unjust enrichment; plaintiff Todd Beaulieu personally alleges dissolution,

breach of good faith/ fiduciary duty, breach of operating agreement, quantum meruit,

unjust enrichment, and equitable estoppel. Defendant Thomas Campbell has

counterclaimed against Beaulieu for dissolution, accounting, breach of fiduciary

duty/ good faith, quantum meruit and unjust enrichment.

Background

Todd Beaulieu and Thomas Campbell, who were friends at the time, were

interested in establishing a business in which they purchased properties and either

made improvements to an existing structure or built a residence on the property. Their

goal was to then sell the property at a profit. They set up Beaucamp LLC in 2003 as the

1 , \

business entity through which they would accomplish their real estate development

goals. They adopted an Operating Agreement that established the rules by which

Beaucamp would be operated, provided that all funds were to be deposited into

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