Bench v. Wood (In re Wood)

530 B.R. 836
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Hawaii
DecidedMay 12, 2015
DocketCase No. 13-00757; Adv. Pro. No. 13-90060
StatusPublished

This text of 530 B.R. 836 (Bench v. Wood (In re Wood)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Hawaii primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bench v. Wood (In re Wood), 530 B.R. 836 (Haw. 2015).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

Robert J. Faris, United States Bankruptcy Judge

The trial of this adversary proceeding was held on April 6 and 7, 2015. Preston Gima represented the plaintiffs and Donald L. Spafford, Jr., represented defendant Marilyn S. Wood. Defendant James J. Wood, Jr., did not appear at trial; judgment shall be entered against him by default.

Based on the evidence, the court makes the following:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiffs Charles and Helen Bench are a married couple in their midseventies. They have many years of experience in the real estate business.

2. Defendants James and Marilyn Wood were married during the relevant [841]*841time period (they are now in the process of divorcing).

B. Charles and Helen1 met James and Marilyn in about April 2008, when James and Marilyn expressed an interest in renting a house from Charles and Helen. James and Marilyn rented the -house beginning on May 1, 2008.

4. James and Marilyn became friendly with Charles, Helen, and their son Rick. Charles and Helen grew to like and trust James and Marilyn.

5. According to Charles and Helen, James told them that he had attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Marilyn did not know that James had made this statement. (Although it is implausible that James attended MIT, there is no evidence in the record that he did or did not attend that institution.)

6. In 2011, James and Marilyn were working for a company that rented temporary fences to enclose construction sites. They and another employee of that company wanted to go into the fence rental business for themselves. They agreed to form a company. James was to be in charge of operations, the co-worker was to be in charge of bidding and contracts, and Marilyn was to be the bookkeeper. Marilyn had no experience in the fence rental business and had learned to be a bookkeeper solely through on-the-job training.

7. In May 2011, James and Marilyn approached Charles and Helen for a loan to start their new business. They told Charles and Helen that lots of federal and state contracts were available and that they were sure the business would be successful. James gave some written materials to Charles and Helen that apparently included a business plan and some financial projections for the new business. James did most of the talking; Marilyn attended the meetings and assured Charles and Helen that James was a hard worker who would do his best to make the business succeed.

8. Charles and Helen did not retain copies of the written materials, and they are not part of the record.

9. Marilyn did not prepare any of the written materials that James gave to the Benches. Marilyn did not know that any of the statements she or James made to Charles and Helen were false. Marilyn did not intend to deceive Charles and Helen.

10. A few years earlier, James was convicted of interstate transportation of stolen goods and imprisoned. Marilyn did not conceal this fact from Charles and Helen for the purpose of inducing Charles and Helen to make the loans.

11. Although Charles and Helen are elderly, they are experienced in business and capable of managing their own affairs. They had a friendly, trusting relationship with James and Marilyn, but James and Marilyn did not exert undue influence over them. Charles and Helen had no reasonable basis to believe that James and Marilyn would put the Benches’ interests ahead of their own.

12. Charles and Helen agreed to make a loan. Although they initially expected to lend the money to James and Marilyn, by the time they lent the money they knew that the borrower would be Universal Fence, LLC. The Promissory Installment Note, dated May 25, 2011, was made by Universal Fence, LLC, and signed by [842]*842Marilyn as its president.2 Many of the Benches’ checks indicated “Universal Fence” in the memo section and others were made payable to Universal Fence, LLC.

13. Charles and Helen testified that an attorney for James and Marilyn prepared the note. Marilyn testified that Charles and Helen’s attorney prepared it. Based on the inartful drafting of the note, I find that it was not prepared by an attorney; rather, James probably created it.

14. The note evidences an obligation of $86,000. $27,500 was lent on the date of the note and more was lent later. Neither party kept careful records of the amount that was lent and some of the loan was treated as a rent credit. It appears that, by late June 2011, the total loans including rent credits were at least $86,000.

15. The note provides that:

Any and all assets of Universal Fence, LLC shall be held as collateral for the repayment of this note. Furthermore none of the assets of Universal Fence, LLC may be traded, sold, pledged or disposed of in any manner without the express written consent of [Charles and Helen].

The Benches never took any steps to perfect a security interest in Universal Fence, LLC’s property.

16. On May 27, 2011, Universal Fence, LLC was formally organized. Marilyn was its sole member. James was an employee, and was never a member, of Universal Fence, FTC.

17. In May or June 2011, Universal Fence bid on the “Actus Redhill Makai” job. The general contractor notified Universal Fence that it had submitted the low bid and James and Marilyn believed that Universal Fence would get the contract. James began to purchase material and build the fence panels for the project before the contract was awarded.

18. In or around July 2011, James and Marilyn asked the Benches for another loan. They said that the business was going well but they were having some temporary cash flow problems. They said they were working full time on the business and were not taking any money out of the business. (James drew a salary of $1,000 per week from Universal Fence. When James and Marilyn told Charles and Helen that they were “not taking any money out of the business,” they did not mean that James was not getting paid a modest amount for his efforts. Charles and Helen knew that James and Marilyn had no other source of income to support themselves and their children. They could not have believed that James and Marilyn were both working without any pay.) By this time, they had fallen behind in paying the rent on the house they were renting from Charles and Helen.

19. Charles and Helen agreed to make additional loans. Although the records are unclear, Charles and Helen apparently lent an additional $71,000 between July and September 2011. During part of this time, Marilyn was in Kansas caring for her mother; consequently, she did not know about all of the loans that James took during this period until after the fact.

20. In August or September 2011, James and Marilyn asked for another loan. They told the Benches that they had some extremely serious cash flow problems and needed cash immediately. They said that they had many contracts and could begin to repay the Benches if the Benches would help solve their cash crisis.

21. Charles and Helen agreed to lend an additional $10,000. Universal Fence [843]*843LLC signed a document entitled “Promis-sary [sic] Note” on September 22, 2011 in the amount of $46,000.3

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
530 B.R. 836, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bench-v-wood-in-re-wood-hib-2015.