Bishop v. J. E. Crofts & Sons

545 P.2d 520, 1976 Utah LEXIS 742
Utah Supreme Court·Decided January 26, 1976·No. No. 13957·Published

Opinions

MAUGHAN, Justice:

J. E. Crofts & Sons, hereafter Crofts, appeals from a summary judgment, which made distribution of a trust account to Crofts and Kaibab Industries, hereafter Kaibab. The award to each party was the amount refunded to the fund by the insur-anee company, which was based on the amount of premiums paid by each party. This was done under the theory of a constructive trust. We affirm.

Plaintiffs are the trustees under an agreement and declaration of trust established by the Utah Automobile Dealers Association, hereinafter referred to as the U. A.D.A. It is a nonprofit trade association, for the purpose of providing group insurance for employees of members of the U. A.D.A. Plaintiffs filed an action in inter-pleader, alleging that they are holding a sum of money under the terms and conditions of the trust in a certain account designated “J. E. Crofts & Sons.” They alleged that both Kaibab and Crofts assert adverse claims, to all or part of the sum. Plaintiffs tendered the sum to the court, praying that defendants be required to in-terplead, and that plaintiffs be discharged from all liability to either defendant.

Crofts, a corporation, answered, asserting that it alone was the rightful recipient under the terms of the Trust agreement. Kaibab, a corporation, in its answer, demanded an accounting and alleged that it had made total premium payments of $89,729.27 into the J. E. Crofts & Sons account from May 1, 1965, to April 30, 1969. Kaibab pleaded that it had made payments of $22,074.60 directly to plaintiffs and payments of $67,654.67 to J. E. Crofts & Sons, for the purpose of delivery and payment to the plaintiffs, in behalf of Kaibab. Kaibab asked the court to declare Crofts a constructive Trustee to deliver to Kaibab its proportionate share of the fund.

After completing discovery, both defendants moved for summary judgment. The trial court granted summary judgment, awarding Kaibab 92.2% of the fund ($9,289.66) and Crofts 7.8% ($785.89). In a memorandum decision, the trial court found that the fund was the product of refunds and dividends from the payment of insurance premiums by the defendants. It noted that the premium payments were “loaded” to a certain extent for the protection of the insurance carrier, and that the [522]*522actual cost of the insurance provided for defendants’ employees would be determined subsequently on the basis of the experience of the carrier, after which the appropriate dividends or refunds would be made. The court observed there was no dispute as to the amounts each of defendants had paid as premiums, during the time the fund was created; that J. E. Crofts & Sons was a member of U.A.D.A.; and that Kaibab was not during the period involved. The court adopted the theory of a constructive trust, and thereunder awarded each defendant its proportionate share ■ of the fund.

Crofts argues that under the express provisions of the trust agreement, it is entitled to the entire fund, and cites the following provisions of the trust, contending this action is conclusively determined thereby:

Article I, Section 1. The term “Subscribers” as used herein shall mean those employers engaged in the automobile industry who are members of the Utah Automobile Dealers Association and who from time to time participate in and subscribe to this Agreement .
Article I, Section 2. The term “Employees” as used herein shall mean employees of Subscribers and shall be deemed to include the individual proprietors or partners whenever a Subscriber is a proprietorship or a partnership.
Article IV, Section 2. All funds received by the trustees hereunder as part of the trust fund shall be used and applied for the following purposes:
(e) To make refunds at such time and in such manner as may be deemed by the trustees to be proper to Subscribers who are such or the date of which refunds are to be made.
Article IV, Section 5. No employee of a Subscriber or any person claiming by or through any such employee shall have any right, title or interest in or to the Fund or any part thereof; .

Appellant argues that it is a subscriber, as defined in the agreement; that it exclusively may receive the refunds set forth in Article IV, Section 2(e).

The fund held by plaintiffs has two sources, although it was designed as one account; viz. “J. E. Crofts & Sons.” Part of the fund ($785.89) was a refund on premiums paid for group insurance for the employees of Crofts, a member of U.A.D. A. The remainder of the fund ($9,289.66) was a refund on the premiums for group insurance for the employees of Kaibab. The instant dispute involves the adverse claims to this latter amount.

The employees of Kaibab are involved in operating a sawmill and connected logging operations. Originally, the sawmill was owned by two partnerships, J. E. Crofts & Sons 1 and Pearson and Crofts; each was a member of U.A.D.A. The partnerships procured group insurance for the employees of. the sawmill under the trust agreement, the account was designated “Pearson & Crofts,” until December 1, 1964; at this time the designation of the account was changed to “Pearson # 2.” In March, 1967, the name by which the account was designated was changed to “J. E. Crofts & Sons.”

The individual members of the partnerships incorporated the operations of the sawmill on December 30, 1963. The name of the corporation was Crofts-Pearson Industries, which is the predecessor to defendant Kaibab. The shareholders of this new corporation were the individual partners, who under the trust agreement, Article 1, Section 2, are deemed employees. The new corporation, as a separate legal entity, did not qualify as a subscriber under the terms of the trust, since it was neither engaged in the automobile industry nor a member of U.A.D.A. Nevertheless, a group insurance for the- employees of this corporation was included in a subscrib[523]*523er’s account. In December, 1964, the sawmill was assigned a separate account, Pearson # 2.

In July, 1965, the individual shareholders, who had been the partners in Pearson and Crofts, sold their corporate holdings in Crofts-Pearson Industries. At this time Pearson and Crofts received as a settlement, its share of the equity and reserve account held by the trustees. In August, 1965, the name of the corporation was changed to Kaibab-Crofts Industries. The corporation continued to procure its group insurance through the trust agreement, and in March, 1967, the account was designated “J. E. Crofts & Sons.” Subsequently, the original shareholders sold their interest in the corporation, and its name was changed to Kaibab Industries in October, 1968. During 1965, Kaibab made five payments directly to U.A.D.A. Thereafter the corporation paid its premiums to J. E.

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Bishop v. J. E. Crofts & Sons, 545 P.2d 520, 1976 Utah LEXIS 742 (Utah 1976).

545 P.2d 520 (Bishop v. J. E. Crofts & Sons) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.