BMO Harris Bank v. Hawes Trust Investments, LLC

492 S.W.3d 607, 2016 Mo. App. LEXIS 578, 2016 WL 3167382
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 7, 2016
DocketWD78539
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 492 S.W.3d 607 (BMO Harris Bank v. Hawes Trust Investments, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
BMO Harris Bank v. Hawes Trust Investments, LLC, 492 S.W.3d 607, 2016 Mo. App. LEXIS 578, 2016 WL 3167382 (Mo. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Cynthia L. Martin, Judge

Hawes Trust Investments, LLC (“Hawes Trust”) appeals the trial court’s judgment denying its motion to intervene *611 in proceedings registering and seeking to execute on a foreign judgment entered in Kansas in favor of BMO Harris Bank, N.A. (“Bank”) against William Dunn, III (“Dunn”) ■ and Edwin H. Hawes, III (“Hawes”).

Finding no error, we affirm.

Factual and Procedural Summary

Bank secured a joint and several judgment for breach of a promissory note against Dunn and Hawes 1 in the amount of $350,000 plus interest and attorney’s fees on August 1, 2012, in the District Court of Johnson County, Kansas, in Case No. 10CV03801'(“Kansas Judgment”). On December 13, 2012, Bank registered the Kansas Judgment in Clay County, Missouri, pursuant to Rule 74.14 (“Registered Judgment”). 2

The Kansas Judgment found that Dunn and Hawes signed a promissory note in favor of the Bank 3 on September 6, 2007, in the principal sum of $355,000 (“Individual Note”) [L.F. 9; ¶7]; that the original of the Individual Note had been lost [L.F. 9; ¶7]; that the Individual Noté was renewed on January 26, 2008, when Dunn and Hawes signed a new promissory note in the principal sum of $355,000 [L.F. 10-11; ‘ ¶ 11]; that the Individual Note was again renewed oh July 26, 2008, when Dunn and Hawes signed a new promissory note in the principal sum of $355,000 [L.F. 11; ¶ 12]; that the Individual Note was again renewed on January 26, 2009, when Dunn and Hawes signed a'new promissory note in the principal sum of $355,000 [L.F. ll — 12; ¶ 1'3]; that the Individual Note was again renewed oh April 25, 2009, when Dunn and Hawes signed a new promissory note in the principal sum of $355,000 [L.F. 12; ¶ 14]; that the Individual Note was again renewed on July 25, 2009, when Dunn and Hawes signed a new promissory note in the principal sum of $355,000 [L.F. 12; ¶ 15]; ■ that the Individual Note was again renewed on October 25, 2009, when Dunn and Hawes signed a new promissory note in the principal sum of $350,000 [L.F. 13; ¶16]; and that the original of each of the renewal promissory notes were in the Bank’s files. [L.F. 4-7 ¶¶ 11, 12, 13, 15, 16]

The Kansas Judgment found that Bank established each element 'of a claim for breach of the Individual Note 1 as last'renewed on October 25, 2009. [L.F. 25] The Kansas Judgment found that Dunn and Hawes “failed to prove any factual basis for their affirmative defenses of failure to state a claim, real party in interest, accord and s'átisfaction and assignment and purchase,” all of which were “based on [Dunn’s and Hawes’] contention that the [Individual Note as renewed] [was] sold or ássigned by [Bank].” [L.F. 25] The Kansas Judgment found that the Individual Note as renewed was not an accommodation note and that Dunn and Hawes were not accommodation parties. [L.F. 26] The Kansas Judgment rejected Dunn’s and Hawes’s counterclaim for declaratory relief and unjust enrichment which rested “on a presumption that the [Individual Note as renewed]'was sold tíy [Bank].” [L.F.'27] The Kansas Judgment' also rejected counterclaims for" fraud, breach of contract, invasion of privacy, and defamation. [L.F. 28-34]

The Kansas Judgment found that Bank was entitled to enforce the Individual Note *612 as renewed pursuant to K.S.A. 84-3-301, 84-3-308, and 84-3-309 because, summarized, Bank was the holder of the instruments, Dunn and Hawes admitted signing all of the instruments, and the lost Individual Note was not lost as a result of a transfer or sale. [L.F. 34-37] The Kansas Judgment found that Bank had sold several loans and mortgages to OKL 18, LLC, a Missouri Limited Liability company (“OKL”) in March 2009 and that the loan sale agreement and related documents make no mention of the Individual Note. [L.F. 21] The Kansas Judgment expressly found that Bank “did not sell, assign, or transfer the Individual Note to OKL or to any other entity or person.” [L.F. 21] However, the Kansas Judgment found that one of the mortgages sold by Bank to OKL had originally collateralized the Individual Note and that Bank had represented to OKL that “no debts secured by [said mortgage] had been reduced, released or otherwise severed from the lien that was transferred to OKL.” [L.F. 23] Because pursuant to K.S.A. 58-2323, the assignment of a mortgage carries with it the debt secured thereby, the Kansas Judgment found that the mortgage assigned to OKL that had served as collateral for the Individual Note carried with it the debt represented by the last renewal of the Individual Note. [L.F. 37] However, because the last renewal of the Individual Note was a .negotiable instrument subject to article 3 of the. Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”), the Kansas Judgment held that Bank was nonetheless entitled to enforce the last renewal of the Individual Note because Bank was the holder of the instrument pursuant to K.S.A. 84-3-301.

The Kansas Judgment was affirmed on appeal in an .unpublished opinion issued cin June 21, 2013. BMO Harris Bank, N.A. v. Dunn, et. al, 302 P.3d 1098 (Kan.App. 2013). In its unpublished opinion, the Kansas ■- Court of Appeals noted that Hawes and Dunn signed the April 2009 and October 2009 renewals of the Individual Note aware of the sale of loan documents and mortgages to OKL, and after having been told by Bank that Bank.had exercised its right to release the collateral for the Individual Note. Id. at *4. The Court noted that in December 2009, Hawes and his family members 4 (“EH Hawes Revocable Trust”) purchased from OKL the loans and mortgages that had been sold to it by Bank, including the mortgage that served as collateral for the Individual Note, and that, as a result, “Hawes believed that he was the owner of the Individual Note.” Id.

The Kansas Court of Appeals expressly held that: “Bank was entitled to enforce the Individual Note under K.S.A. 84-3-301, regardless of whether it had a beneficial interest in the underlying debt;” that “Hawes’ and Dunn’s argument that Bank lacked a beneficial interest in the underlying debt is simply not a defense as contemplated in K.S.A. 84-3-308(b) and K.S.A. 84-3-305;” and that “K.S.A. 58-2323 [does not] provide[] a defense to the enforcement of the Individual Note” because K.S.A. 58-2323 “does nothing to contradict the plain language of K.S.A.

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492 S.W.3d 607, 2016 Mo. App. LEXIS 578, 2016 WL 3167382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bmo-harris-bank-v-hawes-trust-investments-llc-moctapp-2016.