Boston Securities, Inc. v. United Bonding Insurance

309 F. Supp. 1270, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12874
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedFebruary 11, 1970
DocketNo. 67 C 316(2)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 309 F. Supp. 1270 (Boston Securities, Inc. v. United Bonding Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boston Securities, Inc. v. United Bonding Insurance, 309 F. Supp. 1270, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12874 (E.D. Mo. 1970).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

MEREDITH, District Judge.

This case was tried to the Court without a jury. It is a suit on fidelity bond [1271]*1271issued by United Bonding Insurance Company to Boston Securities, Inc., to cover any losses of Boston Securities sustained through the fraud or dishonesty of its employees. United Bonding has joined Bruce L. Yates, the allegedly dishonest employee, as a third-party defendant. Boston Securities, the plaintiff, is a Missouri corporation, with its principal place of business in St. Louis, Missouri, and the defendant and third-party plaintiff, United Bonding, is incorporated under the laws of Indiana, with its principal place of business in that state. Bruce L. Yates is a citizen of Missouri. The Court has jurisdiction by virtue of diversity of citizenship and an amount in controversy in excess of $10,000.00.

Boston Securities’ complaint alleges that Bruce L. Yates engaged in dealings and activities that were dishonest within the meaning of ,the bond and that it suffered losses by reason of these dealings and activities. Yates was employed by Boston Securities in June of 1964, He was made manager of Boston Securities’ Delmar Office in mid-summer of 1964. Yates was an experienced small-loan business operator and worked closely with the owner, Mr. Perlmutter, and the special consultant, Mr. William Roy all. Yates was discharged on September 13, 1966.

United Bonding executed the bond in favor of Boston Securities in the amount, of $50,000.00, the coverage beginning October 1, 1965. The bond provided, in part:

“THE LOSSES COVERED BY THIS BOND ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Fidelity Insuring Clause
(A) Any loss of money or other property, including Property as defined herein, belonging to the Insured, or in which the Insured has a pecuniary interest, or for which the Insured is legally liable, or held by the Insured in any capacity whether the Insured is legally liable therefor or not, through any dishonest or fraudulent act, wherever committed, of any of the Employees, whether acting alone or in collusion with others.”

The first issue in the case is whether the activities of Yates were dishonest or fraudulent within the meaning of the policy. Fidelity bonds indemnifying employers against dishonest acts of their employees are to be construed broadly, however, negligence, no matter how great, is not dishonesty, Citizens’ Acceptance Corp. v. New Amsterdam Cas. Co., 32 F.R.D. 600 (D.Del.1963). In this context a person can be dishonest and have his actions fall short of being criminal, the appeal being to the mores instead of statutes and legal words of art. World Exchange Bank v. Commercial Cas. Ins. Co., 255 N.Y. 1, 173 N.E. 902 (1930). Some type of intent to cause harm or receive personal profit is probably necessary. Universal Credit Co. v. United States Guarantee Co., 321 Pa. 209, 183 A. 806 (1936). However, there is authority that the level of intent does not have to reach that high. Mortgage Corp. of New Jersey v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 19 N.J. 30, 115 A.2d 43 (1955).

“The word ‘dishonesty’ is to be given a broad significance and includes any acts done in breach of the officer’s duty ,to the bank and any wilful omissions to discharge the duties of his office. It does not embrace mere carelessness or negligence in the discharge of duty, but does include any acts done in violation of the officer’s obligation to faithfully perform the duties of his office, whether such acts be criminal or not.” Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland v. Bates, 76 F.2d 160, 171 (8th Cir. 1935).

After reviewing the evidence in the case and applying the above-stated principals, it is the opinion of the Court that Yates was dishonest. There are several activities of Yates that, when studied alone, would indicate dishonesty. When these activities are considered together, they indicate an intentional [1272]*1272course of action to profit personally and to disregard the interests of his employer.

Yates’ dealings with August Sansone are the first in the series of suspect transactions. Sansone was an employee of Boston Securities who did collection work, skip tracing, and repossessing. Sansone used several aliases in his work. (Yates testified that Sansone wanted to use an alias; Sansone testified that he did it at Yates’ request.) He was paid a flat fee or by the hour, but was never on straight salary. Yates made Sansone’s pay checks in either Sansone’s real name or one of his aliases. Yates would then endorse the payee’s name on the check and cash it. He later paid Sansone in cash. Sansone testified that his tax returns and records had been stolen and that he did not remember how much Boston Securities paid him. Yates also allowed Sansone to collect moneys without using a receipt book, a practice he had been told not to allow.

Yates received finder’s fees from certain dealers. In 1966 he reported $3,200 in such fees on his federal income tax return. His 1964 and 1965 tax returns were not available, because, according to Yates, they were being checked by the Internal Revenue Service. Yates testified that the finder’s fees occurred only when he felt Boston Securities should not make the loan. If a customer or a good risk came into the office and wanted a loan and had to be referred to a place where he could purchase the merchandise he desired, Yates would refer him and make the loan. He claims he received no kickback on these loans. However, if the risk looked bad and he felt Boston Securities should not make the loan, then he would refer the purchaser to a favored dealer. If the dealer made a sale and disposed of the paper elsewhere, then Yates would receive a finder’s fee. William Royall, a special consultant on the small loan business to Boston Securities, testified that finder’s fees were not commonly used in .the small loan business and that most companies forbade receipt of them. If Yates received a fee only where Boston Securities did not make a loan, then he may have disregarded the best interests of his employer. However, if Yates received a fee where Boston Securities made the loan, then his actions were clearly dishonest.

It is the opinion of the Court that there was a connection between the kickbacks or finder’s fees and loans made to customers of certain dealers. The testimony and exhibits show that Yates recopied loan information from the original loan application. The information on these original applications was received in Boston Securities’ office by telephone from credit services or employers. It was recorded on the cards by someone other than Yates. It is not customary for anyone, much less the manager, to recopy the information on another card. In many instances the information copied by Yates varied from the information received from the credit services and recorded originally. In nearly all of these cases, the information recorded by Yates made the applicant appear to be a better credit risk than the original information. Most of these loans were made to customers of one of several dealers — Michael Motors, Mid-County Motors, or Towne House or Don Deal Furniture — who dealt with Boston Securities exclusively through Yates. A high percentage of .the loans with altered applications made to customers of these dealers eventually went bad and Boston Securities sustained a loss.

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Bluebook (online)
309 F. Supp. 1270, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12874, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boston-securities-inc-v-united-bonding-insurance-moed-1970.