Brown v. Link (In re Link)

538 B.R. 783
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedSeptember 25, 2015
DocketCase No. 14-46466-705; Adversary No. 15-4033-659
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 538 B.R. 783 (Brown v. Link (In re Link)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy 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
Brown v. Link (In re Link), 538 B.R. 783 (Mo. 2015).

Opinion

[786]*786 FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

KATHY A. SURRATT-STATES, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge

The matter before the Court is the Complaint to Determine Dischargeability of Debt and Answer to Complaint. A hearing was held on June 28, 2015, at which Plaintiffs Larry Brown and Lisa Brown appeared in person and by counsel. Debt- or/Defendant Tara Nicole Link and Defendant Caroline N. Labrayere also appeared in person and by counsel. Testimony and argument were presented, evidence was admitted, and the matter was taken under submission. Upon a consideration of the record as a whole, the Court rules as follows.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Caroline N. Labrayere (hereinafter “Ms. Labrayere”) operated an unincorporated family restaurant business called The White Grill (hereinafter “Restaurant”) for approximately 17 years with her ex-husband Michael Labrayere. Upon encountering some financial difficulty in 2012, Ms. Labrayere decided to sell the Restaurant. At that time, she was contemplating filing bankruptcy. Ultimately, Ms. Labrayere decided to sell the Restaurant to her daughter, Debtor/Defendant Tara Nicole Link (hereinafter “Ms. Link”) for a sufficient amount to satisfy at least Ms. La-brayere’s immediate financial needs which were to pay the Restaurant’s sales taxes due to the Missouri Department of Revenue in the amount of $2,038.66 and to pay Ms. Labrayere’s impending bankruptcy attorney fees in the amount of $957.00. Ms. Link did not have any funds to pay Ms. Labrayere, but sought the financial assistance of Plaintiff Lisa Brown (hereinafter Ms. Brown). At that time, Ms. Brown and Ms. Labrayere enjoyed a long-standing friendship; Ms. Brown is the godmother of Ms. Link.

Ms. Brown had $10,000.00 invested in bonds at Edward Jones, which yielded annual interest of 6.6%. Following consultation with her husband, Plaintiff Larry Brown (hereinafter “Mr. Brown”), Ms. Brown decided to liquidate these bonds and'loan the proceeds to Ms. Link, which Ms. Link would in turn use to pay her mother, Ms. Labrayere, for the Restaurant. Because of a delay between the date of Ms. Brown’s attempt to liquidate the bonds and when she would obtain the proceeds, Ms. Brown contacted her aunt, Carol Cook (hereinafter “Ms. Cook”) to borrow $10,000.00, to be repaid by Ms. Brown upon receipt of the proceeds from Edward Jones. Ms. Brown received the $10,000.00 loan from Ms. Cook in the form of a cashiers check.

On September 20, 2012, Ms. Brown, Ms. Labrayere and Ms. Link proceeded to a local PNC Bank and learned that there would be a hold placed on the deposit of the cashiers check received from Ms. Cook. Ms. Brown contacted Ms. Cook and obtained confirmation that there would not be a hold placed on the cashiers check she provided if it were cashed at the bank where the cashiers check was drawn, First Midwest Bank, which is located in Piedmont, Missouri. Ms. Cook also confirmed that there would not be a charge if the proceeds of the cashiers check were used to create other cashiers checks.

Ms. Brown, Ms. Labrayere and Ms. Link then drove to the First Midwest Bank location in Piedmont, Missouri. Ms. Brown presented the cashiers check given to her by Ms. Cook, and in return, at Ms. Brown’s request, Ms. Brown was provided with: (1) a cashiers check made payable to the Missouri Department of Revenue in the amount of $2,038.66, Remitter: Carol [787]*787Labrayere (hereinafter “Labrayere Cashiers Cheek”); (2) a cashiers check made payable to the Missouri Department of Revenue in the amount of $1,200.00, Re-mitter: Tara Link (hereinafter “Link Cashiers Check”); and (3) cash in the amount of $6,761.34 (hereinafter “Cash”). Upon receipt, or shortly thereafter, Ms. Brown loaned Ms. Link $10,000.00 through delivery by Ms. Brown to Ms. Link of: the Labrayere Cashiers Check, the Link Cashiers Check and the Cash (hereinafter collectively the “Loan”); delivery was witnessed by Ms. Cook outside of First Midwest Bank. Ms. Link then delivered at least the Labrayere Cashiers Check to Ms. Labrayere. There is no dispute that Ms. Labrayere and Ms. Link expressed an intent, to both Ms. Brown and Ms. Cook, to ensure that Ms. Brown was repaid for the Loan. Ms. Brown, repaid Ms. Cook for the $10,000.00 loan used to obtain the Labray-ere Cashers Check, the Link Cashiers Check and the Cash.

Ms. Brown, Ms. Labrayere and Ms. Link immediately proceeded to the Missouri Department of Revenue where Ms. Labrayere tendered the Labrayere Cashiers Check to pay sales taxes due for the Restaurant. Ms. Labrayere testified that the amount due for the Restaurant’s sales taxes were determined at the end of the month and for this reason, she knew exactly how much she needed to pay the Missouri Department of Revenue. Ms. Link then tendered the Link Cashiers Check to pay the required bond for prospective sales taxes, which was required for Ms. Link to take-over and purchase the Restaurant.

On September 25, 2012, Ms. Labrayere filed a Voluntary Petition under Chapter 71 of the Bankruptcy Code.2 Ms. Brown' was aware of Ms. Labrayere’s intention to seek bankruptcy protection at the time she made the Loan to Ms. Link. Ms. Brown did not consult an attorney about the implications of Ms. Labrayere’s bankruptcy filing, if any, on the Loan to Ms. Link, or repayment thereof.3 Ms. Brown did not receive notice from the Bankruptcy Court of Ms. Labrayere’s bankruptcy filing, nor was she listed as a creditor in Ms. Labray-ere’s schedules.

At least $957.00 of the Cash was paid by Ms. Link to Ms. Labrayere, which Ms. Labrayere in turn used to pay her bankruptcy 'attorney fees. The use of the remaining Cash is unclear.

Operation of the Restaurant by Ms. La-brayere continued, even after the sale to Ms. Link. Notable changes however were that insurance was purchased, for which the loss-payees were Ms. Brown and Ms. Link. Ms. Brown was granted access to a Restaurant bank account, through which the trash, electricity, gas and phone bills (hereinafter collectively “Utilities”) were paid. At the time of the change of ownership from Ms. Labrayere to Ms. Link, for reasons that are either unclear or irrelevant, the Utilities were placed in the name of Ms. Brown. It became the ordinary course of business for Ms. Link to provide Ms. Brown with the cash equivalent of the monthly bills for the Utilities, Ms. Brown would deposit the cash into the Restaurant bank account she had access to, and Ms. Brown would pay the corresponding bills. Also at some point, Ms. Brown and Ms. [788]*788T .ink agreed to pay the Restaurant’s rent through that same bank account. Further, at some point, Ms. Brown and Mr. Brown purchased a coffee pot, a freezer and a cold table for the restaurant.

Ultimately the relationship between Ms. Brown, Ms. Labrayere and Ms. Link soured. Ms. Brown was informally banned by Ms. Labrayere and Ms. Link from returning to the Restaurant. Ms. Brown and Mr. Brown filed suit against Ms. Link only, in the Associate Circuit Court for Jefferson County, Missouri for repayment of the Loan. After a bench trial, on June 25, 2014, judgment was entered in that lawsuit in favor of Ms. Brown and Mr. Brown, and against Ms. Link, in the amount $10,000.00 for the Loan, less the value of property received by Ms. Brown and Mr. Brown, less costs incurred by Ms. Link to repair damage caused by the unauthorized entry of Ms. Brown on the premises of the Restaurant, less funds withdrawn by Ms. Brown from the Restaurant bank account without sufficient justification or authorization, and less damage caused by Ms.

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Bluebook (online)
538 B.R. 783, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-link-in-re-link-moeb-2015.