Citizens State Bank of Hayfield v. Leth

450 N.W.2d 923, 1990 Minn. App. LEXIS 104, 1990 WL 3412
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 23, 1990
DocketC0-89-1435
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 450 N.W.2d 923 (Citizens State Bank of Hayfield v. Leth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Citizens State Bank of Hayfield v. Leth, 450 N.W.2d 923, 1990 Minn. App. LEXIS 104, 1990 WL 3412 (Mich. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

OPINION

PARKER, Judge.

Erling Leth, a debtor of respondent Citizens Bank of Hayfield, appeals a trial court judgment voiding, as violative of the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (UFTA), a transfer of his land to a family trust, thus causing the land to revert to Leth subject to a prior lien in favor of the bank. We affirm.

FACTS

In 1981 Erling Leth and two others started an alcohol conversion business called Zumbro Valley Alcohol and Feed Co., Inc. (Zumbro). Citizens Bank of Hayfield (bank) made loans to them of $450,000 and $100,000 in December 1981 and 1983 respectively, which were 90 percent guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The bank obtained personal guarantees from Leth for $250,000 of these loans. He put up 80 acres of farmland as collateral for the $450,000 loan.

In 1981 Leth submitted to the bank a signed financial statement which put a value of $270,000 on the total 270 acres of land listed therein. This acreage includes the 80 acres given as collateral, his 80-acre homestead and the 110-acre tract which is the focus of this suit. In 1983 he also signed a personal guarantee on an additional $25,000 loaned from the bank to Zumbro. A bank officer informed Leth when he signed for the loans that he could be held personally liable on his guarantees. The latter loan was not guaranteed by the SBA and was due on January 6, 1984. The 1983 loans were taken out due to the precarious financial situation of Zumbro, which was never stable or secure.

By early 1984 the bank considered Zumb-ro to be insolvent and repeatedly met with the Zumbro principals, including Leth, to try to salvage the situation through bringing in new owners. In May 1984 the bank called in the SBA loan guarantees, which resulted in the SBA taking them over.

In May 1984 an estate planner, Romeo Cyr, suggested a plan transferring the 110-acre tract from Erling Leth to his son, Donald Leth, on a contract for deed. In this written plan, one of two “areas of concern” raised was “b. Involvement of Erling in the Alcohol Plant — again resulting in added risk to the Leth farm.”

On May 25, 1984, Leth, pursuant to a $2,000 personal loan from the bank, submitted a financial statement with his 270 acres valued at $485,000. This financial statement also referred to Leth’s guarantee of the Zumbro loans. Five days after signing this financial statement, Leth transferred the 110 acres to a family trust, which in turn sold the land to Donald by contract for deed. The price was listed as $100,000, but the $20,000 downpayment was given to Donald by Leth and his wife, Catherine. The trust is revocable by Er-ling Leth, a beneficiary, and Catherine Leth, who is both a beneficiary and the trustee. The contract for deed provides for regular payments to the trust; any payments from it are discretionary with the trustee. The family trust was drafted by attorney Robert Ward working with Romeo Cyr and based on Cyr’s proposal.

In August or September 1984 the bank asked Leth to perform on his personal guarantee of the $25,000 loan due the previous January. One year later, in August 1985, Leth executed two promissory notes for the $25,000 loan and $2,440 in interest. The bank obtained judgment on the notes in December 1986, but has yet to collect anything.

In the period between March and September 1984, Leth paid funds into Donald’s checking account from his own checking account, for the purpose of avoiding an attachment by the IRS due to unpaid taxes by Zumbro. Leth then used the funds in *925 Donald’s account to pay off $5,000 of Zumbro bills.

In 1986 Leth filed another financial statement with the bank. He did not list any income from the trust therein, though Donald testified that he was current in his payments on the contract.

In May 1988 the bank filed a complaint asking the trial court to void the transfer of the 110 acres to the trust and to order the sale of the land, applying the proceeds to the amount adjudged due the bank from Leth. On May 31, 1989, the trial court declared the transfer void as violative of Minn.Stat. § 513.44 and thus subject to all liens incurred prior to the May 1984 transfer.

ISSUES

1. Did the trial court err in determining that the transfer violated Minn.Stat. § 513.44, subd. (a)(2)(i), finding that Leth did not receive a reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the land and that he was then engaged in a business (Zumbro) for which his remaining assets were too small in relation thereto?

2. Did the trial court err in finding a violation of Minn.Stat. § 513.44, subd. (a)(2)(h), in concluding that Leth also believed or should have believed that he would, after the land transfer, incur debts beyond his ability to pay as they came due?

3. Did the trial court err in finding a violation of Minn.Stat. § 513.44(a)(1), by concluding that Leth made the transfer to the trust with actual intent to hinder or defraud any of his creditors?

DISCUSSION

On appeal from a judgment, this court’s scope of review is limited to deciding whether the trial court’s findings are clearly erroneous and whether it erred in its legal conclusions. Gruenhagen v. Larson, 310 Minn. 454, 458, 246 N.W.2d 565, 569 (1976); Hardwick v. Hansen, 374 N.W.2d 297, 299 (Minn.Ct.App.1985). When the trial court’s findings are reasonably supported by the evidence, they are not clearly erroneous and must be affirmed. Hilton v. Nelsen, 283 N.W.2d 877, 881 (Minn.1979); see also Minn.R.Civ.P. 52.-01.

I

According to Minn.Stat. § 513.44(a)(2)(i) (1988), a transfer made by a debtor is fraudulent as to a creditor if

the debtor made the transfer
⅝ ⅜! •}: sjs s¡c sfc
(2) without receiving a reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the transfer * * * and the debtor:
(i) was engaged or was about to be ' engaged in business * * * for which the remaining assets of the debtor were unreasonably small in relation to the business * * *.

Leth asserts that the $100,000 price (or only $80,000 disregarding the gifted down-payment) he received was a reasonable amount for the land. Leth also asserts that the 1984 financial statement’s valuation of $485,000 for the 270 acres, or $200,-000 for the 110 acres, is wrong. He testified that he did not supply that value or write it in. Assuming this to be true, the fact remains that he signed the financial statement personally and filed it only five days before the transfer was made. He is therefore bound by the $485,000 valuation as the figure to be used to compare the value received in exchange for the transfer.

There was no substantially contemporaneous exchange of value as required by Minn.Stat. § 513.43(c). The downpayment was a nullity, since it was given by Erling and Catherine to Donald. Further, there was no written evidence of any payments by Donald to the trust although he testified he made them.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
450 N.W.2d 923, 1990 Minn. App. LEXIS 104, 1990 WL 3412, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/citizens-state-bank-of-hayfield-v-leth-minnctapp-1990.