City of Prichard v. First Alabama Bank

646 So. 2d 552, 1994 Ala. LEXIS 298, 1994 WL 421815
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedMay 13, 1994
Docket1921614
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 646 So. 2d 552 (City of Prichard v. First Alabama Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Prichard v. First Alabama Bank, 646 So. 2d 552, 1994 Ala. LEXIS 298, 1994 WL 421815 (Ala. 1994).

Opinions

ALMON, Justice.

The defendant, the City of Prichard, Alabama, appeals from a $489,278 summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff First Alabama Bank, as trustee. As trustee for holders of certain revenue bonds issued by the Prichard Public Building Authority (“Authority”), First Alabama Bank brought this action, alleging that the City of Prichard was liable for unpaid rent due in 1991 and 1992 and other expenses, totalling $489,278, under a lease between the City of Prichard and the Authority, in which rent was pledged by the Authority to First Alabama Bank to make payments of principal and interest on $2,935,-000 in bonded indebtedness. This is a lease or contract construction case, involving a dispute between the City of Prichard and First Alabama Bank over whether the City of Prichard was obligated to make annual rental payments on September 1, 1991, and September 1, 1992, under the terms of the lease between the City of Prichard and the Authority and the terms of the resolution authorizing the bond issue.

To finance the construction of the Prichard Municipal Complex, the Authority adopted two resolutions — one on May 23, 1973, and another on June 5,1973 (hereinafter together called “the resolution”)1 — which authorized the issuance of $2,925,000 in revenue bonds to build and equip the Prichard Municipal Complex. The resolution provided that Merchants National Bank of Mobile, the predecessor of First Alabama Bank, would be the trustee for the bondholders. Under § 11 of the resolution, the Authority assigned to First Alabama Bank all revenues derived from the Municipal Complex, including all money received as rent under the lease between the City of Prichard and the Authority:

“The Authority hereby pledges and unconditionally assigns to the Trustee, all rents and revenues derived from the project, including all monies received under the lease agreement, to the extent necessary for such purpose, for payment at their respective maturities of the principal of and interest on the bonds....”

Relevant to the issues in this appeal are various trust fund accounts established by the resolution. Section 10 of the resolution provides that the trustee establish “The Public Building Authority of the City of Prichard Revenue Fund” (“revenue fund”). Into the revenue fund, the trustee is to deposit all “receipts and income from the leasing of the project and all other revenues” derived from the Prichard Municipal Complex. The trustee is further directed that this income and other revenue “paid into the revenue fund” “shall be set aside and used solely for the’ following purposes in the following order.” The resolution sets up four subaccounts: the “current principal and interest account” (“current account”), the “sinking fund account,” the “operation and maintenance account,” and the “reserve account.” Most relevant here are the “current account,” the “sinking fund account,” and the “reserve account.”

Under § 10(a) of the resolution, after construction of the Municipal Complex the trust[554]*554ee is to allocate to the current account from the revenue fund an amount of money that, when added to the amount already on deposit, will provide an amount sufficient to pay the principal and interest due on the bonds in the succeeding fiscal year.

Under § 10(b) of the resolution, money from the revenue fund is to be allocated to the sinking fund each fiscal year for the purpose of redeeming the bonds maturing on October 1, 2008. Section 10(b) sets forth the specific amount to be allocated to the sinking fund on October 1 of each fiscal year, e.g., $90,000 in 1991 and $100,000 in 1992.

Section 10(c) sets up the operation and maintenance account, which pays insurance premiums, janitorial service, and the trustee’s compensation.

Section 10(d) of the resolution provides that for purposes of its initial funding, excess money from other subaccounts and money from the revenue fund and other sources is to be paid into the reserve fund to the extent required to maintain a balance of $225,000. Thereafter, if the amount on deposit in the reserve fund falls below $225,000, money from the revenue fund is to be deposited in the reserve account in an amount equal to ⅛ of the deficit for a period of three years until the deficit is eliminated. Section 10(d) also specifies the authorized uses of funds from the reserve account. Section 10(d) provides, in pertinent part:

“There is hereby created within the revenue fund a special account the full name of which shall be the ‘reserve account’. There shall be paid into the reserve account all income from the investment and re-investment of the moneys in the construction fund, and the amount, if any, remaining in the capitalized interest subac-count, as provided in subsection (a) of this Section 10. In addition thereto and to the extent required to make the amount on deposit therein equal to $225,000, there shall also be paid into the reserve account all moneys derived from the sale of the Bonds which may remain unexpended in the construction fund created in Section 9 hereof after completion of construction and equipment of the project and payment of all costs in connection therewith. Thereafter, if the amount on deposit in the reserve account is less than $225,000, the Trustee shall, from the moneys in the revenue fund, deposit in the reserve account one-third (⅜) of such deficit in each of the next three succeeding fiscal years. No further deposits into the reserve account need be made from the revenue fund when there has been deposited therein and so long as there shall remain therein an amount equal to $225,000. The moneys in the reserve account shall be used only to pay at or after their respective maturities and due dates any principal or interest maturing or becoming due with respect to the Bonds during any fiscal year in which the current revenues from the project shall be insufficient to pay such principal and interest and shall be so used only when necessary to prevent or to make good a default in the payment of such principal and interest. Whenever moneys on deposit in the reserve account shall be in excess of the sum of $225,000, moneys in the reserve account to the extent of such excess may, at the option of the Authority, be used for the purchase or redemption of Bonds. The Trustee shall invest any moneys on deposit in the reserve account which the Authority shall determine will not be needed during the then ensuing six calendar months to prevent a default in the payment of the principal of and the interest on the Bonds- In the event of any such investment, the securities in which such investment shall be made, together with all income therefrom, shall become a part of the reserve account. The Trustee shall cause such securities to be sold or otherwise converted into cash whenever it may be necessary to provide cash for a purpose for which moneys in the reserve account are herein permitted to be used.”

The lease between the City of Prichard and the Authority provides for annual terms. Each annual term begins October 1, and full payment of rent for the year is due on September 1. The lease is to expire when all the principal and interest due under the revenue bonds is paid. With regard to the amount of rent due annually, § 4 of the lease provides:

[555]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
646 So. 2d 552, 1994 Ala. LEXIS 298, 1994 WL 421815, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-prichard-v-first-alabama-bank-ala-1994.