Clark v. Bank of Bentonville

824 S.W.2d 358, 308 Ark. 241, 1992 Ark. LEXIS 57
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedFebruary 3, 1992
Docket91-232
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 824 S.W.2d 358 (Clark v. Bank of Bentonville) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clark v. Bank of Bentonville, 824 S.W.2d 358, 308 Ark. 241, 1992 Ark. LEXIS 57 (Ark. 1992).

Opinion

Donald L. Corbin, Justice.

This case arises out of appellants Jack and Norma Clark’s conveyance of real property in Benton County, Arkansas, to appellant Gary Clark, trustee of the Jack M. Clark trust. The warranty deed conveying the property was executed on April 14,1986, and was filed for record on May 9, 1986. On January 7, 1987, appellee Bank of Bentonville, a creditor of Jack and Norma Clark, filed this action, along with lis pendens notice, to set aside the transfer as a fraudulent conveyance.

On August 10,1987, appellants Jack and Norma Clark filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, San Bernardino Division. The bankruptcy court entered an order on December 30, 1987, granting Jack and Norma Clark a discharge in bankruptcy. At the close of the bankruptcy case, the bank proceeded with its previously filed fraudulent conveyance action. The chancellor denied appellants’ motion to dismiss this action, and determined that the conveyance of April 14, 1986, was fraudulent. The chancellor ordered a sale of the property with the proceeds applied to appellants’ debt to the bank. On June 19, 1991, the property was sold and the proceeds paid to the appellee bank.

On appeal, appellants raise two arguments in urging us to reverse the chancellor. First, they argue that the chancellor erred in denying their motion to dismiss because either appellants’ discharge in bankruptcy or the doctrine of res judicata should have precluded the bank from proceeding with this action. Second, appellants argue that the chancellor erred in denying their motion for a directed verdict because the bank did not prove fraudulent intent by a preponderance of the evidence. We find no error on the part of the chancellor, and affirm his decision.

Appellants’ initial argument is that the chancellor erred in allowing the bank to proceed with its fraudulent conveyance action after appellants obtained a discharge from the bankruptcy court. Appellants rely on both the discharge provisions of the bankruptcy code and the doctrine of res judicata. The bank does not dispute the validity of appellants’ bankruptcy discharge, but argues that the bank’s pre-petition filing of this action created a lien on the property at issue which survived the discharge of appellants’ debt to tl^e bank.

Under Arkansas law, a general creditor who files an action to cancel a fraudulent conveyance of a debtor acquires a specific lien on the property conveyed. Boyd v. Arnold, 103 Ark. 105, 146 S.W. 118 (1912); Stix v. Chaytor, 55 Ark. 116, 17 S.W. 707 (1891). While the afore-cited cases involved liens on personal property, we extend the rule to include liens on real property when notice of lis pendens is filed. In this case, the bank created a specific lien on the property at issue when it filed its fraudulent conveyance action on January 7, 1987. 11 U.S.C. § 522(c)(2) (1979 &Supp. 1991), provides that liens which are not avoided in the bankruptcy proceeding will be preserved notwithstanding the discharge of the debtor. Long v. Bullard, 117 U.S. 617 (1886); In re Dickinson, 24 B.R. 547 (Bankr. S.D. Cal. 1982). Since a discharge in bankruptcy does not defeat a valid lien, the chancellor did not err in denying appellants’ motion to dismiss merely because appellants’ underlying debt to the bank was discharged in the bankruptcy proceeding.

Appellants also rely on the doctrine of res judicata in arguing that the bank should have either objected to appellants’ discharge, established its status as a secured creditor, or pursued its fraudulent conveyance action during the bankruptcy proceeding. 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(2) (1979) provides for objections to discharge based on a debtor’s fraudulent transfer of property. However, this section specifically requires that the alleged fraudulent conveyance occur within one year of the debtor’s bankruptcy filing. 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(2)(A). See also Collier on Bankruptcy, ¶ 727.02(2) (15thed. .1988). In this case, the alleged fraudulent conveyance occurred on April 14, 1986, a date approximately fourteen months prior to appellants’ bankruptcy petition filing. Therefore, under section 727(a)(2), the bank could not have asserted a valid objection to discharge during the bankruptcy proceeding.

Appellants do not cite any authority to support their arguments that the bank had the duty to establish its secured status or pursue its fraudulent conveyance action during the bankruptcy proceeding. While the record in the case does not contain the bankruptcy proceedings, neither party disputes the fact that the bank was listed as an unsecured creditor in the bankruptcy schedule. The bankruptcy court in In re Dickinson, supra, addressed a similar situation. In the Dickinson case, a group of doctors filed a state court action to enforce a lien created prior to the debtor patient’s bankruptcy filing. The doctors were listed as unsecured creditors on the schedule, and the debt was discharged in the bankruptcy proceeding. When the doctors brought a state court action to enforce their pre-petition lien, the debtor filed an action in the bankruptcy court requiring the doctors to show cause why they should not be cited for contempt for violating the permanent injunction against any attempt to collect on a preexisting debt. Ultimately, the court held that the Dickinson creditors were not in contempt because the debtor’s discharge did not affect their valid pre-petition lien. The bankruptcy court also refused to consider the propriety of avoiding the lien since the debtor failed to contest the claim during the bankruptcy proceeding. The court noted that the debtor’s attorney was aware of the existence of the liens and could have taken action to avoid the liens during the bankruptcy proceedings.

In this case, appellants do not allege that they had no notice of the bank’s pre-petition filing of the fraudulent conveyance action. They merely assert that the bank should have taken affirmative action to preserve its lien in the bankruptcy proceeding. Appellants cite no authority to support their argument, and we believe the reasoning in the Dickinson case, supra, indicates that appellants, rather than the bank, had the burden of contesting the lien. In fact, 11 U.S.C. § 506(d) (Supp. 1991) specifically provides:

To the extent that a lien secures a claim against the debtor that is not an allowed secured claim, such lien is void, unless —
(2) such claim is not an allowed secured claim due only to the failure of any entity tofile a proof ofsuch claim under Section 501 of this title. [Emphasis supplied.]

See also In re Weathers, 15 B.R. 945 (Bankr. D. Kan. 1981).

Appellants further argue that res judicata should bar the bank’s fraudulent conveyance action because the claim was not pursued in the bankruptcy proceeding. However, the bankruptcy code does not give a creditor the power to pursue a cause of action to set aside a fraudulent conveyance. Nebraska State Bank v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

National Bank of Arkansas v. River Crossing Partners, LLC
2011 Ark. 475 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2011)
ASARCO LLC v. Americas Mining Corp.
396 B.R. 278 (S.D. Texas, 2008)
Dwyer v. Meramec Venture Associates, L.L.C.
75 S.W.3d 291 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2002)
Dobieco, Inc. v. Brown (In Re Brown)
265 B.R. 167 (E.D. Arkansas, 2001)
Haney v. Phillips
35 S.W.3d 373 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2000)
National Union Fire Ins. Co. v. Grusky
763 So. 2d 1206 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2000)
In Re Inmon
208 B.R. 455 (E.D. Arkansas, 1996)
Roberts v. Feltman
932 S.W.2d 781 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1996)
Federal Deposit Insurance v. Proia
663 A.2d 1252 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1995)
United States v. Bryant
15 F.3d 756 (Eighth Circuit, 1994)
Southeast Arkansas Landfill, Inc. v. State
858 S.W.2d 665 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1993)
Roe v. Dietrich
835 S.W.2d 289 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
824 S.W.2d 358, 308 Ark. 241, 1992 Ark. LEXIS 57, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-bank-of-bentonville-ark-1992.