Continental East Fund v. Crockett CA4/1

California Court of Appeal·Decided June 21, 2016·No. D069652·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 6/21/16 Continental East Fund v. Crockett CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

CONTINENTAL EAST FUND IV, LLC, D069652 Plaintiff and Respondent, v. (Super. Ct. No. RIC527384)

DONALD RAY CROCKETT,

Defendant and Respondent,

BANK OF AMERICA, N.A. et al., Interveners and Appellants.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Riverside County, Sunshine S.

Sykes, Judge. Reversed and vacated with directions.

McGuire Woods, Leslie M. Werlin, and Blake S. Olson for Interveners and Appellants.

Floratos, Loll & Devine, William A. Floratos, and John M. Devine for Plaintiff and Respondent.

No appearance for Defendant and Respondent.

Plaintiff Continental East Fund IV, LLC (Continental) obtained a judgment against defendant Donald Ray Crockett and a codefendant in the amount of $4,157,480.90. In proceedings to enforce the judgment, the trial court issued a "turnover order" requiring Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner, and Smith, Inc. (Merrill Lynch) to transfer to Continental's counsel all of the funds (approximately $3,900,000) held in a Merrill Lynch account that the court found Crockett owned. Bank of America, N.A. (Bank of America) claims it holds a perfected first priority security interest in approximately $3,087,000 of the funds in the account under a loan agreement.

Bank of America and Merrill Lynch (collectively appellants) appeal the turnover order, contending (1) the turnover order is appealable; (2) they both have standing to appeal the turnover order; (3) Bank of America was not provided adequate due process before it was deprived of its security interest in the subject account; (4) the trial court exceeded its jurisdiction under California's Enforcement of Judgments Law (Code Civ. Proc., § 680.010 et seq.1) (EJL) by issuing the turnover order without determining Crockett's interest in or ownership of the funds in the account; (5) the court exceeded its jurisdiction by issuing the turnover order without complying with Corporations Code section 15907.03, which governs transfer of a judgment debtor's interest in partnership property to a judgment creditor. We agree that Bank of America was not provided adequate due process and, accordingly, reverse and vacate the turnover order.

1 All further statutory references are to the Code of Civil Procedure unless otherwise specified.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In June 2012 Continental obtained a superior court judgment against Crockett and David Wakefield awarding Continental $4,157,480.90. In April 2015, Continental obtained an order requiring Merrill Lynch to appear for a third person examination under section 708.120 regarding property of the judgment debtor in Merrill Lynch's possession or control. On May 7, 2015, the court granted Continental's ex parte application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing Crockett and Merrill Lynch from transferring or encumbering assets held in Merrill Lynch accounts ending in 2446 and 73592 under the name of Crockett 39 Family Partners, Ltd.

On May 8, 2015, after Merrill Lynch underwent the third person examination, the court issued an order stating: "It is requested that MERRILL LYNCH . . . immediately deliver to the Judgment Creditor cash assets held in #[] . . . 7359 . . . , which will be applied toward satisfaction of the Judgment . . . entered on June 14, 2012 along with all interest accrued therein." The court set a hearing on "the matter of turnover" for May 14, 2015 and set a deadline for any party opposed to the turnover to file opposition and for Continental to file "responsive pleadings." The order further provided the restraining order issued on May 7 would remain in effect until the conclusion of the hearing.

Crockett filed opposition to the turnover order and the court ultimately held the hearing on the turnover matter on May 29, 2015. On June 4, 2015, the court filed an

2 Because there were no funds in the account ending in 2446, the only account at issue in this appeal is the one ending in 7359. Subsequent references to "the account" or the "Merrill Lynch account" are to the account ending in 7359.

order for delivery of property. The court ordered that all the assets in the Merrill Lynch account "shall be forthwith liquidated and all net proceeds therefrom shall be immediately turned over to [Continental's] counsel by wire transfer, as per instructions supplied by [Continental]." The court further ordered that Merrill Lynch provide an accounting to the parties and that its "previous order freezing these assets shall remain in full force and effect until the turn over is complete." The court gave notice "that failure to comply with this order may subject Merrill Lynch to arrest and punishment for Contempt of Court."

By letter dated June 17, 2015, Merrill Lynch's counsel, who also represents Bank of America in this case, provided Crockett's counsel and Continental's counsel the court- ordered accounting. The letter stated the Merrill Lynch account was "pledged in its entirety as collateral to [Bank of America] on a loan made by [Bank of America] to another entity that is not subject to the [court's June 4] Order. . . . [Bank of America], through a security instrument, holds a first priority lien on the assets, perfected by control, in account ending in *7359 to secure the loan." The loan amount secured by the account was $3,086,560.46, excluding accruing interest. The letter stated Merrill Lynch was in the process of liquidating the assets in the account, which were "comprised of municipal bonds, mutual funds, cash equivalents, and an alternative investment. The market value [of the account] as of the close of business on June 16, 2015 was $3,967,156.19. The net equity amount after the loan is paid off [would] be approximately $880,595.00 as of the close of business on June 16, 2015." The letter stated that the process of liquidating the assets in the account pursuant to the court's order would

involve Bank of America's giving the loan parties a notice of demand and instructing Merrill Lynch to apply the proceeds of the account to repay the loan. Upon liquidation of the account and repayment in full to Bank of America of the loan amount, Merrill Lynch would "wire transfer the net proceeds to counsel for Continental . . . ."

The day after receiving the June 17, 2015 letter from Merrill Lynch's counsel, Continental filed an ex parte application for a TRO preventing Merrill Lynch from disbursing any of the assets in the account "to any person or entity except as specifically provided in the Court's Order . . . filed on June 4, 2015." Specifically, Continental sought to restrain Merrill Lynch from disbursing any money or assets from the account to Bank of America for repayment of its loan. Continental's ex parte application included a copy of the June 17, 2015 letter from Merrill Lynch's counsel.

The court held a hearing on Continental's ex parte application on June 19, 2015.

Merrill Lynch appeared at the hearing through counsel. The court directed Continental's counsel to prepare an order requiring Merrill Lynch to turn over the money in the account after liquidation with "no payouts to any lien holders from the account prior to the turnover." The court informed Merrill Lynch's counsel that "if Merrill Lynch were to pay off Bank of America in the interim, there would be a basis [upon] which this Court can find Merrill Lynch to be in contempt of court." Merrill Lynch's counsel requested permission to be heard. The court denied counsel's request on the ground Merrill Lynch was not a party and did not have standing.

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