Deutsche Financial Services Corp. v. Osborne (In re Osborne)

257 B.R. 28, 45 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 814, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 1560
United States Bankruptcy Court, C.D. California·Decided December 28, 2000·No. Bankruptcy No. 99-48615; Adversary No. 00-01117-EC·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

ORDER

JOHN L. PETERSON, Bankruptcy Judge.

In this adversary proceeding, after the court entered judgment for the defendant/debtor on plaintiffs Deutsche Financial Services, Inc.’s (“DFS”) non-dis-chargeability complaint filed under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(B), the defendant lodged his bill of costs and filed a separate motion for award of attorney’s fees in the amount of $17,529.50 for successfully defending against the false financial statement complaint. In this court’s order denying plaintiff relief, the court found that the debtor has made a materially false financial statement with the intent to deceive plaintiff in extending creditor to the debtor, but that the plaintiff did not reasonably rely on such statement, and thus failed to prove one essential element under § 523(a)(2)(B).

Defendant/debtor’s argument on the fee request centers on the personal guaranty language given by the debtor to plaintiff as part of the financing package approved by the plaintiff to debtor’s wholly-owned company Automotive Distributing for the Far-west (“Farwest”). The pertinent language of the guaranty cited in debtor’s motion is: “We [debtor] will pay you [DFS] on demand the full amount of all sums owed by Dealer [Farwest] to you [DFS] together with all costs and expenses (including without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees).”

Farwest filed for chapter 11 relief and subsequently Osborne filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, from which this adversary proceeding flowed. Prior to the debtor’s bankruptcy filing, the claim of DFS proceeded to binding arbitration, and [31]*31Osborne’s personal liability was fixed by the arbitrator, and affirmed by the United States District Court, in the sum of $2,984,021.10 plus attorneys’ fees of $2,500. That judgment is now subject to discharge as a result of Osborne’s chapter 7 petition and the court’s decision in this adversary proceeding.

Debtor’s request for an award of attorneys’ fees is based on the language quoted above from the guaranty, Cal. Code of Civ.Pro. section 1717,1 In re Hung Tan Pham, 250 B.R. 93 (9th Cir. BAP 2000); Cohen v. de la Cruz, 523 U.S. 213, 118 S.Ct. 1212, 140 L.Ed.2d 341 (1998), and Santisas v. Goodin, 17 Cal.4th 599, 608, 71 Cal.Rptr.2d 830, 836, 951 P.2d 399 (1998). Debtor’s theory from these authorities is that a creditor is allowed an award of attorney’s fees as the prevailing party when successfully prosecuting a § 523(a)(2) complaint to judgment where such fees are allowable either under state law or by contract. The debtor now asserts a reciprocal right where the debtor wins the action.

In discussing and summarizing the applicable authorities cited above, both pre- and post-Cohen (all of which involved awards of fees to creditors who successfully prosecuted to judgment a non-dis-chargeable debt), Hung Tan Pham, states: “We agree that, after Cohen, the determinative question in cases under § 523(a)(2) is whether the successful plaintiff could recover attorney’s fees in a non-bankruptcy court.” 250 B.R. at 99.

Cohen holds:

In short, the text of § 523(a)(2)(A), the meaning of parallel provisions in the statute, the historical pedigree of the fraud exception, and the general policy underlying the exceptions to discharge all support our conclusion that “any debt ... for money, property, services, or ,.. credit, to the extent obtained by” fraud encompasses any liability arising from money, property, etc., that is fraudulently obtained, including treble damages, attorney’s fees, and other relief that may exceed the value obtained by the debtor.

523 U.S. at 223, 118 S.Ct. at 1219.

In sum, the holdings of these cases are designed to make the creditor whole for all damages allowable under state law or contract arising out of the debtor’s fraud. As stated in Merchants Nat’l Bank of Winona v. Moen (In re Moen), 238 B.R. 785, 795 (8th Cir. BAP 1999), cited in Pham, id. at 98: “The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that attorney’s fees provided by contract can become part of the nondischargeable debt under section 523(a)(2)(A).” 238 B.R. at 795. (Other citations omitted).

Defendant/debtor in the pending action now seeks to flip the coin to his side under the “prevailing party” theory so as to grant the winning debtor the same benefit given to the winning creditor in a non-dischargeability action under § 523(a)(2)(A) or (B). This position would adopt the so-called “mutuality of remedy” doctrine under contract law and Cal. Civil Code § 1717.

See, Santisas v. Goodin, 71 Cal.Rptr.2d 830, 951 P.2d at 406-07.

For the reasons now stated, I reject the debtor’s argument on several grounds. First, and foremost, Congress has specifically usurped the state law “mutuality of remedy” doctrine in § 523(d)2, a [32]*32fee-shifting statute which applies only in consumer debt cases. This exception to the American Rule, discussed hereafter, allowing an award of fees solely involving a “consumer debt”, which is defined in § 101(8) of the Code as a “debt incurred by an individual primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose.” In this case, the debt was specifically found to be a commercial debt arising out of a credit facility to Farwest to re-finance the business operation.

Since Congress has specifically limited fee-shifting to consumer cases only, thereby excluding commercial debt by the express language of § 523(d), it necessarily follows the debtor’s present fee request is prohibited under § 523(d). 4 Lawrence P. King, Collier on Bankruptcy, ¶ 523.08[8], pp. 523-59 (15th ed.1997) states the policy reason for including § 523(d) in the Code, and indeed as a subsection of § 523:

Section 523(d) provides for attorney’s fee shifting in favor of the debtor in certain circumstances in dischargeability litigation under section 523(a)(2). In the absence of section 523(d), the threat of litigation over the discharge exceptions of section 523(a)(2) and the attendant costs of litigation could induce debtors to settle for a reduced sum.... To balance the scales, Congress enacted section 523(d). The purpose is to discourage creditors from bringing objectively weak false financial statement exception litigation in the hopes of extracting a settlement from a debtor anxious to avoid paying attorney’s fees to defend the action.
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Section 523(d) applies only to consumer debts under section 523(a)(2). It has no applicability to any of the other exceptions to discharge found in section 523(a). Nor does it apply to the exception of section 523(a)(2) unless the debt is a “consumer debt,” defined in section 101 to mean a “debt incurred by an individual primarily for a personal family or household purpose.” (Emphasis in text).

As noted in the dissent of In re Century Cleaning Services, Inc., 195 F.3d 1053, 1065 (9th Cir.1999): “Nonetheless, bankruptcy law is code-driven.

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Deutsche Financial Services Corp. v. Osborne (In re Osborne), 257 B.R. 28, 45 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 814, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 1560 (Cal. 2000).

257 B.R. 28 (Deutsche Financial Services Corp. v. Osborne (In re Osborne)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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