E. Armata, Inc. v. Korea Commercial Bank of New York

367 F.3d 123, 2004 WL 937212
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedMarch 12, 2004
DocketNo. 03-7038
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 367 F.3d 123 (E. Armata, Inc. v. Korea Commercial Bank of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
E. Armata, Inc. v. Korea Commercial Bank of New York, 367 F.3d 123, 2004 WL 937212 (2d Cir. 2004).

Opinion

JOSÉ A. CABRANES, Circuit Judge.

The principal question presented by this appeal is whether, under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (“PACA”), 7 U.S.C. § 499a et seq., a bank is liable to the beneficiaries of a PACA trust for receipt of funds in breach of the trust where, having extended revolving overdraft privileges to a produce dealer covered by PACA, the bank routinely applied deposited PACA funds to reduce the negative balance in the produce dealer’s overdrawn account.

We consider here an appeal from a December 30, 2002 judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Allen G. Schwartz, Judge) holding defendant bank liable under PACA for receipt of funds in breach of a PACA trust, and awarding damages to plaintiff produce suppliers in the amount of $5,876.44.

Under PACA, a produce dealer’s proceeds from the sale of produce are subject to a PACA trust, which the dealer is personally responsible for maintaining as [126]*126trustee. - See 7 U.S.C. § 499e(c); 7 C.F.R § 46.46. The beneficiaries of the PACA trust are those produce suppliers from whom the produce dealer has purchased perishable agricultural commodities (“sellers” or “PACA creditors”). See 7 U.S.C. § 499e(c); 7 C.F.R. § 46.46. PACA thereby prevents produce dealers from providing non-produce-supplier creditors with security interests in their receivables superior to the claims of their produce-supplier creditors, by creating a trust for the benefit of only those creditors that are produce suppliers. See Endico Potatoes, Inc. v. CIT Group/Factoring, Inc., 67 F.3d 1063, 1067 (2d Cir.1995). For a more detailed explanation of the PACA system, see our recent opinion in American Banana Co. v. Republic Nat’l Bank, 362 F.3d 33 (2d Cir.2004).

BACKGROUND

I. Factual History1

During the trust period relevant to plaintiffs’ claims, which the parties stipulate commenced on February 2, 1998, defendant-appellee Korea Commercial Bank of New York (“KCB” or “bank”) extended revolving overdraft privileges to defendant, produce dealer David Lee Produce Service Corporation (“DLPS”), which is not a party to this appeal, in the amount of $90,000. By the terms of the agreement between KCB and DLPS, the bank would honor checks written on DLPS’s checking account in amounts exceeding DLPS’s available funds,2 with the expectation that DLPS would regularly make deposits to offset the negative balance. This revolving line of credit was not secured by DLPS’s receivables from the sale of produce, which would constitute a violation of PACA, but instead by DLPS’s business assets, as well as personal guarantees of DLPS’s principal, David Lee, and a mortgage on Lee’s home. DLPS regularly wrote checks in excess of its available funds, and KCB routinely honored them until, in November 1998, KCB terminated DLPS’s overdraft privileges by converting the line of credit into a commercial loan to DLPS in the amount of $85,000.

DLPS deposited approximately 2 million dollars into its KCB account during the relevant trust period, nearly all of which constituted proceeds from the sale of produce, and was thus subject to a PACA trust for the benefit of DLPS’s PACA creditors.3 The vast majority of the funds disbursed from DLPS’s account were payments to PACA creditors, including plaintiffs, with the exception of $21,161.96 that DLPS paid to non-PACA creditors (not including KCB), and $18,390.09 that KCB retained for fees and interest associated with DLPS’s account.4 When DLPS [127]*127ceased operations in December 1998, it owed plaintiffs, all PACA creditors, a total of $650,451.95, and it had failed to make payment to any PACA creditor since August 14,1998.

II. Procedural History

Plaintiffs filed suit against KCB in the District Court on March 24, 1999, alleging that the bank’s receipt of funds subject to a PACA trust and use of those funds to offset DLPS’s negative balance constituted receipt of funds in breach of a PACA trust. Plaintiffs claim that KCB is liable for satisfying the claims of PACA creditors who were the beneficiaries of the PACA trust up to the full amount DLPS deposited in its checking account at KCB. Accordingly, they argue that KCB is liable to them for the full amount of DLPS’s unsatisfied debt to them, or $650,451.95, plus interest.

The District Court’s opinion of December 30, 2002, relied on its earlier opinion, American Banana Co. v. Republic National Bank, No. 99 Civ. 1330(AGS), slip op. at 13 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 7, 2002) (“American Banana (S.D.N.Y.)”), which examined a similar arrangement between a produce dealer and a bank extending overdraft privileges, as well as on the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Boulder Fruit Express & Heger Organic Farm Sales v. Transportation Factoring, Inc., 251 F.3d 1268, 1272 (9th Cir.2001), to hold that KCB’s liability under PACA was significantly narrower than alleged by plaintiffs. See E. Armata, Inc. v. David Lee’s Produce Service Corp., 2002 WL 31834451, slip op. at 10 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 30, 2002) (“E.Armata ”). Specifically, the District Court held that KCB could not be liable for any amount deposited by DLPS that was ultimately paid to PACA creditors. Id. Because the vast majority of the funds at issue in this case were ultimately disbursed to PACA creditors, including plaintiffs, the District Court held that KCB’s liability was limited to (1) the $21,161.96 that DLPS paid to non-PACA creditors (not including KCB), and (2) $18,390.09 that KCB retained for fees and interest associated with DLPS’s account, or a total of $39,552.05. Id. at 10-11.

The District Court then evaluated several defenses to liability offered by KCB, including an argument that it was a “bona fide purchaser” with respect to trust funds it received from DLPS. Id. at 11-12 (citing Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 284(1) (1959), which provides that “[i]f the trustee in breach of trust transfers trust property to ... a person who takes for value and without notice of the breach of trust, and who is not knowingly taking part in an illegal transaction, the latter holds the interest so transferred or created free of the trust, and is under no liability to the beneficiary”). Accepting the bank’s argument that it was a “bona fide purchaser” with respect to its receipt of trust funds through October 1, 1998, the District Court further limited KCB’s liability to those payments disbursed to non-PACA merchants (including KCB through fees and interest) after October 1, 1998, or $4,320.92. See E. Armata, slip op. at 12.5

DISCUSSION

I. PACA Trusts

PACA protects growers and suppliers of perishable agricultural commodities — the [128]

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E. Armata, Inc. v. Korea Commercial Bank of New York
367 F.3d 123 (Second Circuit, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
367 F.3d 123, 2004 WL 937212, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/e-armata-inc-v-korea-commercial-bank-of-new-york-ca2-2004.