Earthgrains Baking Companies v. Sycamore Family Bakery

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJune 12, 2025
Docket24-4085
StatusUnpublished

This text of Earthgrains Baking Companies v. Sycamore Family Bakery (Earthgrains Baking Companies v. Sycamore Family Bakery) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Earthgrains Baking Companies v. Sycamore Family Bakery, (10th Cir. 2025).

Opinion

Appellate Case: 24-4085 Document: 41-1 Date Filed: 06/12/2025 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT June 12, 2025 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court EARTHGRAINS BAKING COMPANIES, INC.,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v. No. 24-4085 (D.C. No. 2:09-CV-00523-DAK-DBP) SYCAMORE FAMILY BAKERY, (D. Utah) INC.; LELAND SYCAMORE,

Defendants.

------------------------------

SYCAMORE FAMILY LLC; TYLER SYCAMORE,

Interested Parties - Appellants.

R. WAYNE KLEIN,

Receiver - Appellee. _________________________________

ORDER AND JUDGMENT * _________________________________

Before TYMKOVICH, BACHARACH, and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges. _________________________________

* This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. Appellate Case: 24-4085 Document: 41-1 Date Filed: 06/12/2025 Page: 2

This appeal marks another chapter in EarthGrains Baking Companies,

Inc.’s, efforts to collect on its multimillion-dollar judgment against Leland

Sycamore and Sycamore Family Bakery, Inc. After determining that Leland and

the Sycamore Family Bakery were preventing EarthGrains from collecting on

the judgment in bad faith, the district court entered a charging order against

Leland’s interest in Sycamore Family, LLC, under which Leland’s assets in the

LLC were paid to EarthGrains. But Leland and the LLC refused to comply with

the order, and the district court appointed a receiver to ensure their compliance.

Years after the district court entered the charging order and appointed a

receiver, the LLC and Tyler Sycamore (the son of Leland), who were not

parties in the district-court litigation, moved as interested parties to terminate

the charging order and receivership. They argued that the judgment had expired

under Utah law after EarthGrains failed to renew the judgment within the time

given by the statute of limitations. Applying tolling under the applicable Utah

statute, the district court concluded that the statute of limitations had not

expired and denied the motion.

Before us, the LLC and Tyler challenge the district court’s ruling. As a

jurisdictional matter, we conclude that Tyler lacks standing. So we dismiss him

as a party to this appeal. But we conclude that the LLC has standing and that it

has a unique interest in bringing this appeal as a nonparty. Even so, we

conclude that the LLC’s claim lacks merit, so we affirm the district court’s

ruling and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

2 Appellate Case: 24-4085 Document: 41-1 Date Filed: 06/12/2025 Page: 3

BACKGROUND

I. Factual Background

A. The Judgment (2012) and the Charging Order (2014)

In 2012, a jury found that Leland Sycamore and Sycamore Family

Bakery, Inc., had infringed EarthGrains’s trademarks, engaged in unfair

competition, and breached their contract with EarthGrains. On July 16, 2012,

the district court entered a judgment (1) that Leland had forfeited his trademark

rights in California, Nevada, and Arizona, and (2) awarding EarthGrains about

$4.6 million in damages against Leland, and $26,100 against Sycamore Family

Bakery, Inc., plus interest on both damages awards. 1

For two years, Leland and the Sycamore Family Bakery failed to pay

anything on the judgment. EarthGrains obtained supplemental discovery that

revealed Leland was a partial owner in Sycamore Family LLC. With that,

EarthGrains moved for a charging order against Leland’s interest in the LLC. 2

1 After the district court entered the judgment, it awarded EarthGrains $1,091,336.40 in attorneys’ fees and costs. Memorandum Decision and Order at 7, EarthGrains Baking Cos., Inc. v. Sycamore Fam. Bakery Inc., No. 2:09-CV- 00523-DAK-DBP (D. Utah Dec. 14, 2012), ECF No. 309; United States v. Ahidley, 486 F.3d 1184, 1192 n.5 (10th Cir. 2007) (noting that we may take judicial notice of publicly filed court records). 2 As is relevant here, a charging order allows the court to charge the debtor’s interest in an LLC with payment of the unsatisfied judgment. § 48-2c- 1103(1)(a). In other words, “[a] charging order constitutes a lien on the judgment debtor’s interest in the company.” § 48-2c-1103(2)(a). The court has broad powers to enforce the charging order, including foreclosing on the (footnote continued) 3 Appellate Case: 24-4085 Document: 41-1 Date Filed: 06/12/2025 Page: 4

Utah Code Ann. § 48-2c-1103 (West 2014) (current version at Utah Code Ann.

§ 48-1d-604 (West 2025)). The district court granted the motion and charged

Leland’s rights and interests in the LLC “to the extent necessary to satisfy the

Judgment in full.” 3 App. vol. I, at 102. The charging order required the LLC to

pay EarthGrains all distributions due to Leland until the judgment was

satisfied. The order also required the LLC to disclose its planned distributions

to Leland and prohibited the LLC from modifying any planned distribution to

Leland without providing EarthGrains notice.

B. The Amended Judgment (2015) and the Receivership (2018)

When the district court entered the judgment in 2012, Leland and the

Sycamore Family Bakery appealed. Two years later, we affirmed in part and

reversed in part. EarthGrains Baking Cos. Inc. v. Sycamore Fam. Bakery, Inc.,

573 F. App’x 676, 682–83 (10th Cir. 2014). We reversed part of the judgment,

ruling that Leland had not forfeited his trademark rights in Arizona and

Nevada, but we otherwise affirmed the judgment. Id. at 681. On September 1,

2015, the district court entered an amended judgment consistent with our order.

debtor’s interest in the LLC or appointing a receiver. § 48-2c-1103(1)(b), (2)(b). 3 EarthGrains’s application also sought a charging order against another LLC in which Leland had an interest, Mary Rae Sycamore, LLC. But the court’s charging order was against only Sycamore Family LLC, and EarthGrains does not challenge that decision on appeal. 4 Appellate Case: 24-4085 Document: 41-1 Date Filed: 06/12/2025 Page: 5

Leland appealed the amended judgment. After another two-year wait, we

affirmed. EarthGrains Baking Cos., Inc. v. Sycamore Fam. Bakery, Inc., 721

F. App’x 736, 752 (10th Cir. 2017). By 2018, EarthGrains had still failed to

collect a penny. It moved for sanctions, arguing that the LLC had willfully

made distributions in violation of the charging order. The court agreed that the

LLC had violated the charging order and appointed a receiver to oversee

payment of the judgment. A year later, the receiver issued a report

recommending that the district court order the LLC to pay EarthGrains $1.1

million from its cash holdings and to liquidate some of its real-estate assets to

pay the rest of the multimillion-dollar judgment. The district court adopted the

recommendation, and the LLC appealed.

C. The Appellate Stay (2020–2022)

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

Related

Marino v. Ortiz
484 U.S. 301 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona
520 U.S. 43 (Supreme Court, 1997)
Summers v. Earth Island Institute
555 U.S. 488 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Burton v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
397 F.3d 906 (Tenth Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Ahidley
486 F.3d 1184 (Tenth Circuit, 2007)
United Transportation Union v. City of Albuquerque
664 F.3d 792 (Tenth Circuit, 2011)
Marion Energy, Inc. v. KFJ Ranch Partnership
2011 UT 50 (Utah Supreme Court, 2011)
Olsen v. Eagle Mountain City
2011 UT 10 (Utah Supreme Court, 2011)
State v. Garner
2005 UT 6 (Utah Supreme Court, 2005)
Gildea v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
2015 UT 11 (Utah Supreme Court, 2015)
Adamson Et Ux. v. Brockbank
185 P.2d 264 (Utah Supreme Court, 1947)
State Ex Rel. S.O.
2005 UT App 393 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2005)
FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine
602 U.S. 367 (Supreme Court, 2024)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Earthgrains Baking Companies v. Sycamore Family Bakery, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/earthgrains-baking-companies-v-sycamore-family-bakery-ca10-2025.