Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. v. Ashmore

698 F. App'x 286
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJuly 3, 2017
Docket15-6299
StatusUnpublished

This text of 698 F. App'x 286 (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. v. Ashmore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. v. Ashmore, 698 F. App'x 286 (6th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

DAMON J. KEITH, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellant James Ashmore (“Ashmore”) appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff-Appellee, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), in the FDIC’s suit seeking to recover damages for breach of contract in connection with Ashmore’s defaulted loan. Ashmore signed a promissory note (the “Note”) in favor of Citizens Corporation (“Citizens”) for $5,875,000 plus interest in exchange for a loan in that amount. Citizens subsequently entered into a series of participation agreements with Tennessee Commerce Bank (the “Bank”) which gave the Bank the right to receive funds paid by Ashmore to Citizens pursuant to the loan. Subsequently, the Bank and .Citizens entered into a Transfer, Assignment, and Assumption Agreement (the “Assignment”) that would transfer all right, title, and interest in Ashmore’s loan to the Bank. Several months later, the Bank closed and the State of Tennessee appointed the FDIC as the Bank’s receiver. The Note on Ash-more’s loan was in the Bank’s flies when the FDIC took, over as receiver. The FDIC delivered a notice of default to Ash-more demanding payment-in-full for the loan, Ashmore never paid the FDIC, and the FDIC filed an action for breach of contract and unjust enrichment to recover. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the FDIC. On appeal, Ashmore claims that the district court’s entry of summary judgment was improper because genuine issues of material fact remain as to whether Commerce properly transferred the Note to the Bank. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM.

I. Background

On November 30, 2009, Ashmore executed a promissory note in favor of Citizens in the amount of $5,875,000. The Note provided for Ashmore to make scheduled semiannual payments with interest, and the holder of the Note held the right to “declare all principal and unpaid interest then outstanding immediately due and payable” if Ashmore was late with any scheduled payment by more than ten days. The Note was secured by a Pledge and Security Agreement in which Ashmore .pledged shares of stock in three corporations as collateral.

Citizens and the Bank thereafter entered into several participation agreements by which the Bank obtained certain rights to receive payments made by Ashmore pursuant to the Note. On December 15, 2009, the Bank obtained a participation in the Note for the amount of $4,875,000. On January 4, 2010, the Bank obtained another participation in the Note in the amount of $1,000,000. Three subsequent partic *288 ipation agreements were entered moving back the maturity date, with the final maturity date set for November 4, 2011. Following these participation agreements, the Bank obtained all of the remaining participation interests in the Note but did not have the right to enforce the Note. Under these participation interests, the Bank was “without recourse” if Ashmore failed to pay the Note.

On August 11, 2011, Citizens and the Bank entered into an Assignment agreement. The Assignment states that, “[Citizens] now desires to transfer, assign and delegate to [the Bank], and [the Bank] desires to assume, all of [Citizens’] remaining right, title and interest in and to the Notes, Loans and the other' Loan Documents, including, without limitation, all Administrative Agent Rights under the Participation Certificates or any other Loan Documents.” Further, the Assignment states that:

[Citizens] hereby transfers, assigns, and conveys unto [the Bank], and delegates to [the Bank], its successors and assigns, without recourse, representation or warranty ... all of [Citizens’] right, title, and interest in, to and under the Loans, Notes and Loan Documents, including, without limitation, all Administrative Agent Rights under the Participation Certificates or otherwise, and any and all interests of [Citizens] in any of the collateral and/or security provided for the Loans.

The Assignment further states that: “[the Bank] hereby assumes all of [Citizens’] right, title, and interest in and to the Assigned Interests and Documents, including without limitation, the immediate right to collect the Loans and pursue enforcement of the Loan Documents, all as may be done in [the Bank’s] sole discretion.” The Assignment also provides that delivery of any notes associated with the loans referenced in the agreement would occur “within ten (10) days from the date of this Agreement ... in order to effect the purposes of this Agreement.”

The attached “Exhibit A” to the Assignment specifically listed the “[l]oan by Citizens Corporation to James D. Ashmore evidenced by a $5,875,000 Promissory Note dated November 30, 2009.” The Chairman of Citizens, Ed Lowery (“Lowery”), signed an allonge on August 11, 2011—the same day he signed the Assignment. 1 The allonge specifically references Ashmore’s promissory note, the amount of the loan, and the date it was entered. The allonge states: “[p]ay to the order of [the Bank] ... without recourse, and without representations and without warranties, express or implied, except as may be set forth in [the Assignment Agreement] by and between [Citizens] and [the Bank] of even date herewith [August 11, 2011].” The Assignment was duly'signed by Lowery and the Senior Vice President of the Bank, Thomas Crocker (“Crocker”).

On the same day, Citizens and the Bank also entered into a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) relating to a prospective debt-previously-contracted transaction (“DPC Transaction”) that would exchange the indebtedness of Citizens and some of its minority shareholders for pledged stock. Ashmore was among the indebted parties involved in the LOI and prospective DPC transaction. The LOI stated that it is “intended only to set forth the primary terms of the DPC Transaction and the basic outline for completing same.” It additionally stated that the LOI “shall not bind [the Bank] to close the DPC transaction in any *289 manner.” Several of the indebted parties referenced in the LOI did not sign it. The LOI makes no reference to delivery of notes to the Bank, and it makes no express reference to the Assignment.

The Bank obtained possession of Ash-more’s note, although it is not entirely clear from the record who delivered it or when it was delivered. 2 An officer of Citizens, Richard Moody (“Mood/’), stated that he delivered a box to the Bank sometime prior to September 1, 2011. After returning from a trip, Lowery asked Moody about the whereabouts of “my loan file to Citizens Corp.” Moody reported that Crocker (from the Bank) told him that the Assignment called for the Bank “to control the notes with stock pledged.” However, Moody did not know whether the loan notes were included in the box that he delivered to the Bank. Moody also stated that the Bank assured him that it would send along trust receipts and allonges the next day, and Moody confirmed to Lowery that he did not sign any allonges.

On February 19, 2015, Lowery signed a declaration regarding the events and understandings surrounding the execution of' the Assignment, the LOI, and the DPC Transaction.

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

Related

D'Oench, Duhme & Co. v. Federal Deposit Insurance
315 U.S. 447 (Supreme Court, 1942)
Langley v. Federal Deposit Insurance
484 U.S. 86 (Supreme Court, 1987)
Scott v. Harris
550 U.S. 372 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Eric Kuhn v. Washtenaw County
709 F.3d 612 (Sixth Circuit, 2013)
Dick Broadcasting Company, Inc. of Tennessee v. Oak Ridge FM, Inc.
395 S.W.3d 653 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2013)
Hamilton v. General Electric Co.
556 F.3d 428 (Sixth Circuit, 2009)
Huddleston v. Lee
284 S.W.2d 705 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1955)
Planters Gin Co. v. Federal Compress & Warehouse Co.
78 S.W.3d 885 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2002)
Donaldson v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, L.P.
813 F. Supp. 2d 885 (M.D. Tennessee, 2011)
Lorrie Thompson v. Bank of America, N.A.
773 F.3d 741 (Sixth Circuit, 2014)
Mount Vernon Trust Co. v. Bergoff
5 N.E.2d 196 (New York Court of Appeals, 1936)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
698 F. App'x 286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-deposit-insurance-corp-v-ashmore-ca6-2017.