Fryar v. Westside Habilitation Center

479 So. 2d 883, 1985 La. LEXIS 10102
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided December 2, 1985·No. 85-CC-0670·Published·Cited by 39 cases

Opinion

479 So.2d 883 (1985)

Joe E. FRYAR,
v.
WESTSIDE HABILITATION CENTER, et al.

No. 85-CC-0670.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

December 2, 1985.
Rehearings Denied January 9, 1986.

*884 Phillip Wittmann, Susan Talley, Judy Barrasso, Lawrence Orlansky, Stone, Pigman, Walther, Wittmann & Hutchinson, New Orleans, for third-party applicant.

Marsha Jane Hopper, James A. Bolen, Bolen & Erwin, Ltd., Guy Humphries, Jr., Alexandria, for plaintiff-respondent.

William E. Skye, Alexandria, for defendant-respondent.

Gus Voltz, Jr., Voltz & Ware, Charles S. Weems, III, Gold, Little Simon, Weems & Bruser, H. Brenner Sadler, Provosty, Sadler & Delaunay, Charles F. Nunnally, III, Garrett, Ryland & Nunnally, William B. Owens, Crowell & Owens, Alexandria, Paul D. White, Mandeville, for third party-respondents.

WATSON, Justice.

ISSUE

The issues are whether Louisiana: (1) can; and (2) should exercise long-arm personal jurisdiction over Bert Davis, III, an Oklahoma resident formerly employed by the Penn Square Bank.

FACTS

An investment agreement between Penn Square Bank of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the Bossier Bank & Trust Company of Bossier City, Louisiana, provided for delivery of $8,682,000 from the Bossier Bank to the Penn Square Bank for investment in collateralized certificates of deposit, bearing initial interest of 15.75% per annum. The collateral was to be delivered to a custodian, the Fidelity Bank of Oklahoma City.[1] Bert Davis, III, senior vice-president of the Penn Square Bank, executed the instrument on behalf of his Bank.

The funds were invested by Bossier as trustee on behalf of Westside Habilitation Center, a nonprofit corporation organized to build a facility for the mentally retarded at Cheneyville, Louisiana. Westside issued tax exempt bonds paying 14% per annum interest.

Three depositions of Bert Davis, III, are in evidence.[2] Davis testified that he was *885 Penn Square's senior vice-president in charge of the money center department, served on the asset and liability management committee, and reported to Jim Gunter, the chief financial officer of the bank.

Davis had been called around the end of March, 1982, by Bill Goldsmith of California, on behalf of Joe Hancock in Arkansas, about placement of C.D. money in a collateralized transaction. Davis advised Goldsmith, with whom the Bank had a finder's fee arrangement, that the Bank did not have any collateral available. Goldsmith later said that single family mortgages would be acceptable, and Jim Gunter advised Davis to try and negotiate the deposit.[3]

Davis' first conversation with Bossier Bank was on April 20, 1982, when the money was wired to Penn Square, and Keith Jones of Bossier called Davis to confirm the amount. Hancock had handled all the prior negotiations. Jones called again in connection with a construction draw on May 10th. Davis called Jones in June to ask if Jones wanted treasury bills in the collateral because it was going to take an extended period of time to get proper documentation on the mortgages, but Jones apparently gave a negative reply. Davis was not aware of exactly what documentation the Bossier Bank required on the notes and mortgages because the terms of the investment agreement were "hazy"[4] and "nebulous."[5]

On April 26th Davis advised Bossier by letter that he would deliver the mortgages and copies of the supporting documentation to the Fidelity Bank on April 28, 1982.[6] In fact, Davis delivered copies of the notes and mortgages. Fidelity advised Bossier, in a letter dated April 29, 1982, carbon copy to Davis, that the only items to be completed were receipt of the original mortgages and supporting documentation.[7] Davis had not previously been involved with transfers of collateral. After the copies were delivered to Fidelity, another bank employee advised Davis that Fidelity should have the original notes and mortgages. It was then his intention to deliver the original notes and mortgages to Fidelity to collateralize the deposits. In the middle of May, when a custody agreement was signed, the mortgages and notes had been segregated. Davis had said everything would be delivered by the middle of May, without realizing it would take so long to satisfy the legal requirements. By letter of June 4, 1982, Davis was requested by Fidelity to deliver the original notes and mortgages.

Davis did not realize that Penn Square was in jeopardy until June 30, 1982, when an expected capital injection of twenty to thirty million dollars was not received. At that time, he made no effort to inform anyone at Bossier about the financial condition of the Bank. Davis realized with certainty by Friday, July 2, 1982, that the Bank would not survive. Around 11:00 A.M. that Friday he was instructed not to pre-pay any C.D.'s. There was a run on the Bank; approximately thirty-five to forty million dollars were removed by depositors. The Bank opened for business on Saturday, July 3rd; Monday was a holiday; the Comptroller of the Currency closed the Bank as of Tuesday. Although Davis was aware the original mortgage notes needed to be delivered to Fidelity or Bossier, he was engaged in a frantic effort to keep the bank afloat. Davis admitted in deposition that he felt personally responsible for and personally involved with this particular matter.[8]

*886 Bert Davis, III, was named as a defendant by Westside Trust, an intervenor, and as a third party defendant by Westside Habilitation Center. Both alleged that Davis, an Oklahoma domiciliary, was transacting business within the State of Louisiana at all pertinent times as an employee and officer of Penn Square Bank of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a national bank. They further alleged that:

"On or about June 23, 1982, Davis informed Bossier, by telephone communication to Jones, that the compilation of the original collateral documentation had delayed its delivery, and he assured Jones that delivery to Fidelity was imminent." (Tr. 421)

It was alleged that Westside's damages were caused by the fault of Davis in the following:

"(a) Failure to deliver collateral to Fidelity within a reasonable time;
"(b) Failure to notify Bossier that Penn Square would be unable to satisfy the collateral requirements imposed by the Indenture so as to permit Bossier to withdraw the funds;
"(c) Other acts of negligence, whether by omission or commission, which might be proved at the trial of this cause."

After an exception to the jurisdiction was upheld, Westside Habilitation Center and Westside Trust amended to allege:

"Prior to the transaction at issue, Davis intended to and regularly did or solicited business in this State. National advertisements concerning Davis' and Penn Square's services were placed in National publications distributed in Louisiana, including the Wall Street Journal. In addition, Davis maintained regular contact with deposit brokers servicing clients nation wide including Louisiana. Davis sold certificates of deposit to Louisiana residents, and directly corresponded with customers in the State of Louisiana regarding their purchases of certificates of deposit issued by Penn Square." (Tr. 786)
"Davis also transacted business within the State of Louisiana insofar as the present transaction was concerned.

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Fryar v. Westside Habilitation Center, 479 So. 2d 883, 1985 La. LEXIS 10102 (La. 1985).

479 So. 2d 883 (Fryar v. Westside Habilitation Center) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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