George Dean King v. Kay S. King

982 N.E.2d 1026, 2013 WL 150249, 2013 Ind. App. LEXIS 8
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 15, 2013
Docket49A02-1202-MF-73
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 982 N.E.2d 1026 (George Dean King v. Kay S. King) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
George Dean King v. Kay S. King, 982 N.E.2d 1026, 2013 WL 150249, 2013 Ind. App. LEXIS 8 (Ind. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

*1028 OPINION

RILEY, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Appellant-Defendant, George Dean King (George), appeals the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law approving the Receiver’s Verified Final Accounting relating to the receivership of eight business entities founded by George W. King (George Sr.) and the distribution of the receivership assets among George Sr.’s three children, George, Robert King (Bob), and Kay S. King (Kay) (collectively, the Siblings). 1

We affirm.

ISSUES

George raises four issues on appeal, which we restate as follows:

(1) Whether the trial court abused its discretion by approving the elimination of certain inter-company accounts receivable belonging to Crown Associates, Inc. (Crown) pri- or to conveying Crown to George;
(2) Whether the trial court properly decided that the Receiver was not required to reimburse World Corporation (World) for tax payments relating to intercompany accounts pri- or to conveying World to George;
(8) Whether the trial court properly applied the Receiver’s approved Plan of Distribution, which required that any beneficiary who unsuccessfully appealed a Receiver’s action pursuant to the Plan bears the Receiver’s legal costs of the appeal; and
(4) Whether the trial court properly released the Receiver from liability for all actions taken during the pen-dency of the receivership.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This case arises out of a dispute concerning the ownership of several corporations and partnerships between Kay and her minor son, Christopher King (Christopher), on one side and Kay’s brothers, George and Bob, on the other side. Throughout his lifetime, George Sr., the Siblings’ father, established several companies. In 1949, he founded G.W. King as a for-profit Indiana corporation. He subsequently incorporated R.L. King, Inc. and K.S. King, Inc. as Indiana for-profit corporations in 1963; World as an Indiana for-profit corporation in 1981; and Crown as a Florida corporation in 1989. He also founded three limited partnerships, G.W. King Co., R.L. King Co., and N.E. King, Co. In 1999, Kay lived with George Sr. in his Indianapolis’ residence and worked for his investment company. The Siblings had a strained relationship and Kay and George often quarreled over who would control George Sr.’s multimillion dollar estate after his death.

George Sr. died in 2001. A couple of weeks prior to George Sr.’s death, George shot Kay and Christopher multiple times. George was subsequently charged with and convicted of two Counts of attempted murder and is currently serving a fifty-year prison sentence. 2 See King v. State, 799 N.E.2d 42, 46 (Ind.Ct.App.2003), trans. denied, cert, denied, 543 U.S. 817, 125 S.Ct. 54, 160 L.Ed.2d 24 (2004).

*1029 On April 4, 2003, Kay and Christopher filed a Complaint on behalf of themselves, as well as K.S. King Co. and C.K. Co. 3 (collectively, Appellees) against George, Bob, and the five corporations, G.W. King, Inc., K.S. King, Inc., R.L. King, Inc., Crown, and World, and the three partnerships, G.W. King Co., R.L. King, Co., and N.E. King Co. (collectively, the Receivership Entities). The Complaint alleged thirteen different counts and sought a determination on the ownership of certain Receivership Entities, dissolution of the Receivership Entities, and the appointment of a Receiver to manage the dissolution, winding up and accounting of the Entities.

On June 5, 2003, the trial court appointed John M. Davis as the Receiver and directed him “to immediately recover, receive, take charge and possession of the business, cash, assets, leases, general intangible[s], accounts, proceeds from sales, note[s], bills receivable, and choses in action, and all of the tangible and intangible property and records ...” of the Receivership Entities. (Appellant’s App. p. 135). The trial court’s order permitted the Receiver to obtain the necessary insurance, open bank accounts, invest assets, determine any taxes owed, and “take such actions as may be necessary and appropriate to prevent the dissipation or concealment of any funds or assets.” (Appellant’s App. pp. 136-37). The order also mandated the Receiver to take custody of the business records of the Receivership Entities, to recommend the disposition of their assets, and allowed him to “initiate legal actions as he deems appropriate in discharging his duties as Receiver.” (Appellant’s App. pp. 138-39).

The Receiver spent more than five years, well into 2008, marshalling the assets of the Receivership Entities and addressing related tax issues. In 2004, the Receiver filed numerous tax returns for the Receivership Entities and paid more than two million dollars in outstanding tax liabilities. To pay these liabilities, the Receiver drew on Crown’s assets as this company had more liquid assets available than the other Receivership Entities. The Receiver accounted for his use of Crown assets to pay the tax obligations owed by other Receivership Entities by crediting an account receivable in favor of Crown with corresponding payables charged to the Receivership or the Receivership Entities. These “intercompany accounts [were] the result of the operation, management, and paying taxes by the [Receivership for the affiliated companies.” (Transcript p. 51). At the beginning, Crown’s accounts receivable was valued at $437,512; in 2007, it stood at $687,278.

On February 22, 2005, the Siblings entered into a Term Sheet for Settlement of Litigation (Term Sheet), which represented their partial agreement on the broad outlines of asset distribution. The Term Sheet constructed a complex distribution scheme in which the allocation of certain specific assets to certain Siblings was contemplated instead of equally dividing the receivership assets among the Siblings. For example, the Term Sheet provided that

The assets and/or equity interest of [Crown] shall be conveyed by the Receiver to [George], free and clear of any claims that were asserted or could have been asserted by any plaintiffs or any defendants in the King Receivership Lit *1030 igation, subject only to claims for any unpaid taxes and the claims of third-party creditors of [Crown].

(Appellant’s App. p. 363). It also gave George a condominium in the Geist neighborhood of Marion County, a lakefront lot in the same area, and three automobiles. Because not all issues over the division of receivership assets were resolved in the Term Sheet, it also specified that the Siblings’ further agreements would be set forth in greater detail in a separate Liquidation Agreement and that any distributions to the Siblings would be expedited through a liquidating trust. In the event of continuing disagreement between the Siblings, the Term Sheet provided

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982 N.E.2d 1026, 2013 WL 150249, 2013 Ind. App. LEXIS 8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/george-dean-king-v-kay-s-king-indctapp-2013.