Hafen v. Howell

District Court, D. Utah·Decided August 4, 2023·No. 2:19-cv-00813·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF UTAH, CENTRAL DIVISION

JONATHAN O. HAFEN, in his capacity as ORDER AND MEMORANDUM Court-Appointed Receiver, DECISION ON CROSS-MOTIONS FOR RELIEF UNDER RULE 59 Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 2:19-cv-00813-TC GRETCHEN A. HOWELL, an individual; and LESLIE M. HOWELL, an individual, Judge Tena Campbell

Defendants.

Before the court are two motions to amend the court’s judgment. The first was filed by the Plaintiff-Receiver, Jonathan O. Hafen (the “Receiver”); the court grants this motion. The second was filed by Gretchen Howell (“Gretchen”), who is one of the two defendants in this case (the other Defendant is Leslie Howell (“Les”)); the court denies this motion. I. Factual and Procedural Background The court’s summary judgment order discussed, in detail, the extensive history of this case, including the Rust Rare Coin (“RRC”) receivership,1 the role of the court-appointed Receiver, and the Howells’ involvement with the Rust Rare Coin Ponzi scheme. (Order Granting Summ. J., ECF No. 88). As a result, the court will not repeat the entirety of that history here. But in brief, Les and Gretchen Howell are two individual defendants in this RRC ancillary case. They are married, live in Arizona in a house outside Kingman, and are individual recipients of funds from the RRC scheme. (Howells’ Mots. Summ. J. Ex. 1, Declaration of

1 See also Commodity Futures Trading Comm’n et al. v. Rust Rare Coin et al., No. 2:18-cv- 00892-TC-DBP. Gretchen Howell (Gretchen Decl.), ECF No. 43-1 ¶¶ 3, 7; Howells’ Mots. Summ. J., Ex. 2, Declaration of Leslie Howell (Les Decl.) ECF No. 43-2 ¶¶ 5, 7; App. Mot. Summ. J. Ex. F, Deposition of Gretchen Howell (Gretchen Dep.), ECF No. 39-4 at 4:17–25; App. Mot. Summ. J. App. Ex. E, Deposition of Les Howell (Les Dep.), ECF No. 39-3 at 12:23–13:1). The Receiver brought two claims against them: fraudulent transfer and unjust enrichment.

(Compl., ECF No. 2 ¶¶ 39–47). He alleged that from October 2008–2015, the Howells made investments into the RRC Silver Pool totaling almost $1 million. Id. ¶ 36. As the evidence at summary judgment established, Gretchen invested $96,450.00 with RRC, and Les says he invested $1,222,003.77. (Gretchen Decl., ECF No. 43-1 ¶ 7; Les Decl., ECF No. 43-2 ¶ 7). Starting in 2013, the Howells received distributions from the Silver Pool in amounts that the Receiver alleged totaled about $4.2 million. (Compl., ECF No. 2 ¶ 37). But as the evidence at summary judgment showed, Les and Gretchen contributed separately to the Pool and were separately paid out by RRC. Gretchen agrees she received disbursements from RRC totaling $22,000, meaning she paid $74,450.00 more to RRC than she received from it. (Gretchen Dep.

ECF No. 39-4 at 24:17–22). Les agrees he received disbursements from RRC totaling at least $4,511,000.00. (See App. Mot. Summ. J. Ex. D, Defs.’ Responses to Pl’s First Set of Disc. Requests (Def. Interrog. Resps.), ECF No. 39-2 at 9, HOWELL 00186–88 (representing Les received disbursements totaling $4,511,000.00)). Les used money he received from RRC to buy 92 acres of land in Kingman. (Les Dep., ECF No. 39-3 at 12:23–13:1; see Gretchen Dep., ECF No. 39-4 at 4:17–25). Les exclusively used money he received from RRC to build the house on the Kingman property that he and Gretchen share. (Les Dep., ECF No. 39-3 at 12:2–10). Les confirmed it would “probably be a good estimate” to say he paid his homebuilder between three and four million dollars to build the home on the Kingman property. Id. at 11:9–11. The Howells moved into the house on January 1, 2018. Id. at 5:17–6:6. The Howells hold title to their Kingman property as joint tenants. (Opp. Mot. Summ. J., ECF No. 47 at 14 (admitting this fact)). To sum up, Les was a net winner of the RRC Ponzi scheme, and with his RRC payouts he bought the land for the Kingman, Arizona house and paid for its construction. Gretchen was a net loser, but she owns half of the Kingman house, which was paid for by Les’s RRC payouts.

Based on these and other materially-undisputed facts, the court granted the Receiver summary judgment, (Order Granting Summ. J., ECF No. 88),2 and entered a judgment reading: IT IS ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that judgment is entered in favor of Plaintiff Jonathan O. Hafen against Defendants Leslie M. Howell and Gretchen A. Howell. Judgment is in the amount of $3,218,103.96. This judgment includes the funds that Leslie M. Howell received from the Receivership Defendants in excess of his principal investment and transferred to Gretchen A. Howell by titling their Kingman, Arizona property in her name as well as his own, which Gretchen A. Howell must disgorge.

(J., ECF No. 89). II. The Motions to Amend Judgment Both the Receiver and Gretchen Howell moved to amend this judgment, and the court considers both motions in this Order. a) The Receiver’s Motion to Amend Judgment (ECF No. 90). The Receiver moves the court, under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 7 and 59(e), to amend the judgment to include an award of prejudgment interest. (Receiver Rule 59 Mot., ECF No. 90 at 1). The Receiver asks for an award of prejudgment interest totaling $683,847.09. Id. at 4. The Receiver arrives at that number by using the date that either one of the Howells

2 In its Order, the court made two determinations before considering summary judgment. First, it denied the Howells’ Motion to Exclude Proposed Expert Jonathan O. Hafen. Id. 3–7. Second, it denied the Howells’ Motion to Exclude Proposed Expert D. Ray Strong (but determined that it would exclude Mr. Strong’s opinion on the ultimate issue of whether RRC was actually a Ponzi scheme). Id. at 7–9. These determinations are not at issue here. received a last payment from RRC (November 2018), and using an interest rate of five percent and a simple interest approach. Id. (“$683,847.09 (0.05 / 12 x 51 months x $3,218,103.96.”)). Gretchen and Les oppose the Receiver’s request. (Opp. Receiver Rule 59 Mot., ECF No. 94). Their opposition was untimely; as the Receiver notes, (Reply Supp. Receiver Rule 59 Mot., ECF No. 96), the motion had been submitted for decision, and a hearing on it was scheduled,

before the Howells filed their opposition. The Howells assert six grounds on which they object to the Receiver’s request, but apart from citations to the record in this case and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, they do not cite any legal authority to support any of these points. See id. b) Gretchen Howell’s Motion to Amend Judgment (ECF No. 95). On March 22, 2023, Gretchen Howell moved the court to amend the judgment, under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 59(a) and 59(e). (Gretchen Rule 59 Mot., ECF No. 95). She has two requests. First, she “asks the Court to clarify that her liability for the Judgment is limited to her interest in the Kingman, Arizona property that presently she jointly owns with her husband, Les.” Id. at 2. “In the alternative, to the extent the Judgment is a pure money judgment

against Gretchen, [she asserts that] the Court should set aside the Judgment as against Gretchen because the evidence in the summary judgment record is not sufficient to support a judgment against Gretchen in the amount of $3,218,103.96.” Id. The Receiver responded in opposition to Gretchen’s requests, (Opp. Gretchen Rule 59 Mot., ECF No. 98), and she filed a reply in support of her motion, (Reply Supp. Gretchen Rule 59 Mot., ECF No. 99). III. Legal Standard for Rule 59(e) Motions “A motion to alter or amend a judgment must be filed no later than 28 days after the entry of the judgment.” Fed. R. Civ. P.

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