Harris v. Dial Corp.

954 F.2d 990, 1992 WL 9765
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 24, 1992
DocketNo. 91-2556
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 954 F.2d 990 (Harris v. Dial Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harris v. Dial Corp., 954 F.2d 990, 1992 WL 9765 (4th Cir. 1992).

Opinion

[991]*991OPINION

JOSEPH H. YOUNG, Senior District Judge:

This ease arises out of a dispute between two parties claiming a right to a company’s accounts receivable in satisfaction of debts owed by the company to each of the parties. The issue presented on appeal is whether the defendant has a right to offset its accounts receivable against the accounts receivable related to transactions between the defendant and the business held by the plaintiffs. The district court held that there was one agreement between the defendant and the business held by the plaintiffs, and that the defendant, therefore, had a right of set-off under the applicable section of the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”). Consequently, the court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Finding no error, we affirm.

RELEVANT FACTS

Plaintiffs are stockholders in the Lynch-burg-Phoenix Group, which in turn was a stockholder in Brewster of Lynchburg, Inc., d/b/a Brewster Plastics (“Brewster”). Brewster was a company which manufactured, among other things, plastic bottles. The defendant, Dial Corporation (“Dial”) is a manufacturer of household supplies.

Dial approached Brewster in April, 1988 with a proposal that Brewster manufacture plastic bottles for use in Dial’s Virginia plant. Brewster agreed, and they encapsulated their agreement in a purchase order. However, Brewster was unable to get the resin necessary for the manufacture of the bottles. Dial had available to it an allocation of resin, so it contracted with its supplier to buy the resin and resell it to Brewster. Dial and Brewster executed a change order as an addendum to the purchase order, which included agreements pertaining to both the manufacture of bottles and the supply of resin. Dial became Brewster’s largest customer as the result of this agreement. Brewster began manufacturing bottles for Dial in June or July, 1988.

Brewster, needing additional capital for its business, borrowed money from Chesapeake Financial Corporation (“Chesapeake”) and also obtained a line of credit from Chesapeake. Brewster’s accounts receivable and inventory served as security for the loan; the loan was guaranteed by the plaintiffs.

When Brewster fell behind in its payments to Dial for the resin in August, 1988, Dial proposed a set-off arrangement, whereby the amount Brewster owed to Dial for resin was offset against the amount Dial owed to Brewster for bottles. Brewster refused to agree to the set-off agreement and in September, 1988, Brewster and Dial implemented a payment schedule to reduce Brewster’s debt to Dial; the goal of the plan was to ensure that Brewster owed Dial no more than $20,000 at any one time. Brewster complied with the payment plan for several weeks but soon fell behind in its payments.

In the meantime, Chesapeake determined that the security for the loan was jeopardized by Dial’s possible interest in Brewster’s accounts receivable. Brewster sought, at Chesapeake’s request, an agreement by Dial not to seek set-off of accounts receivable, but Dial refused. On November 17, 1988, Chesapeake declared the loan to be in default and made demand on the guarantee of the plaintiffs. In the letter declaring the loan to be in default, Chesapeake acknowledged that Brewster’s accounts receivable were subject to claims by Dial because of the contra-account arrangement between Brewster and Dial. On November 21, 1988, Brewster sent a letter to Dial stating that Brewster’s accounts receivable had been assigned to Chesapeake, and that Dial was to pay Chesapeake directly for any money owed to Brewster. Brewster then ceased manufacturing bottles.

The plaintiffs brought this action claiming that Brewster owed them over $800,000 as a result of its default on the loan they guaranteed and sought to collect the money that Dial owed to Brewster in satisfaction of the amount that Brewster owed to the plaintiffs. Dial claimed that Brewster owed it more than it owed Brewster, and sought to set-off the amount it owed Brew[992]*992ster by the amount Brewster owed it. If the accounts receivable were offset, Brewster would still owe Dial several hundred dollars and plaintiffs would not be able to collect any money on the outstanding balance of the note they guaranteed. If the accounts receivable were not offset, Dial would have to pay the plaintiffs the amount it owed Brewster but would not be able to collect the amount Brewster owed it and the proceeds of Brewster’s accounts receivable would be used to pay off the outstanding balance of the loan guaranteed by the plaintiffs. Ultimately, either the plaintiffs or Dial would lose a substantial amount of money depending on the disposition of Brewster’s accounts receivable.

The district court held that there was one agreement between Brewster and Dial, and that because there was only one agreement, offsetting the accounts receivable was proper, and it granted Dial’s motion for summary judgment. The plaintiffs appealed.

APPLICABLE LAW

The parties agreed in the district court that the applicable law was the UCC as adopted by Arizona. The pertinent statutory section provides:

(A) Unless an account debtor has made an enforceable agreement not to assert defenses or claims arising out of a sale as provided in § 47-9206 the rights of an assignee are subject to:
(1) All the terms of the contract between the account debtor and assignor and any defense or claim arising therefrom; and
(2) Any other defense or claim of the account debtor against the assignor which accrues before the account debt- or receives notification of the assignment.

Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 47-9318.

ANALYSIS

The critical issue on appeal is whether there was one contract between the parties for supply of resin and manufacture of bottles, or whether these transactions were covered by two separate agreements. If there was one agreement, the rights of the plaintiffs, as assignees of Chesapeake’s security interest in Brewster’s accounts receivable,1 would be subject to “[a]ll the terms of the contract between the account debtor and assignor and any defense or claim arising therefrom,” including Dial’s right to offset. § 47-9318(A.)(1). However, if there were two agreements, Dial would only be able to claim an offset of accounts receivable to the extent that its rights accrued “before the account debtor [Dial] receives notification of the assignment.” § 47-9318(A)(l).

Dial contends that the contract embodying both of the agreements (resin supply and bottle manufacture) was contained in an amended purchase order. The purchase order contains the quantity and price of bottles to be manufactured by Brewster, and explains the payment terms for the bottles. The purchase order also contains the agreement to supply resin and the price of the resin; however, it does not state the terms of payment for the resin. Dial further contends that because Brewster could not obtain resin in the open market, the resin agreement was an integral part of the bottle contract.

The plaintiffs argue that the lack of payment information regarding the resin in the purchase order, along with the lack of explicit language in the purchase order making it a contract for both resin and bottles, prevent construing the purchase order as a contract for both.

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954 F.2d 990, 1992 WL 9765, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-dial-corp-ca4-1992.