Innovare Logistics, L.L.C. v. Parish National Bank

890 So. 2d 643, 4 La.App. 5 Cir. 567, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 2921, 2004 WL 2720213
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 30, 2004
DocketNo. 04-CA-567
StatusPublished

This text of 890 So. 2d 643 (Innovare Logistics, L.L.C. v. Parish National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Innovare Logistics, L.L.C. v. Parish National Bank, 890 So. 2d 643, 4 La.App. 5 Cir. 567, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 2921, 2004 WL 2720213 (La. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

1 /THOMAS F. DALEY, Judge.

In this civñ suit, the plaintiff/appellant, Innovare Logistics, L.L.C. (Innovare) argues that the trial court erred in granting the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by defendant/appellee, Parish National Bank.

Innovare raises two Assignments of Error. First, Innovare argues that there were genuine issues of material fact making summary judgment inappropriate. Second, Innovare argues that the aforementioned Motion for Summary Judgment was flawed, because it did not set forth the essential legal elements and the material facts, which were not in dispute.

On September 10, 1999, Innovare Logistics, L.L.C. entered into a Limited Liability Company Deposit Agreement with Parish National Bank (the Bank) with authorized representatives of Innovare, Mark Addy, President, and Jill Addy, Secretary/Treasurer. The Bank agreement applied to “any and all present and future deposit accounts, certificates of deposit and other deposit relationships” by Innovare. The unrestricted authority held by the authorized representatives of Innovare included among other things the right “to withdraw funds from |3[Innovare] aecount(s) by written order or request,” and the right “to sign checks, drafts, instruments, and/or other orders for the payment of money from said accounts).” So long as the Bank agreement was in effect Innovare agreed that it:

[would] not without the prior written notice to and without having first obtained the prior written consent of [the] Bank, ... amend its Articles of Organization or Operating Agreement to ... withdraw [the] authority of or to limit or restrict the authoi’ity of [the] Company’s Authorized Representatives (or of Company’s Managers) to deal and contract with [the] Bank or to act pursuant to this Agreement.

No alteration of or amendment to the agreement was to be effective unless given in writing and signed by the party charged or bound by the alteration or amendment. In addition, the Bank could:

continue to deal and contract with such Authorized Representatives (and Company Managers) on an unrestricted basis until such time as: (1) their authority to act for and on behalf on [Innovare] is formally revoked and substitute Authorized Representatives (or Managers) are properly appointed; and (2)[the] Bank is properly notified in writing and accepts and acknowledges the same.

On September 13, 1999, Mark Steven Addy and Jill Johnson Addy entered into an operating agreement forming Innovare Logistics, L.L.C., a limited liability company, in which they were the sole members and first managers. Mark and Jill Addy each held five hundred registered units of Innovare’s one thousand units, which gave them each a 50% interest in the corporation. Section Four, subsection one of the agreement vested in the members all powers of the organization and the right to manage the business and affairs of the organization. Section Four, subsection two required that votes on necessary matters be taken at membership meetings where there was a quorum of a majority of units present, and that all decisions be voted upon by eighty percent of the membership present at the meeting.

On December 5, 2001, Mark Addy acted alone signing a resolution removing Jill Addy as a manager of Innovare and directing all banks and other |4financial institutions to remove Jill Addy as an authorized signatory on all accounts involving Inno-vare. On April 29, 2002, Mark Addy submitted a “Limited Liability Company Au[645]*645thorization Resolution” to the Bank listing Robert W. Marks and himself as the only members of Innovare and the only agent signatories on Innovare’s new account (henceforth to be known as the “second Innovare account”). On August 26, 2002, Jill Addy wrote the Bank advising it that Mark Addy did not have the authority to remove her as a member or manager of Innovare. In a separate letter on the same date, Jill Addy authorized the Bank to remove funds from the second Innovare account to bring a personal loan taken out in the name of Mark and Jill Addy current, and to apply any remaining balance in the Innovare account to the principal balance of their personal loan.

On September 27, 2002, Innovare filed a Petition for Damages against the Bank alleging that (1) without notice to the new members of Innovare and signatories on the second account, Mark Addy and Robert W. Marks, the Bank allowed Jill Addy to withdraw $18,540.86 from the second Innovare account and use it to pay a mortgage loan balance on the Addys’ personal loan1; and (2) the Bank acted in bad faith in returning numerous checks N.F.S. written by Innovare prior to its notice of the unauthorized withdrawal causing the company damage to its business reputation and additional financial losses.

In its First Supplemental and Amending Petition, Innovare alleged that the Bank, (1) allowed Jill Addy to apply $30,074.65, withdrawn from both Innovare accounts, towards a mortgage loan balance on the Addys’ personal loan; (2) allowed Jill Addy to cash out a ten thousand dollar Certificate of Deposit used by Innovare to secure a letter of credit issued by the Bank to Innovare’s bonding ¡¡¡company;2 and (3) distributed the funds withdrawn by Jill Addy in contravention of LSA-R.S. 12:1327 and LSA-R.S. 9:2280.

On July 21, 2003, the Bank filed a Motion for Summary Judgment alleging that there were no genuine issues of material fact. The Bank argued that they had followed the instructions of signatory, Jill Addy, in accordance with Innovare’s Limited Liability Company Deposit Agreement. Subsequent to the filing of the Motion for Summary Judgment and before the trial court’s ruling, on August 7, 2003, Jill Addy filed a Reconventional and Third Party Demand alleging that Innovare and Mark Addy breached their fiduciary duty in failing to protect and properly account for the company’s assets, and in converting the company’s assets for personal gain. ,0n October 2, 2003, the trial court granted the Bank’s Motion for Summary Judgment. The trial court found that the Bank had merely followed the instructions of Jill Addy, an authorized representative of In-novare, and that there was no agreement between the Bank and Mark Addy requiring the Bank to notify him of withdrawals or transfers.

In this litigation, Innovare argues that there were genuine issues of material fact making summary judgment inappropriate. Specifically, Innovare claims that there are genuine issues of material fact regarding whether the Bank breached its duty of good faith and fair dealings and its duty under LSA-R.S. 12 § 1327(A)(1) and (3)3 [646]*646causing Innovare substantial financial loss and damages; whether the Bank made an unauthorized donation from Innovare for payment of the Addys’ personal loan, which inured primarily to the Bank’s benefit; and what authority the Limited Liability Company Deposit Agreement granted to the Bank. In addition, Innovare | r,argues that the Bank’s Motion for Summary Judgment failed to comply with Rule 9.10 of the district court rules requiring that motions for summary judgment set forth the essential legal elements and the material facts, which are not in dispute.

A motion for summary judgment “is designed to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action.” LSA-C.C.P. art. 966.

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Bluebook (online)
890 So. 2d 643, 4 La.App. 5 Cir. 567, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 2921, 2004 WL 2720213, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/innovare-logistics-llc-v-parish-national-bank-lactapp-2004.