Kassebaum v. Smith (In re Smith)

591 B.R. 741
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedNovember 1, 2018
DocketCase No.: 17-50808- RJK; Adv. Proc. No. 18-05004- RJK
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 591 B.R. 741 (Kassebaum v. Smith (In re Smith)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kassebaum v. Smith (In re Smith), 591 B.R. 741 (Minn. 2018).

Opinion

ROBERT J. KRESSEL, UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE

This adversary proceeding came on for trial on July 23, 2018 on the plaintiff's complaint to determine the dischargeability of a debt under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A) and 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(4). Richard G. Jensen appeared for the plaintiff. John H. Bray appeared for the defendant. This court has jurisdiction over this adversary proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S. §§ 157(b)(1) and 1334, and Local Rule 1070-1. This is a core proceeding within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(I).

FACTS

1. Plaintiff Mark Kassebaum is a Minnesota resident. He is one of the four shareholders of PDMM, Inc. He has been a shareholder and member of the board since 1994.

2. PDMM is a Minnesota corporation, founded in July 1994.It is a franchisee of Green Mill Restaurants, LLC, and operates a Green Mill restaurant located at 340 South Lake Avenue, Duluth, MN 55802.

3. Douglas E. Smith lives in Duluth and is a Minnesota resident. He is the debtor in this case.

4. The debtor is one of the four shareholders of PDMM and the general manager of PDMM's restaurant. He was also president of PDMM until September 14, 2016.

5. The shareholders of PDMM and their percentage of ownership are:

a. Kassebaum - 34%

b. Smith - 19%

c. Smith's father, Russell Smith II - 38%

d. Smith's brother, Russell Smith III - 9%

6. The parties refer to Russell Smith II as "Smith Sr." and Russell Smith III as "Smith Jr."
7. Smith Sr.'s wife, Karen Smith is the corporate secretary of PDMM.
8. The debtor organized Rivdogg, LLC, doing business as Avenue C, on January 15, 2015, to operate a restaurant of the same name in Cloquet, Minnesota. Avenue C opened in January of 2017 and closed in November of 2017.
9. The debtor originally owned 100% of Avenue C. He currently owns 70 percent of Avenue C. The other owners are Dave Rislov (20%) and Zack Wehr (10%).
10. When the debtor formed Avenue C, it did not have its own bank account and its money was deposited into PDMM's account. Because of this, Avenue C's employees were paid out of PDMM's account.
*74611. The debtor occasionally borrowed money from PDMM by writing checks and using the company credit card. Though he intended to pay all of the money he borrowed, the debtor did not pay all of it back. He repaid $107,351.62 to PDMM. PDMM's credit card was available for the use for PDMM restaurant's management team.
12. PDMM purchased a truck for $110,000 that the debtor and other employees used for work including delivery and other work-related business. The other company car was too big to be used for deliveries.
13. The debtor often obtained advances on his payrolls and dividends.
14. As a manager of the Green Mill restaurant, the debtor's day-to-day duties included giving bonuses to employees and management. He used a method of calculating bonuses based on a policy at a restaurant he previously worked for. He used 10% of profits to distribute to employees and management based on their ranking in a ratio of 4:3:2:1.
15. On September 14, 2016, at a special meeting of the board of directors of PDMM, the debtor made a motion to retroactively approve a 2014 loan from PDMM to the debtor for $23,000 with interest at 5%. Three shareholders voted for the motion while Kassebaum voted against it and the motion was approved. The debtor testified that he presented the loan for the board's approval "to help clean up" some of the transactions.
16. Because of his mental condition that affected his memory, Smith Sr. was not able to recall much of what happened during the relevant times.
17. Kassebaum testified that he expected the debtor to inform him and the other shareholders of all of the personal loans and charges made on PDMM's account. He stated that he did not believe the debtor was hiding those charges but that he placed the record of the transactions in places the shareholders could not find.
18. In the spring of 2016, Kassebaum and Smith Sr. agreed that an audit of PDMM's operations, including accounting records, should be conducted and agreed that PDMM would pay the cost of the audit.
19. Kassebaum and Smith Sr. retained a forensic accountant, Frances M. McCloskey, to conduct the audit.
20. McCloskey conducted the audit and issued a preliminary report on May 27, 2016.
21. McCloskey gathered documents and interviewed individuals to prepare her analysis. She did not speak with the debtor because he was not present at the restaurant when she was conducting the interviews.
22. McCloskey testified that in her professional opinion, the documents gathered are not easy to discern and transactions and payments were difficult to track. She opined that most of the checks written to the debtor and the credit card charges were outside of the ordinary course of business. She has also found evidence that the debtor had paid back to PDMM some of the payments made to him.
23.
*747The plaintiff commenced a lawsuit against the debtor, Smith Sr. and Smith Jr. on July 1, 2016, in St. Louis County, MN, district court, File No. 69-DU-CV-16-2229. The plaintiff subsequently amended his complaint to add Avenue C as a defendant.
24. The debtor filed his Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition on November 28, 2017.
25. The plaintiff commenced this adversary proceeding on March 5, 2018 seeking to except from discharge the claims asserted against the debtor.

ANALYSIS

The plaintiff asserts that his claims should be excepted from discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A) and 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(4). He argues that the debt is excepted from discharge under 11 U.S.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
591 B.R. 741, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kassebaum-v-smith-in-re-smith-mnb-2018.