Kenneth M. Henson, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross v. Columbus Bank and Trust Company, Defendant-Appellee-Cross

651 F.2d 320, 33 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 445, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 11225
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJuly 20, 1981
Docket79-1260
StatusPublished
Cited by57 cases

This text of 651 F.2d 320 (Kenneth M. Henson, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross v. Columbus Bank and Trust Company, Defendant-Appellee-Cross) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kenneth M. Henson, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross v. Columbus Bank and Trust Company, Defendant-Appellee-Cross, 651 F.2d 320, 33 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 445, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 11225 (5th Cir. 1981).

Opinions

PER CURIAM:

This is an appeal and cross-appeal from a final judgment in a Truth-In-Lending1 (“TIL”) case. In all, five issues are raised: (1) whether a Georgia court decision was res judicata as to plaintiff’s TIL claim; (2) whether the district court abused its discretion by declining to exercise pendent jurisdiction over claims based on Georgia usury law; (3) whether the district court misin-structed the jury concerning the meaning of commercial credit; (4) whether the district court erred in finding that there were eleven rather than fifty-five separate TIL transactions; and (5) whether the district court abused its discretion in awarding attorneys’ fees without holding a hearing. We conclude that the district court erred by not exercising pendent jurisdiction and by failing to hold a hearing on the attorneys’ fee issue. We otherwise affirm the district court’s judgment.

I

The Facts

Kenneth Henson, plaintiff below, borrowed money from the Columbus Bank and Trust Company (Bank) on eleven occasions between 1968 and 1971. All of the notes were secured by a security deed on Henson’s residence; some were also secured by Henson’s stock holdings.

The Bank set the interest on each demand note at XA point above its then current prime interest rate. Whenever the Bank’s [322]*322prime rate changed, the interest rate on Henson’s notes was altered accordingly. The Bank notified Henson by mail each time the rate changed.

Henson based his TIL claim on five events. First, on July 5, 1974, the Bank sent Henson a letter, relating to eleven loans, informing him that “effective today we are increasing the rate on your demand loans by Vfe of 1%.” Record, vol. I, at 29. This letter disclosed neither the new nor the old finance charge and failed to include a description of the collateral securing the loans, as required by 15 U.S.C. § 1639(a)(4), (5) and (8) (1976). The other four TIL events were four quarterly billings of each of the eleven loans. (Hence, there are potentially 55 TIL Act violations.) The billings failed to disclose either the current interest rate or the amount of time Henson had to make payment without suffering penalty charges, as required by 15 U.S.C. § 1639(aX6) and (7) (1976).

On May 30, 1975, Henson paid the Bank the principal and accumulated interest on the demand notes. Then, on June 25, 1975, he brought this TIL action. Henson’s complaint contained five counts; only two are relevant to this appeal. In the first count, Henson alleged that the Bank violated the TIL Act by failing to make the required disclosures in both the July 5, 1974 letter increasing the interest on his notes, and in the four quarterly billings for interest. In the second count, Henson alleged that the Bank’s interest rate exceeded the maximum permitted under Georgia’s usury law. The district court declined to exercise pendent jurisdiction over the state-law claim and on January 10,1977, dismissed it without prejudice.

Thereafter, Henson brought suit on these loan transactions in the Muscogee County, Georgia, Superior Court. The parties disagree concerning whether Henson’s complaint presented the same TIL claim then pending in the district court; they do agree that the complaint presented the state-law usury claim previously dismissed by the district court. The Bank moved for summary dismissal on several grounds; only one, that the statute of limitations had run, is relevant to this appeal. The Superior Court ruled in favor of the Bank and dismissed the action. Record, vol. II, at 628.

Henson appealed this decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals affirmed the Superior Court, holding that “the trial court did not err in dismissing Counts I [the TIL Act claim] and III as we agree that each was barred by the applicable statute of limitations.” Henson v. Columbus Bank & Trust Co., 144 Ga.App. 80, 85, 240 S.E.2d 284, 288 (1977).

Following this appeal, Henson returned to federal district court and moved the court to reconsider its dismissal of his state-law usury claim. According to Henson, the district court should not have dismissed this claim when it did because the statute of limitations had run and therefore barred its subsequent litigation in the Georgia courts. Under these circumstances, Henson argued, the court was duty-bound to exercise pendent jurisdiction. The district court denied the motion, however, without stating its reasons.

The case proceeded to trial. The Bank conceded it had failed to make adequate TIL disclosures in its communications with Henson, which left two contested issues: first, whether Henson’s loans were commercial loans, and thus exempt from TIL Act coverage; and second, if not exempt, whether the court should assess penalties for each of fifty-five inadequate communications the Bank had with Henson, see supra at 2, or, rather, assess penalties for each of the eleven loan transactions. The district court determined that there were, as a matter of law, only eleven actionable transactions. The issue of whether the loans were commercial loans was to be submitted to the jury.

At trial, Henson testified concerning the loans and both Henson and the Bank introduced voluminous documentary evidence. When both sides had concluded their presentations, the district judge submitted the issue of whether the loans were commercial to the jury. The court instructed the jury that the plaintiff had the burden of proving [323]*323that “the particular loan that you are considering at the moment represented credit which was extended to him ... primarily for personal, family household or agricultural purposes and not primarily for business, commercial or other purposes.” Record, vol. 6 at 10. The jury found that the plaintiff met his burden on only seven of the eleven loans. Because the TIL Act specifies that the penalty for failing to make required disclosures is twice the finance charge, up to a maximum of $1,000 per transaction, and because the finance charge on each loan exceeded $500, the district court assessed seven $1,000 penalties.

Henson’s victory was costly. In the course of the litigation, Henson engaged two law firms and, counting himself, six attorneys. These six attorneys petitioned the court for attorneys’ fees. They submitted affidavits showing that almost 1,000 hours had been spent on prosecuting the federal aspects of the case. At their requested $50 an hour, this would have yielded an award of approximately $50,000. The attorneys requested a hearing; the district court refused to grant one and set the fees, collectively, at $4,773. The court based this figure on its belief that the case could have been handled in 150 hours. At $50 an hour, this would yield an award of $7,500. The court then reduced this amount by 4/n, to take into account the four loans the jury found outside the coverage of the TIL Act.

Henson now appeals the district court’s judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
651 F.2d 320, 33 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 445, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 11225, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kenneth-m-henson-plaintiff-appellant-cross-v-columbus-bank-and-trust-ca5-1981.