Lake Ridge New Tech Sch. v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon, Trust Co., N.A.

353 F. Supp. 3d 745
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedNovember 13, 2018
DocketCAUSE NO.: 2:17-CV-388-TLS
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 353 F. Supp. 3d 745 (Lake Ridge New Tech Sch. v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon, Trust Co., N.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lake Ridge New Tech Sch. v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon, Trust Co., N.A., 353 F. Supp. 3d 745 (N.D. Ind. 2018).

Opinion

THERESA L. SPRINGMANN, CHIEF JUDGE

This matter is before the Court on the Defendant's, Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A. ("Bank" or "Trustee"), Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Complaint pursuant to Federal Rule Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) [ECF No. 38]. The Plaintiffs, Lake Ridge New Tech Schools and Lake Ridge Multipurpose School Building Corporation (collectively, "Plaintiffs"), filed their Response on September 24, 2018. [ECF No. 44.] On October 11, 2018, the Bank filed its Reply [ECF No. 47.] For the reasons stated in this Opinion and Order, the Court GRANTS the Defendant's Motion.

BACKGROUND

This case concerns whether the Bank, as an indenture trustee, can be held liable for processing a fraudulent pay affidavit, purportedly sent by Lake Ridge Multipurpose School Building Corporation, under contract and tort theories. Accordingly, the Court begins with a review of the relevant contract and underlying facts.

A. September 1, 2015 Trust Indenture Agreement

The Bank and Lake Ridge Multi School Building Corporation ("Building Corporation") entered into a Trust Indenture Agreement on or about September 1, 2015 [ECF No. 1, Ex. A] ("Indenture Agreement"), which governed the issuance and redemption of municipal bonds to fund the renovation of Calumet High School ("Project") through a trust ("Trust").1 (Compl. ¶¶ 7-11, ECF No. 5.) Under the Indenture Agreement, the Bank was to act as the indenture trustee and was authorized to employ agents, attorneys, and counsel to administer and execute the Trust. (Compl. ¶ 12.) Construction funds for the Project were deposited and held in the trust account, and the Bank, as indenture trustee, made payments to contractors and vendors on the Project from the trust account upon the submission of a pay affidavit. (Compl. ¶ 15-16.)

The Indenture Agreement contained several provisions governing the Building Corporation's and the Bank's submission and processing of pay affidavits. Under Section 3.01 of the Indenture Agreement, all pay affidavits were to be submitted by *749an authorized representative of the Building Corporation. Section 3.01 stated: "All payments from the Construction Account shall be made by the Trustee upon presentation of an affidavit executed by an officer of the [Building] Corporation or the Lessor Representative, stating the character of the expenditure, the amount thereof, and to whom due, together with the statement of the creditor as to the amount owing."

Section 10.09 of the Indenture Agreement governed the obligations and rights of the Bank once it had received a pay affidavit. Section 10.09 provided that "the Trustee shall have the right to accept and act upon the instructions, including funds transfer instructions ("Instructions") given pursuant to this Indenture and delivered using Electronic Means ...." The Agreement defined "Electronic Means" to include e-mail. (Indenture Agreement § 1.01(g).) Further, with respect to pay affidavits submitted through Electronic Means, Section 10.09 stated: "If the [Building] Corporation elects to give the Trustee Instructions using Electronic Means and the Trustee in its discretion elects to act upon such Instructions, the Trustee's understanding of such Instructions shall be deemed controlling."

In connection with the authenticity of pay affidavits submitted through Electronic Means, the Indenture Agreement added: "[The Building] Corporation understands and agrees that the Trustee cannot determine the identity of the actual sender of such Instructions and that the Trustee shall conclusively presume that directions that purport to have been sent by an Authorized Officer listed on the incumbency certificate provided to the Trustee have been sent by such Authorized Officer." (Indenture Agreement § 10.09.) Moreover, the Agreement contained the following language regarding the possibility of unauthorized pay affidavit submissions and liability thereof:

"The [Building] Corporation shall be responsible for ensuring that only Authorized Officers transmit such [pay affidavit] Instructions to the Trustee and that the Corporation and all Authorized Officers are solely responsible to safeguard the use and confidentiality of applicable user and authorization codes, passwords and/or authentication keys upon receipt by the Corporation. The Trustee shall not be liable for any losses, costs or expenses arising directly or indirectly from the Trustee's reliance upon and compliance with such Instructions notwithstanding such directions conflict or are inconsistent with a subsequent written instruction. The Corporation agrees: (i) to assume all risks arising out of the use of Electronic Means to submit Instructions to the Trustee, including without limitation the risk of the Trustee acting on unauthorized Instructions, and the risk of interception and misuse by third parties; (ii) that it is fully informed of the protections and risks associated with the various methods of transmitting Instructions to the Trustee and that there may be more secure methods of transmitting Instructions than the method(s) selected by the Corporation; (iii) that the security procedures (if any) to be followed in connection with its transmission of Instructions provide to it a commercially reasonable degree of protection in light of its particular needs and circumstances; and (iv) to notify the Trustee immediately upon learning of any compromise or unauthorized use of the security procedures.

(Indenture Agreement § 10.09.)

The Agreement also contains provisions defining and limiting the Bank's duties to the Building Corporation with respect to the administration of the Trust. Of specific *750importance in this case, the Agreement stated: "The Trustee shall not be responsible in any manner for: ... [T]he default or misconduct of any agent or employee appointed by it, if such agent or employee shall have been selected with reasonable care, or for anything done by it in connection with this trust, except for its willful misconduct or gross negligence." (Agreement § 10.01(f)(4).)

B. Fraudulent October 12, 2016, Pay Affidavit

The Building Corporation appointed Laura Hubinger as the authorized representative designated to submit pay affidavits to the Bank. (Compl. ¶ 16.) Between March 30, 2016, and October 3, 2016, Hubinger prepared pay affidavits and sent them to the Bank through e-mail. (Compl. ¶¶ 18-19.)

On October 9, 2016, Bradley Moss, a Bank employee, emailed Hubinger about a lease document. (Compl. ¶ 21.) Moss received an automatic "out-of-office" email from Hubinger informing Moss that Hubinger would be on vacation until October 18 or 19. (Id. ) On October 12, 2016, a fraudulently submitted pay affidavit ("October 12 Pay Affidavit") was sent to the Bank from Hubinger's e-mail account, which an unknown third-party had hacked. (Id. ¶ 22.) The Bank's agents and employees processed and paid $120,882.83 from the Trust pursuant to the October 12 Pay Affidavit. After the parties discovered the October 12 Pay Affidavit was fraudulent, Plaintiffs demanded that the Bank credit $120,882.83 to the Trust but the Bank refused.

C. The Plaintiffs' Complaint

On August 2, 2017, the Plaintiffs filed their Complaint against the Bank and Bradley Moss, in Lake County, Indiana.

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Bluebook (online)
353 F. Supp. 3d 745, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lake-ridge-new-tech-sch-v-bank-of-ny-mellon-trust-co-na-innd-2018.