Law v. Law Co. Building Associates

210 P.3d 676, 42 Kan. App. 2d 278, 2009 Kan. App. LEXIS 720
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedJuly 10, 2009
Docket100,497
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 210 P.3d 676 (Law v. Law Co. Building Associates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Law v. Law Co. Building Associates, 210 P.3d 676, 42 Kan. App. 2d 278, 2009 Kan. App. LEXIS 720 (kanctapp 2009).

Opinions

Greene, J.:

Margaret Russell Law (MRL) appeals a summary judgment against her on claims of breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, reformation of contract, and declaratory judgment, all of which were asserted by her against Law Company Building Associates (LCBA) and The Law Company (Law Co.) (collectively referred to as “defendants”) arising from a financing agreement on a commercial building in Wichita. Concluding the district court erred in terminating all of [280]*280her claims against defendants based on the statute of limitations, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

Factual and Procedural Background

This appeal is the latest installment of what has been a contentious relationship between Law Co. and the ex-spouse of its founder, engendered by the founder’s property settlement and alimony obligations to MRL. In a series of transactions begun in the late 1970s, Law Co. and its related building holding company, LCBA, became obligated to pay MRL certain economic benefits as a substitute for the court-ordered divorce settlement obligations of the founder. These transactions initially led to previous htigation and an appeal to this court. See Law Company Building Assocs., v. Law, No. 67,545, unpublished opinion filed April 2,1993. Detailed facts regarding the initial transaction, the previous dispute between the parties, and the court’s resolution of that dispute are available in that opinion.

Material to this appeal is that the parties entered into a “Financing Agreement” in 1984 to preserve MRL’s economic interests in the building and financing of a new corporate headquarters’ building for Law Co. called “The Riverview Building.” The Financing Agreement governed the sale or disposition of MRL’s interests in a predecessor property and granted her an “equity participation” in the new building, pegged at 11% of the “sale balance” as defined in the agreement. Key to this appeal is a provision in the agreement that “the Equity Participant [MRL] shall be entitled to 11% of the liquidation proceeds upon expiration of the term of LCBA in 2004 or earlier dissolution. (Paragraph 4(e) shall apply if the term of LCBA shall be extended by the partners thereof to a date later than December 31,2004).” The “term of LCBA,” a Kansas limited partnership, was apparently contemplated to be 20 years based on terms and conditions of related instruments in connection with the financing of the project by industrial revenue bonds issued by the City of Wichita.

Paragraph 4(e) of the Financial Agreement is entitled “Discharge of Equity Participation” but — curiously—does not speak to [281]*281any such “discharge” in the event of LCBA term extension beyond the December 2004 date. Instead, the paragraph begins as follows:

“The Equity Participation shall apply to each Refinancing but is discharged upon completion of one of more transactions which, taken together, amount to a Sale of all of the IRB Project or all LCBA partnership interests. Whether the Equity Participation is discharged by a single Sale or a series of partial Sales, the following shall apply.”

The balance of the paragraph details how the equity participation would be calculated in the event of one or more partial sales, including three detailed examples of such partial sales.

The heart of MRL’s argument in this appeal is based on a provision in a prior draft of paragraph 4(e) that does not appear in the final instrument but provided:

“Further, if, (i) the partners of LCBA extend the term of LCBA to a date later than December 31, 2004, or the liquidation of LCBA does not commence by April 15, 2005 for any other reason, and (ii) the Equity Participation has not previously been discharged, then the Equity Participant shall the have a right to liquidation of the Equity Participation upon one hundred twenty (120) days’ advance notice to LCBA.”

On June 24, 2002, Marc A. Porter, vice president of The Law Company and general partner of LCBA, certified that the LCBA Partnership Agreement was amended to extend the term of the LCBA partnership until December 31, 2024, unless dissolved sooner. Accordingly, defendants argue that MRL’s equity participation need not be discharged due to this extension. Porter, also The Law Company’s chief financial officer, executed an affidavit stating:

“Pursuant to the terms of the Promissory Note, Law Company paid Margaret Law the principle sum of $406,836.19 when the note matured on December 31, 2004. The total amount of money paid to Margaret Law for the Market Street Property, including interest, during the period from April 10, 1984 through December 31, 2004, was approximately two and one-fourth million dollars ($2,250,000).”

The extension of LCBA was placed of record and filed with the Kansas Secretary of State on June 27, 2002.

MRL raised multiple claims in her petition. First, she claimed LCBA’s refusal to pay the equity participation was a breach of [282]*282contract under the “Financing Agreement as properly construed.” Second, she claimed LCBA breached an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing under the “Financing Agreement as properly construed” by failing to pay the fair liquidation value of the equity participation in a timely fashion. MRL’s third count requested a reformation of the Financing Agreement “to make it express the true intent of the parties and that judgment be entered in her favor on the reformed contract for damages based upon the value of the Equity Participation.” In her last count, MRL requested a declaratory judgment on whether the omitted language should be included in the final Financing Agreement, whether she is entitled to immediate liquidation of her equity participation, and also a determination of the value of the equity participation. LCBA’s answer contained a denial of MRL’s claims and also a counterclaim requesting a judgment declaring that all amounts due under the Promissory Note were paid in full.

LCBA filed a motion to dismiss/motion for summary judgment arguing MRL’s claims were barred by the applicable statute of limitations. Alternatively, LCBA argued: (1) Kansas law precluded MRL from offering parole evidence that would alter or amend the terms of the Financing Agreement; (2) MRL’s claim for breach of good faith and fair dealing was derivative of the reformation claim; and (3) MRL should be estopped based on the prior lawsuit from arguing the Financing Agreement did not reflect the parties’ intent.

The district court granted a dismissal of MRL’s lawsuit, concluding in toto:

“1. Considering this matter in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and assuming the existence of mutual mistake, this is a contract reformation claim. All matters that are argued and presented in this case by plaintiff are subsumed within that claim.
“2. Plaintiff s claims are barred by the five-year statute of limitations set forth in K.S.A. <§ 60-511. Plaintiffs estoppel and unclean hands arguments do not have merit and do not preclude application of this statute of limitations.
“3. Plaintiff s reliance on Klepper v. Stover, 193 Kan. 219, 392 P.2d 957 (1964), is also misplaced.
“4. Plaintiff s claims of ultra vires have not been sufficiently presented.”

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Law v. Law Co. Building Associates
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
210 P.3d 676, 42 Kan. App. 2d 278, 2009 Kan. App. LEXIS 720, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/law-v-law-co-building-associates-kanctapp-2009.