Lester Witte & Co. v. Moats (In re Lester Witte & Co.)

43 B.R. 78, 1984 Bankr. LEXIS 4911
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 28, 1984
DocketBankruptcy No. 82 B 4428; Adv. No. 84 A 182
StatusPublished

This text of 43 B.R. 78 (Lester Witte & Co. v. Moats (In re Lester Witte & Co.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lester Witte & Co. v. Moats (In re Lester Witte & Co.), 43 B.R. 78, 1984 Bankr. LEXIS 4911 (Ill. 1984).

Opinion

ORDER

ROBERT L. EISEN, Bankruptcy Judge.

The dispute here involves the malpractice liability of three accounting firms. It is before the court on the debtor’s (“Witte”) request that the court enjoin Bruce C. Moats and Houston Fabricating, Inc. (“Houston”) from naming the debtor and Fox & Co. as defendants in a malpractice suit filed in Texas. This determination is necessary in the bankruptcy proceeding because Fox holds funds due the estate, but refuses to relinquish those funds pending resolution of the malpractice question, or alternatively, pending a ruling that Fox cannot be liable on the facts alleged herein. By agreement, the parties have submitted to the court for resolution the question whether Lester Witte and, hence, Fox is liable under applicable Texas partnership law and the relevant agreements between the parties for possible malpractice which may arise from the performance of accounting services by Maness, Broome & Associates (“M.B. & A.”) for Moats and Houston.

For the reasons set forth in this memorandum, this court determines that Witte and Fox could not be liable for malpractice under Texas partnership law, even if Mannes, Broome & Associates are found liable.

FACTS

The facts in the matter presently before the court are undisputed. Bruce Moats owned most shares of two companies, [79]*79Houston Fabricating, Inc. and Bayport. In 1974 Moats arranged with the M.B. & A. accounting firm to provide certain accounting services.

Specifically, Moats wanted to transfer substantial operating losses incurred by Bayport to Houston which had taxable income for the year in question. Houston paid M.B. & A. an advance fee of $50,000. Regarding that fee, Houston, Moats and M.B. & A. agreed as follows:

4. In the event that all or any part of any deduction claimed by Client for purposes of reporting its federal income tax liability arising out of any transaction entered into and undertaken by Client pursuant to the plan and course of action recommended by Accountant to Client in the Opinion, is disallowed by the Internal Revenue Service, and any deficiency of payment of federal income taxes is assessed against Client as a result thereof, and such assessment is sustained at the appellate level of the Internal Revenue Service, then Accountant shall repay to Client, within thirty (30) days following the date of formal notice of such decision by the appellate staff of the Internal Revenue Service, a pro-rata amount of the accounting fees paid and payable by Client to Accountant hereunder, the amount of such repayment to be equal to the result obtained by multiplying the accounting fee ($50,000) by a fraction, the numerator of which is the amount of the deduction disallowed and the denominator of which is the amount of Bay-port’s net operating loss claimed by Client as a deduction or loss in the tax year in question.

On January 28, 1982, the IRS Appellate Division disallowed Houston’s attempt to utilize Bayport’s net operating loss.

Prior to the IRS action, on January 1, 1978, M.B. & A. and Lester Witte & Co. (“Witte”) had entered into an agreement whereby M.B. & A. would stop providing accounting services to certain of its Houston, Texas clients and Witte would make itself available to do so. M.B. & A. remained in business in other cities. M.B. & A. continued to advise Moats and Houston regarding the net operating loss matter.

Four years later, Witte ceased accounting practice in Houston and entered into an agreement with a third firm, Fox & Company. The agreement between Fox and Witte provided that Fox assume only certain of Witte’s business liabilities and that Witte would indemnify and hold Fox harmless from claims, liabilities, costs or expenses "... relating to or arising out of the performance of professional services by Witte” prior to the date of the agreement between Witte and Fox. It is undisputed that neither Witte nor Fox performed professional services for Moats or Houston on the net operating loss matter.

Rather, Moats and Houston allege that Witte and Fox are liable for the work performed by M.B. & A. and have filed a lawsuit in the state courts of Texas. Witte has sought a temporary restraining order and a judgment declaring that Witte is not liable for any work performed by M.B. & A. on the net operating loss matter. The parties have agreed to submit to the court for resolution the question of whether under applicable Texas law, Witte and, hence, Fox could be liable to Moats and Houston for professional services rendered by M.B. & A.

DISCUSSION

The liability of Lester Witte & Co. and Fox for professional services rendered by the accounting firm of M.B. & A. is governed by the Texas Uniform Partnership Act, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. art. 6132b. Three subsections of that Act are asserted to control the instant facts and serve as a basis for finding Witte and Fox liable.

The first subsection which Moats and Houston assert imposes potential liability on Witte and Fox. is section 41(1). That subsection provides:

Sec. 41. (1) When any new partner is admitted into an existing partnership, or when any partner retires and assigns (or the representative of the deceased partner assigns) his rights in partnership [80]*80property to two or more of the partners, or to one or more of the partners, and one or more third persons, if the business is continued without liquidation of the partnership affairs, creditors of the first or dissolved partnership are also creditors of the partnership so continuing the business.

Texas Civ.Code Ann. art. 6132(b) § 41(1) (Vernon 1982).

Where one partnership assigns to another the right to provide accounting services to a certain number of clients and no partners of the first partnership remain as partners of the second, the second partnership, in the absence of a specific agreement to the contrary, is not liable for the malpractice of the first. Source and Comments, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. art. 6132(b) § 41(1).

Moats and Houston have argued that subsection 41(1) of the Texas Partnership Act imposes liability on Witte and Fox in stating that “creditors of the first or dissolved partnership are also creditors of the partnership so continuing the business.” Section 41(1) does not impose liability on Witte and Fox. That subsection applies to a situation where a new partner is admitted to an existing partnership or a partner of the first partnership retires and assigns his property rights to the remaining partners or third persons. The Official Comment to the Uniform Partnership Act, from which Act the Texas Act was taken, clearly indicates that the section addresses situations in which a new partner is admitted or a partner is expelled or dies. Official Comment U.P.A. § 41 at 511. The Source and Comments to the Texas Act state that the section is the same as the national act. Source and Comments, Texas Civ.Code Ann. art. 6132b § 41(4). Moats and Houston have argued that because a former partner of M.B. & A. remained with Witte as a manager, subsection 41(1) applies. They further assert the fact that he did not join Witte as a partner is irrelevant. This court disagrees. The Code Comment’s examples clearly contemplate instances in which the composition of the partnership changes but at least one partner of the first partnership remains in the successor partnership as a partner. That is not the situation in the present case.

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Bluebook (online)
43 B.R. 78, 1984 Bankr. LEXIS 4911, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lester-witte-co-v-moats-in-re-lester-witte-co-ilnb-1984.