Luzerne National Bank v. LaFratte (In Re LaFratte)

281 B.R. 575, 2002 Bankr. LEXIS 817, 2002 WL 1831918
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 29, 2002
DocketBankruptcy No. 5-99-01884. Adversary No. 5-99-00140A
StatusPublished

This text of 281 B.R. 575 (Luzerne National Bank v. LaFratte (In Re LaFratte)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Luzerne National Bank v. LaFratte (In Re LaFratte), 281 B.R. 575, 2002 Bankr. LEXIS 817, 2002 WL 1831918 (Pa. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

JOHN J. THOMAS, Bankruptcy Judge.

Andrew LaFratte is the sole stockholder and principal of L & L Processing, a manufacturer of rotary processing equipment. The business supplied specially ordered parts to various customers throughout the world. Because L & L did not have sufficient capital to advance expenses of manufacturing these parts, it entered into a Cash Flow Maximizer Agreement with a local financial institution, the Luzerne National Bank, hereinafter “LNB” or “Bank”. (See Transcript of 11/27/2000 at 74 (Doc. # 17A).) Under the terms of that Agreement, account receivables would be sold to the Bank at their face amount less a reserve and a bank fee, and the customer would be instructed to direct payment to L & L at a lock box in custody of the Bank. Should the receivable not be paid in a timely fashion, the Bank would transfer the receivable back to L & L in return for *577 those funds that were theretofore advanced. The Debtor personally guaranteed the obligation. (Plaintiffs Exhibit No. 1.)

The initial line of credit advanced under these terms was in the amount of $350,000. By all accounts, the arrangement worked marvelously and the Bank was encouraged to repeat the process for a requested larger line in the amount of $600,000. It was then that the relationship deteriorated. It turned out that many of the “receivables” turned over by LaFratte to the Bank were not collectable and the Bank found itself with the line of credit extended to approximately $597,000 when L & L filed Chapter Seven bankruptcy. Shortly thereafter, LaFratte filed bankruptcy attempting to discharge his personal guarantee.

It was the personal bankruptcy that spawned the Bank’s Complaint to Determine Dischargeability presently pending before me. The Bank alleges that LaF-ratte provided worthless invoices which were not truly receivables because, in only one of the identified transactions, was product manufactured and, in that case, it was said to be defective. The customers refused to pay L & L for goods that were not delivered. The Bank complains under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A) and § 523(a)(4). Shortly before trial, the Bank withdrew its Complaint under Section 523(a)(4). (Transcript of 11/14/2000 at 27 (Doc. # 15A).)

Three days of testimony were conducted on this matter diming which the Debtor reaffirmed his understanding that all invoices were valid and collectable at the time they were presented to the Bank. He acknowledged that they were not capable of being collected at the time of trial because product was not delivered, with the exception of the one occasion when the customer argued the item was defective. LaFratte testified that he generally relied on telephonic orders from customers. This was the way he had operated under the earlier line of credit with the Bank and everything went well. The Debtor, in inconsistent fashion, asserted that the customers agreed to pay L & L in advance of manufacturing the needed part, but, somehow, that obligation ceased when the Debt- or did not produce the part. Little written backup for the orders was provided because, as implied by Debtor’s counsel, it was not subpoenaed.

The Plaintiff alleges that the obligation should survive the bankruptcy discharge by reason of 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A). That section reads:

§ 523. Exceptions to discharge.
(a) A discharge under section 727, 1141, 1228(a), 1228(b), or 1328(b) of this title does not discharge an individual debtor from any debt—
(2) for money, property, services, or an extension, renewal, or refinancing of credit, to the extent obtained by—
(A) false pretenses, a false representation, or actual fraud, other than a statement respecting the debtor’s or an insider’s financial condition; ...

11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A)

In Field v. Mans, 516 U.S. 59, 116 S.Ct. 437, 133 L.Ed.2d 351 (1995), the Supreme Court observed that terminology utilized in 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A) incorporates the “general common law of torts.” Id., 516 U.S. at 71 n. 9, 116 S.Ct. at 444 n. 9. Furthermore, “the most widely accepted distillation of the common law of torts [is] the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1976).” Id., 516 U.S. at 70, 116 S.Ct. at 443-444. That “distillation” can be found in Section 525 of the Restatement, Liability for Fraudulent Misrepresentation, which incorporates the following elements established *578 by the historical development of the common law in causes of action in deceit:
1. A false representation made by the defendant. In the ordinary case, this representation must be one of fact.
2. Knowledge or belief on the part of the defendant that the representation is false — or, what is regarded as equivalent, that he has not a sufficient basis of information to make it. This element often is given the technical name of “scienter.”
3. An intention to induce the plaintiff to act or to refrain from action in reliance upon the misrepresentation.
4. Justifiable reliance-upon the representation on the part of the plaintiff, in taking action or refraining from it.
5. Damage to the plaintiff, resulting from such reliance. William L. Prosser, Handbook of the Law of Torts § 100 (3rd ed.1964).
Essential to the Plaintiff prevailing on this Complaint is meeting the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the Debtor made a false representation. Grog an v. Garner, 498 U.S. 279, 111 S.Ct. 654, 112 L.Ed.2d 755 (1991).

In re Scocozzo, 220 B.R. 850, 852 (Bankr.M.D.Pa.1998).

There is little dispute that the Bank has met its burden of establishing that the Debtor represented the invoices to be receivables. I find that the record is insufficient to find any of the invoices presented to the Bank would qualify under the Cash Flow Maximizer Agreement definition of account receivable, or, for that matter, under any common understanding of the term receivable. I make this finding notwithstanding LaFratte’s testimony to the contrary. While this would make LaF-ratte potentially liable for negligent misrepresentation as that tort is understood in the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 552 and applied in Pennsylvania (J.E. Mamiye Sons, Inc. v. Fidelity Bank, 813 F.2d 610, 615 (3d Cir.1987)), the Debtor’s negligence is not at issue before me.

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Related

Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder
425 U.S. 185 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Grogan v. Garner
498 U.S. 279 (Supreme Court, 1991)
Field v. Mans
516 U.S. 59 (Supreme Court, 1995)
Luciani v. Bestor
436 N.E.2d 251 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
281 B.R. 575, 2002 Bankr. LEXIS 817, 2002 WL 1831918, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/luzerne-national-bank-v-lafratte-in-re-lafratte-pamb-2002.