McKinney v. State of Maryland Deposit Insurance Fund Corp.

636 A.2d 10, 99 Md. App. 124, 1994 Md. App. LEXIS 21
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJanuary 26, 1994
DocketNo. 1776
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 636 A.2d 10 (McKinney v. State of Maryland Deposit Insurance Fund Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McKinney v. State of Maryland Deposit Insurance Fund Corp., 636 A.2d 10, 99 Md. App. 124, 1994 Md. App. LEXIS 21 (Md. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

WILNER, Chief Judge.

Appellant is upset with an order entered by the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, pursuant to Md. Rule 2-651, requiring her to deposit certain funds with the court if and when she receives them from the Clerk of the United States District Court. She believes that the court had no authority to enter such an order and asks us, therefore, to strike it. We find no impropriety in the order.

Background

This case is a lingering consequence arising from the collapse of Community Savings & Loan, Inc. (Community) and, more particularly, from the shenanigans on the part of those who once were in control of Community. In addition to Federal criminal charges brought against some of those persons, including appellant and Tom Billman, both of whom were officers and directors of Community and some of its related entities, civil actions were instituted against them by appellee, Maryland Deposit Insurance Fund Corporation (MDIF), as receiver of Community, to recover losses incurred by virtue of alleged breaches of their duties of care and loyalty to Community. One of the claims in both the civil actions and in the Federal indictments was that Billman had managed to transfer $22 million in funds belonging to Community to Swiss bank accounts.

On October 6, 1988, after full trial in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, judgments were entered in favor of MDIF against Billman for over $112 million, against Crysopt Corporation for over $94 million, and against appellant for over $101 million. The judgments against Billman and Crysopt were affirmed on appeal. See State Deposit v. Billman, 321 Md. 3, 580 A.2d 1044 (1990), on remand, 88 Md.App. 79, 593 A.2d 684, cert. denied, 325 Md. 94, 599 A.2d 447 (1991).

After the judgments were entered, and apparently during the pendency of the Federal criminal trial, Billman disappeared. He remained a fugitive until March, 1993, when he [127]*127was finally apprehended in France and extradited to the United States.

On December 23, 1988, appellant and MDIF entered into a Settlement Agreement in compromise and satisfaction of the judgment against her. In its recital clauses, the agreement noted that the judgment against appellant was for compensatory damages only and was not based on any claim of fraudulent conduct on her part, that appellant had incurred considerable expense in defending the action, and that her insurer, American Casualty Company of Reading, Pa., had refused to defend appellant, pay any part of the expenses incurred by her, or pay any part of the judgment. The agreement called for appellant to pay to MDIF $300,000, of which $75,000 was to be paid in cash -within 30 days and the balance pursuant to a promissory note secured by a deed of trust on her Virginia home. It also required her to assign to MDIF all of her rights under the American Casualty policy.

Paragraph 3 of the agreement provided, in pertinent part, that “the judgment shall be satisfied in full as against [appellant] (assuming full compliance by [her] with all the terms and conditions of this Settlement Agreement).” Paragraph 11 stated:

“MDIF and [Community] hereby covenant and agree not to look to any of [appellant’s] future sources of income or funds to in any manner increase [appellant’s] obligations hereunder or to in any manner amend or void this Settlement Agreement. Furthermore, MDIF and [Community] agree that in the event any other defendant in the Billman, Action, corporate or individual, agrees to pay some or all of [appellant’s] attorneys’ fees or some or all of the sums required under paragraph 1 of this Settlement Agreement, MDIF and [Community] will take all reasonable actions to permit such payments to be made and in the event that the same are made toward the amounts due pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Settlement Agreement, shall credit [appellant’s] obligation hereunder therefor to the same extent as if [appellant] made such payments.”

[128]*128In ¶ 13, MDIF undertook to prosecute a claim against American Casualty to recover all covered losses that that company was obligated to pay on behalf of appellant. Appellant agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of that claim and also:

“to cooperate reasonably with MDIF and [Community] ... in MDIF’s efforts to recover on its judgment in the Billman Action. If [appellant] fails to comply in good faith with this paragraph, MDIF and [Community] at their sole option may rescind this Settlement Agreement.”

Paragraph 14 allowed MDIF to obtain “one sworn statement relating to [appellant’s] assets or any other matter in connection with the collection of the Judgment against other defendants” and provided that if she “does not honestly and completely answer questions put to her, this Settlement Agreement shall be null and void.” Finally, in ¶ 23, appellant consented to the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County “for all purposes in connection with this Settlement Agreement.”

MDIF had taken a deposition of appellant in aid of executing on its judgment on December 8, 1988—prior to entering into the settlement agreement; it never sought another sworn statement as provided for in ¶ 14. In that deposition, appellant stated that there was no one in the world keeping any asset for her, that apart from a claim against American Casualty for coverage, she was asserting no claim against anyone “that would bring moneys back to [her],” that, with the exception of a Crysopt account that she believed had been closed, she was not aware of any transfers of assets outside the United States by Billman, Crysopt, or any related entity, and that she was unaware of any asset of Billman that was not in either Maryland or Virginia. She acknowledged her continuing duty to cooperate.

Appellant paid the $75,000 and gave MDIF the note and other documents called for by the agreement, and so, on February 16, 1989, MDIF released its judgment against her in [129]*129the Virginia court in which it had been recorded.1 Appellant paid the note in November, 1989; on December 11, 1990, MDIF released its lien on her home.

While all of this was transpiring, the Government was actively seeking to locate Billman and, as part of that effort, obtained a court order to tap appellant’s telephone. The tap revealed frequent calls from Billman, a fact which appellant had acknowledged in her December, 1988 deposition. On May 9, 1989, appellant received an overseas call from Michael Byrd, a London solicitor retained by Billman, in which the two arranged for the wire transfer of funds from Billman to an account in the name of appellant’s mother in Detroit, Michigan. In that conversation, both Byrd and appellant avoided referring to Billman by name, preferring to call him “a mutual client.” On May 17, 1989, Billman, through Byrd, transferred nearly $500,000 to appellant via her mother’s bank account.

On May 18, Billman called appellant to confirm the delivery of the money. In that conversation, they used code phrases and indirect references to confirm the delivery of the money and to plan a future contact at what they believed to be a “safe” line in Virginia. Billman inquired as follows: “It’s my understanding that the eagle has flown and landed on your end.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Burnett v. Spencer
146 A.3d 560 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2016)
General Motors Corp. v. Seay
879 A.2d 1049 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
636 A.2d 10, 99 Md. App. 124, 1994 Md. App. LEXIS 21, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mckinney-v-state-of-maryland-deposit-insurance-fund-corp-mdctspecapp-1994.