McReynolds v. Cherokee Insurance Co.

896 S.W.2d 777, 1994 Tenn. App. LEXIS 462
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedAugust 17, 1994
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 896 S.W.2d 777 (McReynolds v. Cherokee Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McReynolds v. Cherokee Insurance Co., 896 S.W.2d 777, 1994 Tenn. App. LEXIS 462 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

CANTRELL, Judge.

This is an action by the Special Deputy Commissioner of Insurance for the Rehabilitation of Cherokee Insurance Company, against Cherokee’s owner, Diamond Financial Holdings, Inc., for the amounts allegedly due under a tax sharing agreement. The Chancery Court of Davidson County granted summary judgment to Diamond, holding that the agreement was terminated at the end of June 1984 and that the rehabilitator could not revise Cherokee’s annual statements for the years 1982, 1983, and 1984. We affirm.

I.

Diamond, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dana Corporation, acquired all of Cherokee’s capital stock in November of 1980. In February of 1982 Diamond and Cherokee entered into the tax sharing agreement that is the heart of this controversy. The pertinent parts of the agreement are:

1. To the extent permitted by applicable federal income tax laws, Diamond and its subsidiaries will file a consolidated federal income tax return and include Cherokee therein.
2. Diamond shall reimburse Cherokee any amount equal to 100 percent of Cherokee’s current federal tax benefit, as computed under generally accepted accounting principles and reported in Cherokee’s financial statements provided that such provision represents a credit or negative income tax expense.
3. In the event that Cherokee’s current federal tax provision, as computed under generally accepted accounting principles and reported in Cherokee’s financial statements, represents a debit or positive income tax expense, then Cherokee shall reimburse Diamond an amount equal to 100 percent of such provision.
4. To the extent that reimbursement is required by either party under paragraphs 2 or 3 above, such reimburse[779]*779ment shall be made on quarterly basis within 30 days following the end of each calendar quarter. The reimbursement shall be based on the financial statement current federal tax provisions for the quarter, as computed under generally accepted accounting principles and reported in the Cherokee’s quarterly financial statements.

The agreement did not include a statement of duration and did not incorporate any stipulations regarding termination.

From February 1982 through March 31, 1984, Diamond paid Cherokee all obligations arising under the agreement. The amounts were calculated based on Cherokee’s current federal tax position as reported on its quarterly financial statements.

Cherokee was, during 1983 and the early part of 1984, going through a financial crisis. By June of 1984 the senior officers of Cherokee, Diamond, and Dana were aware that Cherokee was incurring staggering losses due, in part, to the troubles experienced by its two principal reinsurers. Consequently, on June 28, 1984, Diamond terminated the tax agreement in a letter hand delivered to Cherokee the next day.

On July 17, 1984 Cherokee was placed in voluntary rehabilitation in the Chancery Court of Davidson County. The chancellor appointed the insurance commissioner as receiver and the commissioner appointed the plaintiff as rehabilitator.

On March 1, 1990, the rehabilitator filed a complaint against Diamond seeking a declaratory judgment that Diamond did not legally terminate the tax sharing agreement in June of 1984 and that Diamond owed Cherokee substantial amounts under the agreement for the years 1983 and 1984. On the same day he filed this action, the plaintiff selectively revised Cherokee’s financial statements to show greater losses than the statements originally indicated.

The restated financial statements contain two major revisions showing Cherokee suffered much higher losses than originally reported. The first involves the recharacteri-zation of a $6,500,000 payment made by Diamond to Cherokee in 1983. Shown on the original statement as premium income, the plaintiff insists that the payment was in fact a capital contribution. Thus, Cherokee’s losses were $6,500,000 greater than earlier indicated, resulting in a $2,990,000 obligation from Diamond under the tax sharing agreement. (Cherokee’s marginal tax rate was forty-six percent.).

The other revision to the 1984 financial statement involved taking losses in 1984 that were originally reported in 1985. In its original 1984 statement Cherokee reported $16,-008,391 due from two reinsurers. The plaintiffs position is that the asset was, in fact, worthless in 1984 and should have been written off then. The effect on Cherokee’s tax position for 1984 would be $7,313,860.

II.

The plaintiffs contention boils down to this: that the tax sharing agreement was in effect until at least December 31, 1984, and that the revised financial statements show an obligation from Diamond to Cherokee based on the agreement. (The chancellor held that the agreement was in effect through the second quarter of 1984 and the parties have settled the claim for the amount owed up to that date.).

The first question is whether Diamond had the right to terminate the agreement. Diamond argues that since the contract did not contain a termination date it was terminable at will. Although Diamond also argues that the contract is governed by Tennessee law, it does not cite any authority for the terminable at will theory. Perhaps the proposition is so well known that it should be judicially noticed, but the authorities with which we are familiar say that contracts for an indefinite duration are generally terminable at will by either party with reasonable notice. First Flight Associates, Inc. v. Professional Golf Co., Inc., 527 F.2d 931 (6th Cir.1975); Misco, Inc. v. United States Steel, 784 F.2d 198 (6th Cir.1986); see also 17A C.J.S. Contracts § 398. We do not think that the question of reasonable notice could be reached on this record on a motion for summary judgment.

[780]*780The intention of the parties is, of course, the ultimate question to be decided on the construction of any agreement. McCall v. Oldenburg, 53 Tenn.App. 300, 382 S.W.2d 537 (1964). It may be, as Diamond also argues, that the parties intended the contract to be terminable at will without notice, but we think the record would not allow that conclusion to be made on a motion for summary judgment either.

But, assuming that Diamond did not have the right to terminate the agreement without reasonable notice, did Diamond in fact terminate the agreement by its letter of June 28, 1984? Even a continuing contract may be terminated by one party if the other party assents. Tidwell v. Morgan Bldg. Systems, Inc., 840 S.W.2d 373 (Tenn. App.1992). What the cases call a mutual rescission may be effected by acts and conduct that are positive, unequivocal, and inconsistent with the contract’s existence. Id.; Arkansas Dailies, Inc. v. Dan, 36 Tenn.App. 663, 260 S.W.2d 200 (1953).

We think the uncontradicted proof in the record shows that Cherokee assented to the rescission.

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896 S.W.2d 777, 1994 Tenn. App. LEXIS 462, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcreynolds-v-cherokee-insurance-co-tennctapp-1994.