Noonan v. First Bank Butte

740 P.2d 631, 227 Mont. 329, 4 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1027, 44 State Rptr. 1124, 1987 Mont. LEXIS 917
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 1, 1987
Docket86-231
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 740 P.2d 631 (Noonan v. First Bank Butte) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Noonan v. First Bank Butte, 740 P.2d 631, 227 Mont. 329, 4 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1027, 44 State Rptr. 1124, 1987 Mont. LEXIS 917 (Mo. 1987).

Opinions

MR. JUSTICE WEBER

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

This is an appeal from a jury verdict and judgment entered by the District Court of the Second Judicial District, Silver Bow County, in favor of the Noonans and against First Bank Butte (FBB). The jury awarded the Noonans $800,000 for loss of profits, wages, business opportunities, and credit, and $700,000 for emotional distress. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

FBB raises nine issues on appeal. The case requires a new trial based on two of the issues raised. First, the jury was ‘improperly instructed on the tort of bad faith, and second, the jury was improperly instructed on emotional distress. For the guidance of court and [331]*331counsel on remand, we also discuss the issues of whether the jury should have been instructed on both the implied and statutory duties of good faith, the propriety of excluding certain testimony of an attorney for the Noonans, and whether the jury should have been instructed on negligence. Because we remand the case for new trial, we will not address the issues raised by FBB on sufficiency of the evidence.

Excelsior Meats was a partnership in Butte, Montana, operated by brothers Leo and Dan Noonan. Leo and Dan both have limited educational backgrounds and began working in the family business at a young age. Leo took care of the business aspect of the partnership and Dan worked in the store. Leo also operated a cattle feedlot. The cattle from the feedlot were sold to Excelsior Meats. Dan began his own feedlot operation in May 1981, and also sold cattle to the partnership.

Larry Dwyer was a loan officer at FBB. He had known Leo and Dan Noonan for a long time. There is a conflict in the testimony as to whether Mr. Dwyer first approached Leo Noonan or vice versa, but in 1973, FBB began loaning money to Leo Noonan. The initial loan was for $7,000 to purchase cattle. The Noonans maintained a large checking account balance at FBB and promised to transfer $12,000 in certificates of deposit to FBB. No security was required for the loan.

Leo Noonan continued to borrow from FBB and by April 1975 had over $77,000 on loan. In 1975, FBB also loaned the Noonans $100,000 to expand their meat market building. This loan was secured by a real estate lien on their property.

In November 1980, John Johnson took over the Noonan loans at FBB. At that time, the loans to Leo Noonan and the partnership totaled almost $200,000, excluding the real estate loan. The loans were secured by feedlot cattle, inventory, accounts receivable, furniture, and fixtures of the meat market. When he took over the loans, Mr. Johnson requested financial statements and tax returns. Bob Prigge, a CPA and the Noonans’ accountant, prepared the financial statements.

Mr. Johnson testified that at the time he believed the Excelsior Meats’ financial statements supported FBB’s loans to the Noonans. However, because the statements reflected only the Excelsior Meats’ partnership income, they did not accurately show the profitability or debt of the total Noonan operations. Leo Noonan’s feedlot business, which lost money in every year between 1977 and 1981, was not re-[332]*332fleeted in the financial statements. Mr. Prigge testified that he offered to provide tax returns for the feedlot operation but that Mr. Johnson refused. Mr. Johnson testified that he was not informed that the financial statements given to him were incomplete.

The financial statements did not disclose that between 1978 and 1981 the Noonans borrowed $125,000 from K.B. Williams, or that they borrowed $45,000 in 1980 from the McLaughlins. Of even greater significance, the Noonans did not disclose to anyone in FBB and the financial statements did not disclose $220,000 owed by Leo Noonan to Miners Bank at the end of 1980, and $93,000 owed by Dan Noonan to Montana Bank in August 1981.

Based on the financial statements, Mr. Johnson renewed a $70,000 loan to Leo Noonan and the partnership in November 1981, and a $250,000 loan in December of the same year. The $70,000 loan was due on demand and was secured by certificates of deposit on account with FBB. The $250,000 loan was due in November 1982 and was secured by 220 head of steers at the feedlot, and by the inventory, accounts receivable, furniture, and fixtures at Excelsior Meats.

In March 1982, Leo Noonan received a letter from Miners Bank requiring payment of one of his delinquent loans. He contacted his attorney, who arranged a meeting with Miners Bank and FBB. At that meeting the Noonans disclosed debts of $980,156.54. Their assets, as of their most recent financial statement, for fiscal year 1980, were $509,800. This information is contained in defendants’ Exhibit 10, introduced at trial.

On learning of the financial position of the Noonans, FBB contacted its attorneys. On their advice, and acting under the default provision of its security agreement, FBB froze the assets in the Noonans’ partnership checking account and cashed in their certificates of deposit. The Noonans’ counsel presented a workout plan to all three banks, but FBB refused to go along with the plan. In April 1982, FBB took control of and liquidated Excelsior Meats pursuant to an authorization for peaceful repossession of collateral signed by Leo and Dan Noonan.

Leo and Dan Noonan filed for bankruptcy individually and on behalf of the partnership in June 1982. They received discharges in bankruptcy in October 1982. After the discharges, they paid $9,432 to bring current their mortgage payments to FBB and $8,100 to bring current other obligations on the market, including repair bills caused by FBB’s repossession of the building. FBB returned the building to them, and Dan Noonan reopened the business.

[333]*333In March 1984, the Noonans sued FBB. Dan Noonan testified his sales are approximately one-half their 1981 level, he has a hard time getting credit, and because of the bankruptcy he lost his USDA license, which enabled him to sell wholesale. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the Noonans for $800,000 in lost profits and $700,000 in emotional distress. FBB appeals.

I

Was the jury improperly instructed on the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing?

FBB argues that the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing cannot apply where a statutory duty of good faith exists. Here, a statutory duty of good faith is present under the Uniform Commercial Code, Section 30-1-203, MCA:

“Every contract or duty within this code imposes an obligation of good faith in its performance or enforcement.”

FBB also contends that, even if an instruction on the common-law duty of good faith is allowed in this case, the one given was inadequate.

This Court has not prohibited application of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing where there is a statutory duty of good faith present. In the past, the Court has extended the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing to cases involving banks dealing with their customers. In Tribby v. Northwestern Bank of Great Falls (Mont. 1985), [217 Mont. 196,] 704 P.2d 409, 419, 42 St.Rep. 1133, 1142, we extended the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing to the commercial area of bank-customer relations. In Nicholson v. United Pacific Ins. Co. (Mont. 1985), [219 Mont.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
740 P.2d 631, 227 Mont. 329, 4 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1027, 44 State Rptr. 1124, 1987 Mont. LEXIS 917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/noonan-v-first-bank-butte-mont-1987.