Prehn and Bandak v. Michael L. Hodge, II

385 P.3d 876, 161 Idaho 321, 2016 Ida. LEXIS 394
Idaho Supreme Court·Decided December 8, 2016·No. Docket 42465·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

W. JONES, Justice

I. NATURE OF THE CASE

The Source Store LLC (“Source 1”), The Source LLC (“Source 2”), Michael L. Hodge (“Hodge”), George M. Brown (“Brown”), and Christopher Claiborne (“Claiborne”) (collectively “Appellants”) appeal the district court’s order denying their Joint Motion to Dismiss, by which they sought to dismiss the derivative claims brought by Donnelly Prehn (“Prehn”) and Dwight Bandak (“Bandak”) (collectively “Respondents”) on behalf of Source 1. Additionally, Appellants appeal the district court’s finding that Hodge breached his fiduciary duty to Source 1 and its members.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Background of Source 1

In 2002, Hodge and Prehn founded Source 1, an Idaho LLC, which designed, produced, and sold merchandise and apparel for its clients. 1 For Source l’s initial years, it did not generate an annual profit. During this time, Prehn made loans to Source 1 with the understanding that he would be paid back with 10% interest accruing annually. Also during this time, Prehn was not paid a salary for a number of months, with the understanding that he would be paid at a later time with interest.

Source 1 began to show an annual profit around 2008. Due to his deteriorating relationship with Hodge, Prehn stopped working as a fulltime employee of Source 1 after December 2010, but Hodge worked fulltime until its dissolution in 2012. Hodge was the managing member and main salesperson of Source 1 from its inception until its dissolution, but he was not its only employee. Between the formation of Source 1 in 2002 and February 2011, Bandak, Brown, and Claiborne joined Source 1 as part owners. By the time of its dissolution, the members’ interests in Source 1 were as follows: Prehn—37.975%; Hodge—39.637%; Bandak—11.025%; and Brown and Claiborne—11.363% (combined).

In February 2011, Hodge proposed a salary increase for himself from the $60,000 per year he was being paid at the time, to $144,000 per year. Prehn and Bandak opposed the proposal, but Hodge, Brown, and Clairborne voted in favor, so the increase was approved and effectuated.

On November 1, 2011, Source 1 moved its main office to 3637 Lake Harbor Blvd., Boise, Idaho. Unbeknownst to Prehn, Hodge purchased the Lake Harbor building on April 5, 2012. On December 31, 2011, Source l’s in-house aceountant/bookkeeper informed Hodge and Prehn that the outstanding bal- *324 anee on Prehn’s loan was $79,232.61, and that the present balance of back pay Source 1 owed Prehn was $67,600. Source 1 made no further payments to Prehn.

Also in 2011, Hodge borrowed $40,000 from Source 1. By April 26, 2012, the remaining balance on his loan was $20,084.61. Hodge has not made any payments on the loan since, but argued to the district court that he voluntarily reduced his salary from Source 1 in 2012 and that the reduction should have been credited against his debt. On February 3, 2012, a valuation of Source 1 by a business brokerage firm determined that the most likely selling price for Source 1 was $1,367,068. On March 16, 2012, Hodge made an offer to purchase Prehn’s interest in Source 1 for $337,000. Prehn rejected the proposal.

B. Dissolution of Source 1

The members unanimously voted to dissolve Source 1 on April 4, 2012, with the dissolution to be as of April 1, 2012. The Operating Agreement for Source 1 (“Operating Agreement”) provided that in ease of the dissolution of Source 1, a “Liquidator” was to be appointed by a “Majority Vote of Membership Shares” to “wind up the affairs of the company and make final Distributions as provided in this Agreement and in the Act.” The Liquidator was to work “diligently” at the task with “all of the power and authority of the Members.” The Operating Agreement required the Liquidator to give an accounting of Source l’s assets and liabilities “[a]s promptly as possible after dissolution and again after final liquidation,” give notice to its creditors, and “sell or liquidate all of the Company’s assets.”

The Operating Agreement further provided that the proceeds of such sale or liquidation were to be distributed first to the Company’s creditors—including Members— then to establish “any Reserve that the Liquidator deems reasonably necessary for contingent or unforeseen obligations of the Company.” Any balance remaining was to be distributed to the Members in accordance with the “positive balances in their Capital Accounts.” Hodge, Brown, and Clairbome voted to appoint Hodge as Liquidator, and Hodge accepted the appointment.

On April 9, 2012, Source 1 received a very large order ($233,481.84) from its largest customer, Bodybuilding.com. Source 1 never processed this order. On April 13, 2012, the members participated in a telephone conference call with Source l’s attorney concerning the dissolution process. Hodge estimated that Source 1 could still fill its existing orders if it reduced its staff by half and that the orders could be filled by the first week of June. Hodge also predicted that such orders could be filled at a profit.

On April 16, 2012, Brown filed a Certificate of Organization for Source 2, which listed Brown, Hodge, and Desiree Clairborne as members. Hodge is the majority owner and a managing member of Source 2. On April 26, 2012, the final Statement of Dissolution for Source 1 was filed. After the dissolution of Source 1, both Prehn and Hodge planned to create new businesses to operate in the same market in which Source 1 previously operated. Prehn and Bandak filed this suit against Appellants on April 27, 2012.

C. Miscellaneous Assets and Benefits

Prior to its dissolution, Source 1 provided Hodge with a vehicle. On April 26, 2012, Source 1 still owed $19,761.22 on the vehicle, which Hodge paid on or about April 26, 2012. As of April 31, 2012, the value of the vehicle was $22,060. Before its dissolution, Source 1 made a deposit of $36,000 to a shaker cup manufacturer to gain a discount on shaker cup orders. Because Source 1 only used $17,712.17 of the credit, Source 2 used the balance of $18,287.83 to obtain a discount on its orders of shaker cups. Source 1 also made a deposit of $12,400 on a second shaker cup mold priced at $31,000. Source 2 used the deposit made by Source 1 to obtain the second mold after it paid the balance of $18,600.

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Prehn and Bandak v. Michael L. Hodge, II, 385 P.3d 876, 161 Idaho 321, 2016 Ida. LEXIS 394 (Idaho 2016).

385 P.3d 876 (Prehn and Bandak v. Michael L. Hodge, II) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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