Ray W. Stoddard and Thelma Stoddard v. Frank Stoddard

641 F.2d 812, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 14473
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 9, 1981
Docket79-4177
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 641 F.2d 812 (Ray W. Stoddard and Thelma Stoddard v. Frank Stoddard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ray W. Stoddard and Thelma Stoddard v. Frank Stoddard, 641 F.2d 812, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 14473 (9th Cir. 1981).

Opinions

CHOY, Circuit Judge:

Frank Stoddard appeals from a summary judgment in favor of Ray and Thelma Stoddard in an action for collection on a note. We affirm the judgment.

I. Facts

Appellees Ray and Thelma Stoddard are husband and wife. Ray Stoddard (Ray) and appellant Frank Stoddard (Frank) are brothers. This suit is based on a note signed by Frank on April 15, 1975. It was signed to consummate a settlement between the brothers resolving a dispute which had arisen out of an alleged land exchange contract made in 1969.

In early 1969, Frank became interested in purchasing a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. Frank wanted Ray to sell Ray’s ranch in Idaho and lend the proceeds to Frank to enable him to buy the new ranch. Frank contends that Ray agreed to sell the ranch and lend the proceeds to him at 8% interest. Ray denies the existence of such an agreement. Frank contends that in reliance on this alleged oral loan agreement he went ahead and purchased the Oklahoma ranch.

In July 1969, Ray determined on advice of his accountant that a tax-free exchange of ranch property would be the best way to provide Frank with the needed funds for the Oklahoma venture without creating any tax liability for Ray. The contract provided that Ray would exchange his ranch for an undivided interest in Frank’s two Idaho ranches and home. Frank notes that his equity in these two ranches was part of the consideration for the purchase contract on the Oklahoma ranch. He maintains that Ray was aware of this before the July agreement was made.

The 1969 agreement provided that: (1) Frank would pay Ray $3,000 per year for five years (Ray states that this amount represented annual rental payments for Frank’s use of the property that now belonged partially to Ray and was equal to the annual rental that Ray had been receiving from a third person on the property exchange); and (2) at the end of five years Ray had the option to either keep his undivided interest or sell it to Frank at its appreciated value of “approximately $100,-000.”

There is a dispute as to what Ray’s ranch was worth at the time of the exchange. Ray contends that Frank told him he could sell it for $65,000 but it was eventually sold for only $60,000. In December 1969, Frank deeded an undivided three-fourths interest in his two ranches to Ray.

The amount of payments made by Frank to Ray is another point of dispute. By April 1975, Frank claims to have made payments totaling almost $56,000 while Ray put the figure at about $42,000.

In April 1975, to settle the dispute between the parties, Frank signed a promissory note in the sum of $60,000 at 8% interest, providing for $10,000 per year payments over the next five years with a balloon payment at the end, all with the purpose of paying off Frank’s obligation to Ray under the 1969 agreement. Frank paid Ray $8,500 towards the first annual $10,000 payment and then defaulted. Ray then brought this action to collect on the 1975 note.1 Frank counterclaimed asserting that the 1975 note was an extension of a usurious loan transaction initiated in 1969 and asked for the statutory penalties for usury under Idaho law. Both parties filed motions for summary judgment.

The district court issued a memorandum decision granting Ray’s motion for summary judgment and denying Frank’s motion.

[814]*814II. Issues

1. Was the 1969 agreement a valid exchange and repurchase agreement or was it a disguised loan providing for usurious interest?
2. Was the 1975 agreement an enforceable compromise and settlement of the 1969 agreement?
3. Was summary judgment appropriate?

III. The 1969 Agreement

Ray contends that the 1969 agreement was a valid land exchange with an option to repurchase. Frank maintains that it was a disguised loan agreement providing for usurious interest.

Frank argues that the 1969 agreement effected a loan by Ray to Frank of $60,000, the sale price of Ray’s ranch. Frank was required to pay $3,000 per year for five years and $100,000 at the end of the five years. Frank maintains that a mandatory repurchase provision such as that found in the 1969 agreement converts a purported sale and repurchase transaction into a loan. He considers it mandatory because it was solely at Ray’s option. If considered a loan, this results in an annual interest rate far in excess of the 10% maximum set by Idaho law. Idaho Code § 28-22-105.2

The loan versus exchange-with-repurchase option disagreement is an important issue because under Idaho law, usury statutes have no application to bona fide sale transactions. Buchanan v. Dairy Cows, 97 Idaho 481, 482, 547 P.2d 526, 527 (1976). In general the Idaho courts have held that this question of whether an agreement is a sale or a loan is a question of fact based upon the particular circumstances of each case.

In Freedman v. Hendershott, 77 Idaho 213, 290 P.2d 738 (1955), the Idaho Supreme Court noted that:

The question whether for the purpose of the usury law a transaction in the form of a sale of property with an option or agreement to repurchase at an advanced price payable in the future is what it purports to be or a loan has been held to depend upon the intention of the parties.

Id., 97 Idaho at 218, 290 P.2d 738, quoting 154 A.L.R. 1063. In Freedman, the court found that a sale accompanied by a resale two days later at a premium constituted a usurious loan.

The Idaho courts have held, however, that the burden is on the party alleging usury to show that an instrument, valid on its face, is a disguised loan. This burden requires clear and convincing evidence. Buchanan v. Dairy Cows, supra, at 482, 547 P.2d 526; Meridian Bowling Lanes, Inc. v. Brown, 90 Idaho 403, 414, 412 P.2d 586, 592 (1966); Bethke v. Idaho Savings and Loan Association, 93 Idaho 410, 414, 462 P.2d 503, 507 (1960).

These cases place great importance on whether the person involved was a necessitous debtor. The Idaho court has stated that usury laws have as their purpose the protection of “the necessitous debtor against extortion which he is practically helpless to resist.” Bethke v. Idaho Savings and Loan Association, supra, at 414, 462 P.2d 503, quoting Freedman v. Hendershott, 77 Idaho 213, 219, 290 P.2d 738, 741 (1955).

The 1969 contract is very similar to the one at issue in Meridian Bowling Lanes, Inc. v. Brown, supra,

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641 F.2d 812, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 14473, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ray-w-stoddard-and-thelma-stoddard-v-frank-stoddard-ca9-1981.