Reconstruction Finance Corp. v. First National Bank

17 F.R.D. 397, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4129
CourtDistrict Court, D. Wyoming
DecidedMay 13, 1955
DocketCiv. No. 3678
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 17 F.R.D. 397 (Reconstruction Finance Corp. v. First National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Wyoming primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reconstruction Finance Corp. v. First National Bank, 17 F.R.D. 397, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4129 (D. Wyo. 1955).

Opinion

CHRISTENSON, District Judge.

This is an action brought by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation against various companies and certain of their officers, agents or directors, for alleged misrepresentation and fraud whereby plaintiff was induced, as allegedly planned in a conspiracy among the defendants, to make loans to Motor Sales Company, a corporation, to the substantial damage of plaintiff. Each of the defendants (except Motor Sales Company and the Leggetts) has moved for summary judgment. The question is whether as to any of them, in view of the pleadings and affidavits on file and the matters of record referred to therein, there are no material issues of fact, so that a judgment of no cause of action should be entered as a matter of law. Fed.Rules Civ.Proc. rule 56, 28 U.S.C.A.

The material before me is voluminous, consisting of extensive pleadings, affidavits with numerous supporting documents, the files in several other cases, criminal and civil, and a transcript of the evidence taken in one of the criminal cases. A summary thereof would unduly extend this decision. I considered it necessary for my own understanding, however, to abstract the entire record. Such an abstract is filed as an addendum to this opinion and may be referred to for details of the controlling facts as I consider them to be. Therefore, no detailed statement of the factual basis of this opinion will be stated here.

The motions of the respective defendants for summary judgments are on substantially the same grounds except that the motion on behalf of Jerry Housel contains an additional assignment that the pleadings and affidavits show that the defendant Housel made no representations, nor was he a party to any, and that no representations were communicated to the plaintiff, nor relied upon by it, and therefore, no genuine issue of fact exists and defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

The other grounds in support of the motions for summary judgment are:

1. Any claim of the plaintiff is barred by Rule 13 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (relating to compulsory counterclaims).

2. Judgments rendered in civil action No. 3382, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Plaintiff, v. Motor Sales Company, A. F. Leggett, Edna Leggett, Cody Finance Company, Cody Finance Corporation, The First National Bank of Cody, Husky Oil Company, L. & L. Investment Company, Agnes E. Linton, Allen M-Smith, Henry Sayles, Jr. (the three persons last named being the special administrators of the estate of Henry Sayles, deceased), James W. Cordner and H. S. Tippetts, Defendants, and in civil action No. 3383 [D.C., 116 F.Supp. 700, affirmed 10 Cir., 214 F.2d 695], Cody Finance Company, Cody Finance Corporation, James W. Cordner, The First National Bank of Cody and Husky Oil Company, Plaintiffs, v. A. F. Leggett, Edna P. Leggett, Motor Sales Company and James N. Ray,' Defendants, and which all parties stipulated could be deemed judicially noticed by the Court, are a bar.

3. Plaintiff made its own independent investigation and did not rely upon, nor was it misled by, any representations of the defendants.

4. As to all matters occurring prior to February 3, 1950, when application for the loan in question was rejected by plaintiff, and thereafter, no act or representation by any of the defendants was a proximate cause of any loss sustained by plaintiff.

5. As to all matters pertaining to the granting of the first loan to Motor Sales Company in the sum of $50,000 approved June 3, 1949, as said loan was paid in full March 28, 1950, plaintiff sustained no loss, as a result of such first loan.

[402]*402The purpose of a' summary judgment is to permit expeditious disposal of cases where pleadings do not present any substantial question for determination, or where formal allegations of fact therein contained may be pierced because flimsy or transparent, and it appears from the uncontroverted record that there are no genuine issues for trial. Schreffler v. Bowles, 10 Cir., 1946, 153 F.2d 1, certiorari denied 328 U.S. 870, 66 S.Ct. 1366, 90 L.Ed. 1640; Brooks v. Utah Power & Light Co., 10 Cir., 1945, 151 F.2d 514; Zampos v. United Smelting, Refining & Mining Co. (Anderson v. United Smelting, Refining & Mining Co.), 10 Cir., 1953, 206 F.2d 171; Berger v. Brannan, 10 Cir., 1949, 172 F.2d 241, certiorari denied 337 U.S. 941, 69 S.Ct. 1519, 93 L.Ed. 1746; Note, 22 A.L.R.2d 609; Avrick v. Rockmont Envelope Co., 10 Cir., 1946, 155 F.2d 568.

On the other hand, a motion for summary judgment is no substitute for a trial where there are substantial issues of fact raised in good faith as to any party, a resolution of which might preclude judgment in favor of the movant. SMS Manufacturing Co., Inc., v. U. S.-Mengel Plywoods, Inc., 10 Cir., 1955, 219 F.2d 606; United States v. Sinclair Refining Co., 10 Cir., 1942, 126 F.2d 827; Johnson v. State Farm Life Ins. Co., 10 Cir., 1949, 176 F.2d 83, 36 A.L.R.2d 883; Broderick Wood Products Co. v. United States, 10 Cir., 1952, 195 F.2d 433; Avrick v. Rockmont Envelope Co., supra; National Surety Corporation v. Rollins, D.C.Del., 1954, 16 F.R.D. 530. In the latter event, it would seem improper for the Court on motion for summary judgment, no matter how persuasive the evidence might then appear to be one way or another, to anticipate the degree of such persuasiveness. Parties are entitled to something more than trial by anticipation so long as they desire to present evidence on genuine issues properly reserved in good faith. See Esquire, Inc., v. Varga Enterprises, Inc., 7 Cir., 1950, 185 F.2d 14, 22 A.L.R.2d 633.

It is necessary now to examine the matters before the Court in the light of these rules. The contentions made in the motions for summary judgment common to all of the defendants will be considered in the order above stated. The separate ground advanced by Jerry Housel will be considered as to him in connection with the other grounds.

Is plaintiff’s claim barred by an application of Fed.Rules Civ.Proc. rule 13, 28 U.S.C.A. ? Subsection (a) thereof provides :

“Compulsory Counterclaims. A pleading shall state as a counterclaim any claim which at the time of serving the pleading the pleader has against any opposing party, if it arises out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the opposing party’s claim and does not require for its adjudication the presence of third parties of whom the court cannot acquire jurisdiction, except that such a claim need not be so stated if at the time the action was commenced the claim was the subject of another pending action.”

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Bluebook (online)
17 F.R.D. 397, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4129, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reconstruction-finance-corp-v-first-national-bank-wyd-1955.