Resolution Trust Corp. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.

873 F. Supp. 1386, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19483, 1994 WL 741752
CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedSeptember 14, 1994
DocketCiv. 90-1665 PHX RCB
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 873 F. Supp. 1386 (Resolution Trust Corp. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Resolution Trust Corp. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 873 F. Supp. 1386, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19483, 1994 WL 741752 (D. Ariz. 1994).

Opinion

ORDER

BROOMFIELD, Chief Judge.

Defendant Aetna Casualty and Surety Company has filed a motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiff Resolution Trust Corporation (the “RTC”) opposes the motion. The court heard oral argument on the matter on September 12, 1994, and now rules.

I. INTRODUCTION

This is the second time that Aetna has moved for summary judgment in this case. In a previous order, the court granted Aetna’s first motion with regard to a number of issues, but denied it with regard to others. In its second motion for summary judgment, Aetna urges the court to revisit one of the issues that the court concluded was genuinely disputed. According to Aetna, key witnesses’ recent deposition testimony has eliminated any question that judgment is appropriate.

The RTC responds that Aetna’s motion must be denied for the same reasons stated by the court in its prior order. The RTC also makes lengthy arguments directed at issues previously resolved by the court.

II. BACKGROUND

The RTC has brought this action in an attempt to recover policy benefits on a fidelity bond issued by Aetna on October 1, 1986. The RTC brings the action on behalf of Community Savings and Loan Association ánd Community Savings’ subsidiary, Community American Mortgage Corporation (“CAMCO”).

Aetna insured Community Savings and CAMCO through the fidelity bond for any damages that Community Savings might incur as a result of dishonest and fraudulent acts by its employees discovered between *1388 October 1, 1986, and October 1, 1987. Community Savings allegedly discovered during this time that a former president of the company, James Beck, had acted dishonestly and fraudulently to the detriment of Community Savings and CAMCO.

Aetna has refused to satisfy the RTC’s claim on the ground that officers of Community Savings and CAMCO knew that Beck had engaged in dishonest and fraudulent conduct before the bond went into effect. Aetna relies on a termination provision within the bond, which states:

[the] bond shall be deemed terminated or cancelled as to any employee ... (a) as soon as any insured or any director or officer not in collusion with such person, shall learn of any dishonest or fraudulent act committed by such person at any time against the insured or any person or entity-

Under the termination provision, the policy never goes into effect with respect to an employee if, before the effective date of the policy, directors or officers of the policyholder were aware of the employee’s dishonest or fraudulent act and failed to report it. See First Sec. Savings v. Kansas Bankers Surety Co., 849 F.2d 345 (8th Cir.1988); C. Douglas Wilson & Co. v. Insurance Co. of N. Am., 590 F.2d 1275, 1289 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 831, 100 S.Ct. 59, 62 L.Ed.2d 39 (1979).

In its prior motion, Aetna argued that Community officials were aware of three different dishonest or fraudulent acts by Beck prior to October 1, 1986, yet did not report those acts. In its current motion, Aetna relies solely on one instance of Beck’s conduct, his approval of a loan to Robert F. Gillespie, an official of a Community subsidiary, in April 1986. The loan was illegal because it was secured only by Community stock. Aetna’s position is that Community officials knew the loan was illegal and informed Beck of this, but that Beck nevertheless went ahead and ordered that the loan be funded.

In its prior order the court addressed and ruled on three issues that are relevant to the present motion. Initially, the court concluded that Beck’s conduct with respect to the Gillespie loan was dishonest or fraudulent as a matter of law. The court found that Beck’s criminal conviction for this loan transaction was dispositive proof of his dishonesty or fraudulenee. Thus, the court granted Aetna’s motion for summary judgment with regard to this issue.

Second, although the court concluded that Beck’s criminal conviction for fraud established that he had committed a dishonest or fraudulent act in authorizing the loan, the court held that a question of fact existed as to whether one or more Community officials were aware of the dishonest or fraudulent nature of Beck’s conduct prior to October 1, 1986. The court found the issue to be very close, but concluded that Aetna had to show more than that Community officials were concerned about the legality of the loan. The court thus denied Aetna’s motion for summary judgment on this issue, but specifically stated that Aetna could reurge its motion after further discovery.

Third, the court concluded as a matter of law that Community officials who may have known of Beck’s dishonest or fraudulent conduct were not acting collusively with him. The court made this finding because the RTC had produced no evidence other than that the officials had failed to report Beck’s alleged dishonesty to Community’s board of directors or banking authorities. The court thus granted summary judgment to Aetna on this issue as well.

The parties then took the depositions of three former Community officials: Johnston, Lempke, and Thompson. As is discussed in more detail below, each of these officials testified that the loan to Gillespie was illegal, that Beck was informed that the loan was illegal, and that Beck nevertheless ordered the loan to be funded and subsequently documented.

Aetna then filed the motion for summary judgment currently before the court. Aetna argues that the officials’ testimony that they knew the loan was illegal, and that they told this to Beck,, requires judgment as a matter of law that the officials knew that Beck had acted dishonestly or fraudulently. Aetna also relies on Lempke and Johnston’s testi *1389 mony that, prior to October 1,1986, they had come to doubt Beck’s assurances that the illegal loan would be remedied.

In its response, the RTC argues that Aetna had not established that Community officials considered Beck’s conduct to be dishonest or fraudulent merely by presenting evidence that the officials believed that the loan was illegal. The RTC cites cases in which courts held that mere knowledge of lending irregularities was not necessarily knowledge that an employee had acted dishonestly or fraudulently.

In addition, the RTC urged the court to revisit the two issues decided in Aetna’s favor with regard to the loan; namely, that Beck’s authorization of the loan constituted a dishonest or fraudulent act and that the Community officials had not acted in collusion with Beck. The RTC contends that the record now before the court undermines the court prior rulings on these issues.

III. ANALYSIS

The court has reviewed all three issues that must be decided in Aetna’s favor before it can prevail on its summary judgment motion.

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873 F. Supp. 1386, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19483, 1994 WL 741752, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/resolution-trust-corp-v-aetna-casualty-surety-co-azd-1994.