Stanley v. PILOTS OF GULFPORT, INC.

951 So. 2d 535, 2006 WL 3513517
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 7, 2006
Docket2004-CA-01145-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 951 So. 2d 535 (Stanley v. PILOTS OF GULFPORT, INC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stanley v. PILOTS OF GULFPORT, INC., 951 So. 2d 535, 2006 WL 3513517 (Mich. 2006).

Opinion

951 So.2d 535 (2006)

H.S. STANLEY, Jr., Chapter 7 Trustee for the Bankruptcy Estate of Gulfport Pilots Association, Inc., as Substituted for Michael Kopszywa
v.
MISSISSIPPI STATE PILOTS OF GULFPORT, INC., Murrell W. Hinton, Jr., Stanley Fournier, Jr. and Thomas Gibson.

No. 2004-CA-01145-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

December 7, 2006.
Rehearing Denied March 29, 2007.

*537 George W. Byrne, Jr., Randall Scott Wells, attorneys for appellant.

Nicholas Van Wiser, Biloxi, attorney for appellees.

EN BANC.

DIAZ, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. In this case, we consider whether a judgment in a fraudulent conveyance action was proper. Finding that both the successor corporation and its directors are liable for the debts of the previous corporation, we reverse and remand.

FACTS

¶ 2. The facts of this case are not in dispute.

¶ 3. Gulfport Pilots Association, Inc., (GPA) was engaged in the business of piloting ships in and out of Gulfport Harbor. Four pilots were also the owners, officers, and directors of the corporation. Other employees included a pilot boat operator and four dispatchers. Michael Kopszywa was employed as the pilot boat operator in March 1995 when he was injured on the job. Mr. Kopszywa brought suit in the Circuit Court of Harrison County under the Jones Act. On March 25, 1997, after a two-day mediation, the case was settled for $200,000, plus outstanding medical bills of approximately $20,000.

¶ 4. When the GPA's Bahama-based insurance company refused to pay and subsequently became insolvent, Mr. Kopszywa filed a motion to enforce settlement with the circuit court. A hearing on the motion was held on May 16, 1997, at which time the court announced it was going to rule in favor of Mr. Kopszywa. On May 22, 1997, the same day the circuit court judge entered his order granting the motion, the directors filed articles of incorporation for Mississippi State Pilots of Gulfport, Inc. They became owners, officers, and directors of the new corporation and transferred all of the employees from the old corporation to the new one. Mississippi State Pilots continued to operate from the same business address, used the same dock, the same accountant, the same law firm, the same bank, and served the same customers as GPA.

¶ 5. A week later, on May 29, 1997, the directors transferred ownership of one of the boats, the Gulfport Pilot II, to the new corporation by executing a promissory note for $12,000 in favor of the old corporation. That same day, all four resigned as employees of the old corporation, while remaining owners, officers, and directors. As a result, GPA was left with no employees and no assets other than some outstanding bills for work done prior to the formation of the new corporation and a dilapidated piloting boat, the Gulfport Pilot I.

¶ 6. On June 26, 1997, Mr. Kopszywa filed a fraudulent conveyance action *538 against Mississippi State Pilots and the individual directors in the Chancery Court of Harrison County. On June 15, 1998, the day the matter was set for trial, the directors filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy for GPA, staying all proceedings in the chancery court. The only remaining asset of the old corporation, the Gulfport Pilot I, sank the day it was turned over to the bankruptcy trustee.

¶ 7. The stay was finally lifted on November 21, 2001, and the matter was remanded to the chancery court to allow the trustee, H.S. Stanley, Jr., to proceed on behalf of Mr. Kopszywa on the fraudulent conveyance claim.[1] At trial, the directors testified that their intent in forming the new corporation was to keep Mr. Kopszywa from collecting his judgment. The chancellor found that the directors had fraudulently conveyed the Gulfport Pilot II and one week's worth of accounts receivable to the new corporation. While noting that Defendants' actions were "distasteful and perhaps even morally wrong," the chancellor did not find that the fraudulent conveyance pertained to any other assets of the new corporation. As a result, the chancellor found that the trustee could only recover $10,064.50 from Mississippi State Pilots of Gulfport.

ISSUES ON APPEAL

¶ 8. There are two issues on appeal: (1) whether the trial court erred in failing to find that the new corporation could be liable for the entire judgment and (2) whether the trial court erred in failing to find the directors personally liable.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 9. "We will not disturb the findings of a chancellor when supported by substantial evidence unless the chancellor abused his discretion, applied an erroneous legal standard, was manifestly wrong, or was clearly erroneous." Williams v. Williams, 843 So.2d 720, 722 (Miss.2003).

DISCUSSION

I. Corporate Liability.

¶ 10. We begin with the basics:

The general rule states that a corporation which acquires the assets, but not the stock of another corporation, is not obligated for the liabilities of the acquired corporation. Four exceptions to this rule have been carved out by this Court in instances where: (1) the successor expressly or impliedly agrees to assume the liabilities of the predecessor; (2) the transaction may be considered a de facto merger; (3) the successor may be considered a `mere continuation' of the predecessor; or (4) the transaction was fraudulent.

Paradise Corp. v. Amerihost Dev., Inc., 848 So.2d 177, 179 (Miss.2003) (citing Huff v. Shopsmith, Inc., 786 So.2d 383, 388-89 (Miss.2001)). The last two exceptions are applicable in this case.

¶ 11. Regarding the fraudulent transaction, the main issue in this case is not whether there was a fraudulent conveyance but what assets were fraudulently conveyed under Miss.Code Ann. § 15-3-3 (repealed 2006).[2] Fraudulent conveyance of an entire business was thoroughly examined by this Court in Morris v. Macione, 546 So.2d 969 (Miss.1989). In Morris, we affirmed a chancellor's ruling to enforce specific performance of a contract *539 when shareholders of a clothing store dissolved the corporation, created a new one, and transferred the store's assets to the new entity. Id. We noted that "a corporate obligor and those who control it may not with impunity dissolve the corporation in a debt avoidance maneuver and cause its assets to be transferred to a new successor corporation. This is so whether the debt arises in contract, quasi-contract, or tort." Id. at 971 (internal citations omitted). Furthermore, "(n)either law nor equity will permit one corporation to take all the property of another, deprive it of the means of paying its debts, enable it to dissolve its corporate existence, and place itself practically beyond the reach of creditors, without assuming its liabilities." Id. (quoting Meridian L. & R. v. Catar, 103 Miss. 616, 621, 60 So. 657, 658 (1912)).

¶ 12. The chancellor correctly cited Morris for the proposition that "the creditor's rights in such cases are limited to the extent that the successor corporation acquired the assets of the predecessor." However, because the trial court limited its inquiry to the one week that the directors were employed as pilots by both corporations, the chancellor failed to find that Defendants fraudulently conveyed the entire business to the new corporation.

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