The Island Beyond, LLC v. Prime Capital Grp., LLC

2013 NCBC 51
CourtNorth Carolina Business Court
DecidedOctober 30, 2013
Docket12-CVS-7351
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2013 NCBC 51 (The Island Beyond, LLC v. Prime Capital Grp., LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Carolina Business Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Island Beyond, LLC v. Prime Capital Grp., LLC, 2013 NCBC 51 (N.C. Super. Ct. 2013).

Opinion

The Island Beyond, LLC v. Prime Capital Grp., LLC, 2013 NCBC 51.

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION COUNTY OF FORSYTH 12 CVS 7351

THE ISLAND BEYOND, LLC; ) LARRY J. FOLDS, SR.; and ) ) LARRY J. FOLDS, JR., individually ) and derivatively in the right of ) GLENN CROSSING, LLC, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) ORDER ) PRIME CAPITAL GROUP, LLC; ) WEST POINT VILLAGE ) ) ASSOCIATES; and RAYMOND ) KRAWEIC, ) ) Defendants. ) )

{1} THIS MATTER is before the court on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) (“Motion”). For the reasons stated below, the Motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

Dean Law Firm, PLLC by Stanley P. Dean for Plaintiffs. Randolph M. James, P.C. by Randolph M. James for Defendants.

Gale, Judge.

I. PARTIES

{2} Plaintiff Larry J. Folds, Sr. (“Folds Senior”) is a citizen and resident of Forsyth County, North Carolina. {3} Plaintiff Larry J. Folds Jr. (“Folds Junior”) is a citizen and resident of Alexandria, Virginia. {4} Plaintiff The Island Beyond, LLC (“Island Beyond”) is a limited liability company organized and existing under the laws of the State of North Carolina, with a principal place of business in Forsyth County, North Carolina. (Am. Compl. ¶ 1.) Island Beyond is one of two members of Plaintiff Glenn Crossing Associates, LLC (“Glenn Crossing”) with a twenty-five percent (25%) interest. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 14-15.) Folds Senior is Island Beyond’s Manager. (Operating Agreement, at 19.) {5} Glenn Crossing is a limited liability company organized and existing under the laws of the State of North Carolina with a principal place of business in Forsyth County, North Carolina. (Am. Compl. ¶ 4.) Folds Senior and Defendant Raymond Kraweic (“Kraweic”) formed Glenn Crossing in 2005 for the purposes of owning and operating a commercial development of approximately thirty acres at the intersection of Union Cross Road and Interstate 40 near Kernersville, North Carolina. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 11, 14.) Neither Folds Senior nor Kraweic are members of Glenn Crossing. {6} Kraweic is an individual who is a citizen and resident of Forsyth County, North Carolina. (Am. Compl. ¶ 7.) {7} Glenn Crossing’s second member is Defendant Prime Capital Group, LLC (“Prime Capital”) which owns a seventy-five percent (75%) interest. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 14-15.) Prime Capital is a limited liability company, with a principal place of business in Forsyth County, North Carolina. (Am. Compl. ¶ 5.) Prime Capital has been Glenn Crossing’s manager since 2005. (Am. Compl. ¶ 18.) Kraweic is Prime Capital’s manager. (Am. Compl. ¶ 5; Operating Agreement, at 19.) {8} Defendant West Point Village Associates (“West Point”), is a partnership organized under the laws of North Carolina. The partners of West Point are Defendant Kraweic, his wife, and his daughters.

II. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

{9} Island Beyond, Folds Junior, and Folds Senior, filed the original Complaint on November 6, 2012. On November 7, 2012, the case was designated a Mandatory Complex Business case by Order of Chief Justice Sarah Parker dated and assigned to the undersigned. On the same date, Chief Superior Court Judge John R. Jolly, Jr. entered a Temporary Status Quo Order. All Defendants moved to dismiss the original Complaint on December 10, 2012. At the January 16, 2013 hearing on this motion, Plaintiffs were granted leave to amend. {10} On March 13, 2013, Plaintiffs filed their Amended Complaint which includes claims for: (1) breach of the Operating Agreement; (2) breach of Prime Capital’s fiduciary duty; (3) fraud against Island Beyond by all Defendants; (4) unjust enrichment; (5) constructive fraud resulting from Prime Capital’s breach of fiduciary duty; (6) unfair and deceptive trade practices; and (7) an alternative claim of rescission of or compensation for the land conveyances to Prime Capital Group and West Point. Plaintiffs have elected to pursue only their claims for breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud, and fraud. (Mot. to Dismiss Hr’g Tr. 45:3-8, 48:22-49:1, Jan. 16, 2013); (Mot. to Dismiss Hr’g Tr. 1:12-20; 2:21-23, July 30, 2013) {11} The present Motion is included in Defendants’ Answer to Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint (“Answer”), filed on April 15, 2013. {12} The Motion has been fully briefed, heard, and is ripe for disposition.

III. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

{13} The court does not now make findings of fact, as a motion to dismiss “does not present the merits, but only [determines] whether the merits may be reached.” Concrete Serv. Corp. v. Investors Grp., Inc., 79 N.C. App. 678, 681, 340 S.E.2d 755, 758 (1986). For the purposes of this Motion, the court accepts the allegations of the Amended Complaint as true and draws reasonable inferences from those facts in Plaintiffs’ favor, but is not bound to Plaintiffs’ legal conclusions. See, e.g., Sutton v. Duke, 277 N.C. 94, 98, 176 S.E.2d 161, 164 (1970); Crouse v. Mineo, 189 N.C. App. 232, 237, 658 S.E.2d 33, 36 (2008). {14} Folds Senior, acting as Island Beyond’s manager, “put together” a commercial development (“Development”) of approximately thirty acres at the intersection of Union Cross Road and Interstate 40. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 11-14.) Island Beyond could not proceed without a capital investment. (Am. Compl. ¶ 12.) Acting as Prime Capital’s manager, Kraweic agreed to provide the necessary capital for the project. (Am. Compl. ¶ 13.) On January 26, 2004, Island Beyond and Prime Capital formed Glenn Crossing as a North Carolina limited liability company. (Operating Agreement, Art. II, § 1.) The purpose of Glenn Crossing was to own and operate the Development. (Am. Compl. ¶ 11.) {15} Island Beyond and Prime Capital were and remain Glenn Crossing’s only members. (Am. Compl. ¶ 14-15.) They executed an Operating Agreement on April 21, 2005. 1 (Am. Compl. ¶ 16.) The Operating Agreement grants Prime Capital “full and complete authority to manage and control the business, affairs and properties” of Glenn Crossing. (Operating Agreement, Art. 5, § 1.) Island Beyond has no managerial authority. (Operating Agreement, Art. 5, § 1.) The Operating Agreement permits Prime Capital to “sell, exchange, transfer or convey any, all or substantially all of the assets” of Glenn Crossing, (Operating Agreement, Art. 5, § 1(d)) and “effect any material change” in the business of Glenn Crossing. (Operating Agreement, Art. 5, § 1(n).) The same Agreement permits and calls upon Prime Capital to delegate a degree of this power to non-members. Specifically, the Agreement contemplates that Prime Capital will delegate acquiring the 30.26 acres of the Development to J&R Ventures, Inc., a company owned by Kraweic and his wife. (Operating Agreement, Art. 5, § 1.) {16} As Glenn Crossing Members, Island Beyond and Prime Capital are allowed to engage in other business activity regardless of whether it is “competitive or in conflict” with the business of Glenn Crossing. (Operating Agreement, Art. 6, § 7.) The members are not required to disclose such activity. (Operating Agreement, Art. 6, § 7.) {17} After Glenn Crossing was formed and the Operating Agreement was executed, the company did not hold regular annual meetings. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 19,

1 Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint refers to Exhibit A to the original Complaint, which is an

incomplete copy of the Operating Agreement. As the Operating Agreement is the subject matter of the original and Amended Complaint, the court may properly consider the contract in its entirety, even where the plaintiff has failed to attach the entire agreement to the Complaint. Oberlin Capital, L.P. v.

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Bluebook (online)
2013 NCBC 51, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-island-beyond-llc-v-prime-capital-grp-llc-ncbizct-2013.