Tom Lange Co. v. Lombardo Fruit & Produce Co. (In Re Lombardo Fruit & Produce Co.)

107 B.R. 654, 5 Bankr. Rep (St. Louis B.A.) 4711, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 2096, 1989 WL 147793
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedNovember 9, 1989
Docket14-40321
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 107 B.R. 654 (Tom Lange Co. v. Lombardo Fruit & Produce Co. (In Re Lombardo Fruit & Produce Co.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tom Lange Co. v. Lombardo Fruit & Produce Co. (In Re Lombardo Fruit & Produce Co.), 107 B.R. 654, 5 Bankr. Rep (St. Louis B.A.) 4711, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 2096, 1989 WL 147793 (Mo. 1989).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

BARRY S. SCHERMER, Bankruptcy Judge.

INTRODUCTION

On July 17, 1989, Plaintiff, Pupillo Brokerage Company (hereinafter “Pupillo”), filed an Adversary Complaint seeking to preserve and enforce trust benefits as an unpaid broker of perishable agricultural commodities under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (hereinafter “PACA”), 7 U.S.C. § 499a et seq. Defendant, Uni-Fin Corporation (hereinafter “Uni-Fin”), holds a first, perfected security interest in all of the Debtor’s accounts receivable and proceeds. Uni-Fin filed a Motion For Summary Judgment, claiming that Pupillo failed to comply with the requirements necessary to preserve trust benefit's under the PACA statute. This Opinion shall address Uni-Fin’s Motion for Summary Judgment.

JURISDICTION

This Court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of the proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 151, 157, 1334 and Local Rule 29 of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. This is a “core proceeding” which the Court may hear and determine pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(B).

FACTS

Between November 17, 1988 and February 8, 1989, Pupillo sold $146,192.35 of produce to the Defendant Debtor (hereinafter “Lombardo”), for which it has not received payment. Pupillo does not dispute Uni-Fin’s assertion that: 1) throughout this period Uni-Fin held a first perfected security interest in all of Lombardo’s accounts receivable and derivative proceeds, and 2) Uni-Fin gave substantial value for each account receivable it financed.

On June 22, 1988, Eldoras Pupillo, on behalf of Pupillo, and the President of Lombardo entered into a letter agreement which stated that the parties’ payment terms were “net 30 days from the date set forth on the respective Pupillo invoice”. Defendant’s Exhibit 3. All of the invoices for produce sold by Pupillo to Lombardo had a similar format, each setting forth the file number, date of produce shipment, carrier designation, invoice number, and the invoice date. The “carrier designation”, serving as a Freight on Board or “FOB” term, determined who would bear the cost of shipment to Lombardo’s business premises, who bore the risk of loss until the goods arrived, and most importantly, when Lombardo “accepted” the goods. Usually, the invoices set forth the name of the carrier, meaning that Pupillo was responsible for the cost of shipping the produce to Lombardo. In such a case, Lombardo would not be deemed to have accepted the produce until Lombardo received it at its place of business. However, when Pupillo designated the customer as a carrier, the transaction constituted a “shipment contract” on which the customer, Lombardo, was deemed to have accepted the produce when Pupillo tendered it at Pupillo’s place of business.

The “invoice date” represented both the date Pupillo filled out the invoice and the date they sent the invoice to the customer. Under the parties’ letter agreement Lom-bardo had thirty days from date of invoice to make payment to Pupillo for the respective transaction. Lombardo received produce from Pupillo between one and four days prior to receipt of the applicable invoice, except for five of the thirty-nine transactions in question (with a total unpaid balance of $21,331.20), where the invoice date preceded the date of acceptance.

Throughout their business relationship, Pupillo sent Lombardo invoices for each delivery. Beginning with the first transaction in question (invoice number 2210, dated November 29, 1988), Pupillo placed the *656 following legend at the bottom of its invoice:

TERMS: DELIVERED AS TO PRICE. FOB AS TO TERMS. PAYMENT TERMS 21 DAYS NET FROM DATE OF INVOICE. ALL SALES SUBJECT TO PACA TRUST REGULATION.

This legend appeared on all invoices issued after November 29, 1988 for the remainder of the transactions between the parties. Although clearly in conflict with the terms of payment stated in the letter agreement between Pupillo and Lombardo, Eldoras Pupillo stated in her deposition the thirty day terms agreed upon in her June 22, 1988 letter to Lombardo controlled over the twenty-one day legend, which was pre-printed and standard on all of Pupillo’s invoices. See infra page 658. Ms. Pupillo further stated that all three of Pupillo’s necessary “decision-makers” agreed that the terms between Pupillo and Lombardo were net thirty days from the date of invoice. See infra page 659.

Upon notification of Lombardo’s intent to cease active operations, Pupillo notified Lombardo of its intent to preserve PACA trust benefits on February 10,1989. Pupil-lo filed their first Notice of Intent to Preserve Trust Benefits (hereinafter “Notice”) with the Secretary of Agriculture (hereinafter the “Secretary”) on February 15, 1989. On February 13, 1989, Pupillo served Lombardo with its second Notice, which it subsequently filed with the Secretary on February 21, 1989. Pupillo’s third and final Notice, dated February 17, 1989, reiterated certain information contained on the second Notice, but added a column entitled “Date Check Dishonored”. This column related to checks Pupillo received on the invoices listed on the second Notice which were subsequently returned for insufficient funds. The parties are in dispute as to the sufficiency of the Notices in light of the enumerated PACA requirements.

Uni-Fin contends that as a matter of law Pupillo has not complied with prerequisites necessary to seek statutory protection of its trust benefits under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA), 7 U.S.C. § 499a et seq. More specifically, Uni-Fin argues that all but five of the parties’ transactions in question exceeded the thirty day payment period permitted in 7 U.S.C. § 499e(c)(3)(ii). Therefore, Uni-Fin prays that this Court grant its Motion for Summary Judgment. Pupillo argues that sufficient factual disputes exist as to the parties’ payment terms to warrant a full trial of this case. Thus, Pupillo asserts that this Court is precluded from granting Uni-Fin’s Motion For Summary Judgment.

DISCUSSION

I. APPROPRIATENESS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Before reaching the merits, this Court must determine whether this case is appropriate for summary judgment. Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure states, in pertinent part:

The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.

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107 B.R. 654, 5 Bankr. Rep (St. Louis B.A.) 4711, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 2096, 1989 WL 147793, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tom-lange-co-v-lombardo-fruit-produce-co-in-re-lombardo-fruit-moeb-1989.