Trailer Rental Co. v. Buchmeier

800 F. Supp. 759, 143 B.R. 220, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10595, 1992 WL 316067
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedJune 25, 1992
DocketNo. 92-C-490
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 800 F. Supp. 759 (Trailer Rental Co. v. Buchmeier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Trailer Rental Co. v. Buchmeier, 800 F. Supp. 759, 143 B.R. 220, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10595, 1992 WL 316067 (E.D. Wis. 1992).

Opinion

DECISION and ORDER

MYRON L. GORDON, Senior District Judge.

The plaintiff, Trailer Rental Company, is a Georgia corporation in the business of leasing trailers (for over-the-road trucking). The present action was commenced on May 4,1992, with the filing of what the plaintiff titled a “Complaint and Petition/Motion for Injunctive Relief” naming James R. Buchmeier, Gerald R. Buchmeier, and BTI Transportation as defendants. That “hybrid” pleading notwithstanding, on May 15, 1992, the plaintiff filed a “Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction,” along with a supporting memorandum. See Rule 7(b)(1), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (requiring that an application for an order be made by motion).

The complaint does not specifically allege the basis for the court’s subject matter jurisdiction, although the allegations of the complaint satisfy the court that there is complete diversity of citizenship and that the amount in controversy exceeds $50,000, see 28 U.S.C. 1332(a)(1). The corporate plaintiff is a citizen of Georgia; the defendants are all citizens of Wisconsin. The complaint and exhibits demonstrate that the equipment giving rise to the controversy has a value in the neighborhood of $576,000.

The plaintiff has filed affidavits indicating that service of the summons and complaint was effected on the defendants as follows: James Buchmeier on May 7, 1992; Gerald Buchmeier on May 10, 1992; and BTI Transportation (by service upon its registered agent Gerald Buchmeier) on May 10, 1992. The defendants did not timely respond to the complaint, see Rule 12(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and are presently in default. The defendants also failed to respond to the plaintiff’s “Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction,” which motion was personally served upon each of them (along with its supporting materials) on or before May 16, 1992. On June 4, 1992, the court conducted a hearing on the plaintiff’s motion; the defendants failed to appear at the hearing.

Because the plaintiff has not demonstrated its entitlement to injunctive relief from the named defendants, the motion will be denied.

I.

In a complaint laced with the phrase “upon information and belief,” the plaintiff alleges that on May 15, 1986, it entered a lease agreement with Badger Lines, Inc., a corporation that the plaintiff claims is no longer conducting business operations. Pursuant to the lease agreement, the plaintiff leased to Badger Lines certain “items of equipment” — consisting of approximately 90 trailers. Defendant James Buchmeier, who was president of Badger Lines, executed the relevant agreements on its behalf. The duration of the lease agreement was 72 months.

The plaintiff alleges that Badger Lines is in default of the lease agreement because it failed to make lease payments and failed to “maintain .and repair” the trailers, as required under the agreement. In support of that allegation, the plaintiff has provided (as an exhibit to its complaint) a letter dated February 10, 1992, in which Badger Lines (by its president, defendant James Buchmeier) “acknowledged termination of the lease” based upon its default. Furthermore, the plaintiff has produced with its complaint an “Indemnity Agreement” between Badger Lines and it. (That agree[761]*761ment is “dated” as follows: “the _ day of June, 1989.”) In the indemnity agreement, Badger Lines assumed, among other things, an obligation to hold the plaintiff harmless in the event the trailers were lost or damaged.

Although Badger Lines is alleged to have violated the terms of the lease and indemnity agreements, it is not a party to this action. As the plaintiff acknowledges in its complaint, on February 11,1992, Badger Lines filed a bankruptcy petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (Case No. 92-00872-JES-7). While the plaintiff has not sought relief in the bankruptcy court from Badger Lines, who is by its own admission in default, it has instead sought relief in this court from other persons.

Two of the three defendants, James Buchmeier and Gerald Buchmeier, are also alleged to “be in default under the agreements” — namely Badger Lines’ lease and indemnity agreements. In its complaint, the plaintiff seeks relief from those defendants in their personal capacities. (Badger Lines would be the real party in interest in any action asserted against those defendants in their respective capacities as corporate officers.) However, the allegations of the complaint (and accompanying exhibits) reveal that defendants Gerald Buchmeier and James Buchmeier, in their personal capacities, have executed only one relevant “agreement”: an undated “continuing guaranty” under which they assumed liability for Badger Lines’ financial obligations to the plaintiff. (This document is included as an exhibit to the complaint; it is also included as Appendix A to this decision and order.) The record reveals that the specific subject matter of the “continuing guaranty” is Badger Lines’ lease and indemnity agreements.

The remaining defendant, BTI Transportation, has but a tenuous link to the present action. Badger Lines, as it is alleged, is no longer conducting business and is no longer using the plaintiff’s trailers. It is the plaintiff’s belief that BTI Transportation, a Wisconsin corporation, “has possessed and used” the trailers since Badger Lines ceased business operations. For no apparent reason other than a concern that BTI Transportation will claim a superior possessory interest, the plaintiff has named it as a defendant.

In the pertinent portion of its complaint, the plaintiff seeks “injunctive relief in equity,” calling upon all defendants to “assemble ... in locations reasonably convenient to plaintiff” the fugitive trailers. The plaintiff also seeks a money judgment from defendants James Buchmeier and Gerald Buchmeier. The only discernable legal basis for the relief sought against defendants James Buchmeier and Gerald Buchmeier is what the court has construed to be a breach of contract claim — the “contract” being the “continuing guaranty.” In addition, the court finds that the complaint may be construed to include a request for a declaratory judgment reconciling the respective possessory interests of the plaintiff and BTI Transportation in the trailers.

II.

The title of the plaintiff’s application (“Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction”) and the defendants’ failure to appear or to defend cast the exact nature of the plaintiff’s application into some degree of uncertainty. As the court of appeals for the seventh circuit has recently noted, there is a difference between a temporary restraining order — with its brevity, ex parte character, and informality — and a preliminary injunction: the latter is appealable, the former is not. See Geneva Assurance Syndicate, Inc. v. Medical Emergency Services Associates, S.C., 964 F.2d 599, 600 (7th Cir.1992) (per curiam); see also 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1).

At the hearing, the plaintiff requested that the court treat its motion as one for a preliminary injunction.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Thunder Basin Coal Co. v. Tuco, Inc.
156 F.R.D. 665 (D. Wyoming, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
800 F. Supp. 759, 143 B.R. 220, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10595, 1992 WL 316067, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trailer-rental-co-v-buchmeier-wied-1992.