United Diesel, Inc. v. Rodrigue

98 B.R. 267, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3377, 1989 WL 31292
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedMarch 27, 1989
DocketCiv. A. No. 89-145
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 98 B.R. 267 (United Diesel, Inc. v. Rodrigue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United Diesel, Inc. v. Rodrigue, 98 B.R. 267, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3377, 1989 WL 31292 (E.D. La. 1989).

Opinion

ORDER AND REASONS

FELDMAN, District Judge.

This bankruptcy appeal arises out of the personal Chapter 11 proceeding of Herbert A. Rodrigue. In that proceeding, appellant, United Diesel, Inc., objected to the dischargeability of a debt owed to it arising out of dealings with Mr. Rodrigue’s company, Rodrigue Insurance Services, Inc., which was also in bankruptcy. Mr. Ro-drigue responded that United Diesel, Inc. had no right of action against him, individually, because the debt contracted by United Diesel, Inc. was a corporate debt owed by Rodrigue Insurance Services, Inc. and not by Rodrigue individually.

On December 13, 1988 the bankruptcy court dismissed the complaint of United Diesel, Inc. United Diesel now appeals to this Court to reverse the ruling of that court.

I. The Ruling of the Bankruptcy Court

United Diesel argued that it had standing to object to the dischargeability of a debt owed by Rodrigue’s corporation, Ro-drigue Insurance Services, Inc., (RISI) because Rodrigue, as sole shareholder of the corporation, took funds placed by United Diesel with RISI for the purchase of insurance and misappropriated those funds to satisfy the general operating expenses of his corporation. Thus, said United Diesel, Rodrigue and RISI had committed a defalcation or embezzlement while acting in a fiduciary capacity. 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(4). United Diesel also took the position that Mr. Rodrigue’s failure to preserve records from which his financial condition or business transactions could be ascertained was sufficient to deny a discharge in bankruptcy. 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(3).

Judge Brahney rejected United Diesel’s arguments, holding instead that the debt to which United Diesel claimed entitlement was owed by the corporation, RISI, not by Rodrigue personally. Hence, United Diesel had no standing as a creditor in Rodrigue’s individual bankruptcy proceedings. Moreover, Judge Brahney concluded that because United Diesel had no standing to object to Mr. Rodrigue’s discharge, any failure to produce business records would be of no consequence in his personal bankruptcy proceedings.

II. Standard of Review

Appellant urges this Court to use a de novo standard of review. Appellant contends that since the trial was based on a stipulated fact record, this Court need not defer to the findings of the lower court. That argument is without merit.

Bankrutpcy Rule 8013 clearly states that findings of fact shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous, and the Advisory Committee Note to that Rule indicates that the findings of a bankruptcy judge are to be accorded the same weight as the findings of a district judge under Fed.R.Civ. Pro. 52.

[269]*269The Fifth Circuit, in John v. State of Louisiana, 757 F.2d 698, 703 (5th Cir.1985), held that where a district court proceeding involved a trial on a stipulated record,

the existence of fact questions will not undermine the result. Moreover, we will resolve all inferences from the record in favor of the district court’s decision and will affirm unless the district court resolved fact questions in a clearly erroneous manner or misconstrued the law.

Thus, a district court should affirm the bankruptcy judge’s decision unless that decision was clearly erroneous.

III. A Distinction Between Mr. Rodrigue and The Company

Appellant contends that it was the creditor of a nondischargeable personal debt because: 1) Mr. Rodrigue breached his fiduciary duty to United Diesel, within the meaning of Section 523(a)(4) of the Bankruptcy Act; 2) Mr. Rodrigue committed embezzlement within the meaning of Section 523(a)(6) of the Act; and 3) Mr. Ro-drigue failed to produce business records as required by Section 727(a)(3). Judge Brahney rejected each of these arguments, holding that United Diesel was not a creditor of Rodrigue personally. This Court finds that Judge Brahney’s dismissal of United Diesel’s Complaint Objecting to the Discharge in Bankruptcy in Herbert Ro-drigue’s personal Chapter 11 proceeding was not clearly erroneous, and must be AFFIRMED.

A. Breach of Fiduciary Duty

United Diesel bases its objection to discharge on the alleged misappropriation by Rodrigue Insurance Service, Inc. of funds placed by United Diesel with RISI for the purchase of insurance. Simply put, United Diesel says that it paid money to Mr. Rodrigue, as an officer of RISI, to purchase insurance that was never bought, and that Mr. Rodrigue’s application of United Diesel funds to the general expenses of RISI constituted a personal breach of fiduciary duty.

Judge Brahney concluded that the totality of circumstances indicated that United Diesel contracted with RISI, and not Ro-drigue personally; thus, if any breach of fiduciary duty occurred, it was by the corporation and not Rodrigue. This conclusion was not clearly erroneous.

Invoking Unimobil 84, Inc. v. Spurney, 797 F.2d 214, 215 (5th Cir.1986), the bankruptcy court underscored that the Louisiana Civil Code “makes it clear that a corporation is a separate, distinct entity and the creditors of the corporation cannot demand payment of corporate debts from its officers.” That simple rule was the foundation for Judge Brahney’s decision. Unimo-bil involved an agreement between the Louisiana World Exposition and Unimobil 84, Inc. that LWE would hold 15% of the gross admission revenue to satisfy Unimo-bil obligations, and that the funds would not be deemed part of the Exposition’s general assets. Thereafter, due to financial difficulties, LWE filed a petition in bankruptcy, and Unimobil did not receive the full amount it was owed under the contract. The case is quite close to this one. Unimobil, seeking to avoid the very problem which confronts United Diesel, filed suit against the officers and directors of LWE on the ground that they had breached their fiduciary duty under the contract to keep Unimobil’s funds separate and that LWE wrongfully converted the funds for uses other than those contemplated under the contract.

The Fifth Circuit rejected this claim, holding: that Louisiana law does not recognize implied or constructive trusts; that the contract, which did not require the debtor to segregate receipts or to immediately remit the receipts, was insufficient to create an express trust; that absent some express trust, no wrongful conversion occurred; and that, most significantly, if any fiduciary duty was created, the corporation owed it, not its officers and directors personally.

In this case, United Diesel and RISI had no written contract at all. Thus, there was no express agreement that Mr. Rodrigue would segregate appellant’s funds from the general funds of RISI, and no express trust was created by the parties’ dealings.

[270]*270Both Louisiana and Fifth Circuit cases clearly hold that absent an express trust, no fiduciary duty is created within the meaning of Section 528(a)(4) of the Bankruptcy Act. See, Matter of Angelle,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
98 B.R. 267, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3377, 1989 WL 31292, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-diesel-inc-v-rodrigue-laed-1989.