United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Louisiana Department of Agriculture (In re Caldwell Port Elevator Co.)

28 B.R. 669
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Louisiana
DecidedDecember 22, 1982
DocketBankruptcy No. 582-00088-M; Adv. No. 582-0093-M
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 28 B.R. 669 (United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Louisiana Department of Agriculture (In re Caldwell Port Elevator Co.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Louisiana Department of Agriculture (In re Caldwell Port Elevator Co.), 28 B.R. 669 (W.D. La. 1982).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT

LeROY SMALLENBERGER, Bankruptcy Judge.

Caldwell Port Elevator Company, Inc. (Caldwell), debtor herein, sought relief under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United States Code. Caldwell was in the business of storing or purchasing agricultural commodities (‘grain’ shall be used for brevity).

As required by Louisiana law, Caldwell procured two bonds to protect its clients. The first bond protects those producers of grain who store their grain with Caldwell; the warehouse bond. This bond is in the amount of $100,000.00 and is in favor of the Louisiana State Warehouse Commission.

[670]*670The second bond is the grain dealers bond in the amount of $25,000.00 made in favor of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture. This bond protects those producers who sell their grain to Caldwell until they receive the purchase price for the grain.

The surety on both bonds is United States Fidelity & Guaranty (USF & G). USF & G admits liability on the $100,000.00 warehouse bond. The entire bond was deposited into the registry of this Court. USF & G provoked this interpleader action to determine who are the rightful claimants and the amount of each claim. As to the $25,-000.00 grain dealers bond, liability is contested by USF & G. The bond was not deposited into the Court registry. There are claimants to this bond as well.

The facilities of Caldwell were audited on January 22,1982. The audit was conducted by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture, Warehouse Commission. Mr. William G. Boudreaux, Assistant Director of the Louisiana Warehouse Commission, supervised the audit and inspection. His findings were attested by him in an affidavit dated April 7, 1982. That affidavit reveals that 307,651.13 bushels of grain should have been in storage with Caldwell. Only 42,-415.72 bushels were on hand.. Unaccounted for were 222,819.69 bushels.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

I. THE WAREHOUSE BOND

The warehouse bond money, $100,000.00, was deposited into the Court registry and the surety, USF & G, admits liability on the bond. Claimants to this bond are the Bank of Dixie (Dixie) and LaVon Roark.

Caldwell issued warehouse receipts to represent much of the grain that should have been in the elevator. Caldwell borrowed money from Dixie and pledged those warehouse receipts to Dixie to secure the loans. The Louisiana Department of Agriculture (Agriculture) makes no claim to this bond but it does oppose the claim of Dixie.

The warehouse bond is required by La. R.S. 54:250 which states in pertinent part:

“Every warehouse or warehouse company applying for a license under this Chapter shall execute and file with the commission a surety bond from an approved surety or bonding company licensed to do business in Louisiana.
The bond shall be conditioned on the faithful performance of duties and obligations to the patrons of the warehouse and of the provisions of this Chapter and regulations prescribed by the commission.”

As Dixie shows, the warehouse bond exists to protect those who are injured when the warehouseman does not faithfully perform his duties and obligations. This protection extends to financial institutions giving credit based upon warehouse receipts. Louisiana Bank & Trust Co., Crowley v. Roanoke Rice Co-op, 298 So.2d 868 (La.App.1974).

It is the argument of Agriculture that Caldwell issued warehouse receipts on grain that it did not own. The fact of the large shortages bears this out. In essence, Caldwell was pledging the grain of others. Louisiana law prohibits the pledging of property belonging to another except with the express or tacit consent of the owner. La.C.C. 3142, 3143 and 3145.

Dixie relies on certain case law. In the first case a bank sued the warehouse and its surety based upon warehouse receipts pledged as collateral. The goods enumerated in the receipts and those actually found in an inspection were considerably different as to kind, quality and quantity. The court there found that the purpose of requiring a warehouse bond is to protect depositors of goods as well as those financial institutions giving credit based upon the warehouse receipts. At page 877 of their opinion, that court stated “The banks herein are not suing on the warehouse receipts to have them recognized. They are suing on the obligation of a warehouseman and its surety because of losses sustained as a result of the receipts not corresponding to rice on hand.” Louisiana Bank & Trust Co., Crowley v. Roanoke Rice Co-op.

[671]*671This may be a subtle distinction but it is valid one nonetheless. Dixie’s cause of action arises not because it is executing on the pledged warehouse receipts but because Dixie relied on Caldwell as a warehouseman. As far as Dixie’s claim to the bond is concerned, it does not matter whose grain is represented by the warehouse receipts pledged by Caldwell. Caldwell violated the duties and obligations it owed to Dixie as a warehouseman.

Agriculture attempts to distinguish the Louisiana Bank & Trust case by speculating that the warehouseman in that case may have owned the grain at the time the receipts were pledged. Such a hypothesis is mere speculation. Such a fact would not produce a different result for as that court noted, the actual goods within the bins differed as to kind, quality and quantity from the goods represented in the receipts. The Bank of Dixie’s claim against the warehouse bond in the amount of the warehouse receipts pledged by Caldwell is well founded and is valid.

Another claimant to this bond is LaVon Roark. He presents three claims. Two of these are discussed with the grain dealers bond. The third claim is based upon a NSF check in the amount of $7,073.41 issued by Caldwell to Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). Roark characterizes this transaction as a sale of soybeans to Caldwell.

In fact, Roark was issued warehouse receipts by Caldwell for his soybeans. Mr. Roark was indebted to CCC. Caldwell paid this debt for Roark substituted itself as the new creditor. Caldwell took the receipts as collateral.

Mr. Roark did not intend to sell his beans to Caldwell. This is borne out in Roark’s testimony:

“Q: Mr. Roark, on this Commodity Credit transaction, if I understand what you told Mr. Gelpi in court on direct examination, the agreement with Mr. Graves [Caldwell] was that he was going to pay off this loan to Commodity Credit?
“A: Right sir.
“Q: And then continue the loan at the same interest rate as you had at Commodity Credit; was that correct?
“A: That’s correct. At that moment in time.” [TR. 23]

Mr. Roark never endorsed the warehouse receipts.

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28 B.R. 669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-fidelity-guaranty-co-v-louisiana-department-of-lawd-1982.