United States v. Irwin

575 F. Supp. 405, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18278
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedMarch 25, 1983
DocketCiv. A. No. CA-5-78-27
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 575 F. Supp. 405 (United States v. Irwin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Irwin, 575 F. Supp. 405, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18278 (N.D. Tex. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WOODWARD, Chief Judge.

The above case was tried before the court without a jury on the 23rd day of March, 1983 with all attorneys and parties present. After hearing and considering the pleadings, the briefs and arguments of counsel, and the evidence at the trial, the court files this memorandum opinion which shall constitute its findings of fact and conclusions of law.

The Government is suing Mr. Irwin for the amount now claimed by the Government to be due and owing on four Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) loans to him in connection with his production of cotton and which loans were processed through the Andrews County Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS). The total amount of these loans as of April 20, 1976 was $73,100.50.

The court finds the following facts to be established by the evidence in chronological order:

On December 31, 1975, as shown by Government’s Exs. 1 through 4 inclusive, the defendant, Gene Irwin, a producer of cotton, executed his notes and security agreements for the four underlying obligations and notes in question in this case and totaling the above sum of $73,100.50 inclusive of interest to April 20, 1976.

On April 20, 1976, Mrs. Worley, the Acting County Executive Director of the local ASCS office, received a telephone call from one of the gins in the area, stating that Mr. Irwin was selling the cotton which was the subject of the above security agreements and asked that the interest be figured to date; and also on this same date, Mr. Irwin called Mrs. Worley .and stated that he wanted to redeem the cotton that day.

The regular County Executive Director, Mr. Tabor, was out of the city and Mrs. Worley was acting in that capacity, and she was authorized to do so. As requested, Mrs. Worley computed the interest and prepared the necessary documents to enable Mr. Irwin to redeem his cotton. Governments Exs. 7 and 8.

On that same day, April 20, 1976, Mr. Irwin came to the local ASCS office and had in his possession a draft dated April 19, 1976 in the amount of $73,100.50 signed by Gene Irwin as seller and directed to Commodity Credit Corporation through the Texas Commerce Bank, Lubbock, Texas. Government's Ex. 9. On this occasion, Mrs. Worley discussed the draft with Mr. Irwin and Mr. Irwin informed her that the draft was good and that he had checked on it. Upon receiving the draft, Mrs. Worley gave Mr. Irwin the warehouse receipts representing the security for his loans to CCC, and Mr. Irwin surrendered them, before collection of the draft, to Cooley and they were in turn sold to a third-party purchaser for value.

As above indicated, the necessary releases of the security agreements held by the CCC were prepared, probably after the draft had been received from Mr. Irwin by the ASCS on this date. None of this procedure was unusual and was that ordinarily followed in similar cases. The draft was delivered by Mr. Irwin to Mrs. Worley and the amount thereof was sufficient to pay his obligations to the CCC and the repayment records on the loans were prepared by Mrs. Worley and also handed to Mr. Irwin. Government’s Exs. 11 and 12. Each of these relevant records, Government’s Exs. 11 and 12, contained this clause:

“Credit for this repayment is subject to collection of checks and verification of computations.”

At this same time, CCC Form 257 was prepared, Government’s Ex. 10, which is [407]*407the form used to transmit the draft and in this ease it was transmitted to the Federal Reserve Bank at Kansas City for further collection. The original of this form with the original draft and one copy thereof was sent to the Federal Reserve Bank at Kansas City and the other copy was kept by the local ASCS office. The original of this form was transmitted by the Federal Reserve Bank to the data processing section of the CCC in Kansas City.

The evidence further establishes that after all of the documents were prepared, it was too late to place them in the afternoon mail. Mrs. Worley locked the draft and accompanying documents in the safe for overnight storage and took them out the next morning and mailed them direct to the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City.

The evidence is silent as to exactly when the draft was received in Kansas City but the evidence does establish that the draft was transmitted by the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City to the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas and that it reached the Texas Commerce Bank in Lubbock, Texas on April 28, 1976. This date is established by a witness for the defendant, Mr. Wayland. It was also established by this same witness that the Federal Reserve Bank had forwarded the draft to Texas Commerce Bank for collection on the day before, April 27,1976. The records of Texas Commerce Bank show that the draft was presented to Cooley Cotton Company, Inc., or one of its agents, on April 29, 1976, but the item was not accepted by Cooley and the bank in Lubbock returned it to the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas on April 29, 1976.

By cash letter dated May 4, 1976, the Federal Reserve Bank at Dallas transmitted the draft again to the Texas Commerce Bank in Lubbock and the Lubbock bank received it on May 5, 1976. On the following day, May 6, 1976, the draft was again presented to Cooley, it was not accepted, and on that date of May 6, 1976, it was returned to the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas with the notice of dishonor.

Government’s Ex. 14 indicates that the draft, or at least a draft in the exact same amount, was returned by the Federal Reserve Bank at Dallas to the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City by instrument dated May 10, 1976 and received by the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank on May 11, 1976.

The Kansas City office of the CCC immediately called Mr. Kermit Decker, a program specialist in the Texas State ASCS office, informing him that the draft had not been honored by Cooley Cotton Company, Inc. On this same date of May 11, 1976, Mr. Decker informed Mrs. Worley by telephone of this occurrence and Mrs. Worley immediately, and on the same date, called the defendant, Mr. Irwin, who stated that he would go to Seminole and find out what he could about the problems involved.

The draft has never been honored and Mr. Irwin has not paid any of the sums due and owing on the underlying obligations created in favor of the CCC by Government’s Exs. 1 through 4, inclusive.

It also appears that Mr. Irwin was, during the periods in question, the chairman of the County Executive Committee that administered locally the programs of the ASCS in Andrews County, Texas and was chairman at the time of the transactions in this case.

From the facts established at the trial in this court, the court has concluded that the Government is entitled to a judgment against Gene Irwin for the amount due and owing on the underlying obligations represented by the loans from CCC to Mr. Irwin on December 31, 1975.

The Government filed this case March 10, 1978, seeking recovery of all amounts due and owing it as the result of these transactions with Mr. Irwin. The case was set for trial in 1979, and on the date set for the trial Mr. Bass, an Assistant United States Attorney, appeared and announced to the court that the case had been settled. It appears that prior to the date set for trial, the attorney for Mr. Irwin and Mr. Bass conferred and agreed on a settlement [408]*408which would enable the Government to recover only $5,000.00 of the $73,100.50 which it claimed to be due.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
575 F. Supp. 405, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18278, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-irwin-txnd-1983.