Van Dyke v. Balance Point Retirement Analytics LLC

District Court, E.D. California·Decided April 5, 2021·No. 2:18-cv-02531·Unknown

Opinion

MATTHEW W. POWELL (SBN 114563) mpowell@wilkefleury.com DANIEL L. EGAN (SBN 142631) degan@wilkefleury.com AARON R. CLAXTON (SBN 314822) aclaxton@wilkefleury.com 400 Capitol Mall, Twenty-Second Floor Sacramento, California 95814

Telephone: (916) 441-2430 Facsimile: (916) 442-6664 Attorneys for Plaintiffs James Van Dyke, in his individual capacity, and James Van Dyke and Connie Jerome as the Trustees of the Van Dyke’s Rice Dryer Profit Sharing Plan

No. 2:18-cv-02531-MCE-DB James Van Dyke in his individual capacity; James Van Dyke and Connie Jerome as Trustees of the Van Dyke’s Rice Dryer Profit Sharing Plan, ORDER FOR APPEARANCE AND EXAMINATION OF JUDGMENT Plaintiffs, DEBTOR BALANCE POINT RETIREMENT ANALYTICS, LLC, v. MARY CLARE BARNACK, CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER Balance Point Retirement Analytics, LLC and DOES 1-25, Date: June 4, 2021 Time: 9:30 a.m. Defendants. Courtroom: 27 Judge: Hon. Deborah Barnes

I. INTRODUCTION Plaintiffs James Van Dyke, in his individual capacity, and James Van Dyke and Connie Jerome as Trustees for the Van Dyke Rice Dryer Profit Sharing Plan (Plaintiffs/Judgment Creditors) have applied for an Order to take the examination of Judgment Debtor Balance Point Retirement Analytics, LLC (Balance Point) through its Chief Operations Officer, Mary Clare Barnack on June 4, 2021 at 9:30 am at via Zoom videoconference. Plaintiff's further request that Mary Clare Barnack be ordered to produce the documents specifically identified below on or before May 11, 2021. For the following reasons, this Court grants the Application. II. BACKGROUND FACTS On November 5, 2019, a Stipulated Judgment (“Judgment”) was entered in favor of Plaintiffs against Balance Point in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. (Declaration of Matthew W. Powell (“Powell Dec.”), ¶ 2, Exhibit A). Approximately one month prior thereto, a Stipulated Judgment was entered in favor of Plaintiffs in the companion action against Robert Barnack, the Chief Executive Officer of Balance Point Retirement Analytics, LLC. Plaintiffs brought an adversary proceeding against Mr. Barnack in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California. That adversary proceeding was withdrawn and the matter returned to the District Court. On October 15, 2019, a Stipulated Judgment was entered in the action In re Robert Scott Barnack (Case No. 2-19-CV- 00073-MCE-DB). (Powell Decl. ¶ 2, Exhibit B.) Collectively, Mr. Barnack and Balance Point are referred to as “Defendants.” The Judgment was entered in the amount of two million, five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) and required Defendants to make payments to Plaintiffs in accordance with a payment schedule included in the Judgments. (Powell Decl. ¶ 3.) Balance Point, through its Chief Executive Officer, Robert Scott Barnack, made the first payment of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) and the second payment of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000). (Powell Dec. ¶ 3.) However, Dec. ¶ 4.) When Defendants failed to make the March 31, 2020 payment, Plaintiffs did not immediately declare a default. Instead, in light of the local shelter-in-place orders, Plaintiffs granted Defendants an extension to April 30, 2020. That date passed without payment. (Powell Dec. ¶ 5.) Plaintiffs granted Defendants a second extension to June 1, 2020, which also passed without payment. (Id.) Plaintiffs granted Defendants a third extension to June 8, 2020, based on Defendants’ representation that payment was on its way. That date also passed without payment. (Id.) Defendants thereafter defaulted on the Judgment by failing to make the June 30, 2020 payment. (Powell Decl. ¶ 6.) On August 6, 2020, Plaintiffs filed an Application For An Order For Appearance And Examination Of Judgment Debtor Balance Point Analytics Retirement, LLC, Mary Clare Barnack, Chief Operations Officer. (EMC No. 18). On August 11, 2020, United State Magistrate Judge Debra Barnes issued an order requiring Balance Point through its Chief Operations Officer to appear for an examination on September 25, 2020. After the debtor’s examination was scheduled, Mr. Barnack delivered a cashier’s check to Plaintiffs’ counsel for $70,000 and represented that he would pay an additional $130,000 by August 31, 2020. August 31, 2020 passed without Mr. Barnack making the $130,000 payment, so Plaintiffs’ counsel reached out to Mr. Barnack’s counsel to determine when the payment would be made. On September 3, 2020, Barnack, through his counsel, represented that he could definitely pay the $130,000 on September 28, 2020 and an additional $100,000 on October 28, 2020. That representation is was memorialized in an exchange of emails between Mr. Barnack’s counsel and Plaintiffs’ counsel. (Powell Decl. ¶ 7; Ex C.) Based on Mr. Barnack’s payment of $70,000 and his assurance that he could definitely pay an additional $130,000 by September 28, 2020, Plaintiffs withdrew their request to take the examination of Balance Point. (Powell Decl. ¶ 8.) Despite his assurance that the $130,000 would definitely be paid on September 28, 2020, Mr. Barnack did not deliver a cashier’s check to Plaintiffs’ counsel. Plaintiffs’ counsel promptly reached out to Mr. Barnack’s counsel to ask when they payment due on September 28, 2020 would be made. Through his counsel, Mr. Barnack represented that he would deliver the check for Mr. Barnack’s counsel when he could expect to receive delivery of the check. Mr. Barnack’s counsel responded that she would check with Mr. Barnack. Mr. Barnack did not make any payments to Plaintiffs during early October 2020, so Plaintiffs applied ex parte for an Order for Appearance and Examination of Judgment Debtor Balance Point Retirement Analytics, LLC, Mary Clare Barnack, Chief Operations Officer (“Order”). Judge Barnes issued that order on October 19, 2020 with the debtor’s examination scheduled for January 15, 2021. In addition to ordering Ms. Barnack to appear, Judge Barnes ordered Ms. Barnack to produce the documents specifically identified in the Order on or before December 15, 2020. Ms. Barnack did not produce any documents by December 15, 2020, nor did she produce any documents prior to her debtor's examination. (Powell Decl. ¶¶ 9-10.) On January 15, 2021, Ms. Barnack failed to appear for her debtor's examination. Therefore, Judge Barnes issued an Order to Show Cause why Ms. Barnack should not be sanctioned for failing to appear for her examination as ordered. (Powell Decl. ¶ 11.) Shortly after Judge Barnes issued an Order from the bench requiring Ms. Barnack to show cause, Ms. Young contacted Mr. Powell and advised him that she was prepared to deliver a check from Robert Barnack for twenty thousand dollars ($20,000). The afternoon of January 15, 2021, Ms. Young personally delivered a check to Mr. Powell for $20,000. During the discussion that occurred upon the delivery of the check for $20,000, Powell advised Ms. Young that Plaintiffs would proceed with the debtor's examination of Robert Barnack then scheduled for January 22, 2021. Mr. Powell further advised Ms. Young that he would like to coordinate with her regarding arranging for personal service of the Order to Show Cause on Ms. Barnack. While Ms. Young made it clear that she did not represent Ms. Barnack, she did agree to relay that request on to her client, Robert Barnack. Ms. Young later advised Mr. Powell that Robert Barnack had advised her that Mary Clare Barnack would be available for personal service of Judge Barnes' Order to Show Cause on November 16, 2020 (Powell Decl. ¶ 12.) On January 22, 2021, Mr. Powell and Ms. Young appeared for the debtor's examination of Robert Barnack. However, Robert Barnack failed to appear for his debtor's examination and Judge Barnes issued an order from the bench directing Robert Barnack to show cause why he did not Barnack to show cause why he did not appear for his debtor's examination. (Powell Decl. ¶ 13.) Robert Barnack and Mary Clare

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