Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. v. MacArthur (In re MacArthur)

247 B.R. 613, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 441, 35 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 285
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. New York
DecidedApril 28, 2000
DocketNo. 99-20834; AP No. 992179
StatusPublished

This text of 247 B.R. 613 (Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. v. MacArthur (In re MacArthur)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. v. MacArthur (In re MacArthur), 247 B.R. 613, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 441, 35 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 285 (N.Y. 2000).

Opinion

DECISION & ORDER

JOHN C. NINFO, II, Chief Judge.

BACKGROUND

On March 25, 1999, Russell G. MacArthur, d/b/a Accent Painting and Power Washing South, Quality Pro Painting, and Rochester Painting and Power Washing, (the “Debtor”) filed a petition initiating a Chapter 7 case.

On June 15, 1999, Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. (“Wegmans”) commenced an adversary proceeding (the “Adversary Proceeding”) to have certain debts determined to be nondischargeable under Section 523. The Complaint in the Adversary Proceeding alleged that: (1) Wegmans was the holder of a judgment against the Debtor (the ‘Wegmans Judgment”) in the amount of $660.57, entered in the Rochester City Court on September 12, 1994, which it obtained after five checks issued by the Debtor to Wegmans for cash or goods were returned either for insufficient funds or because the bank account that the check was drawn on was closed at the time the check was issued; (2) Wegmans was currently the holder of four payroll checks in the aggregate face amount of $1,241.44, issued by the Debtor to either John DeCaro (“DeCaro”) or Grant Browne (“Browne”) on July 22, 1994 or July 29, 1994 (the “Payroll Checks”); (3) the Payroll Checks were drawn on a bank account that was closed at the time the checks were issued; (4) after the Debtor had issued and delivered the Payroll Checks to DeCaro and Browne, they endorsed and cashed them at Wegmans, which became a holder in due course of the Checks; and (5) the debt represented by the amounts due on Payroll Checks was nondischargeable under Section 523 because the Debtor knew that: (a) the bank account on which the Checks were drawn was closed at the time he issued and delivered them; and (b) DeCaro and Browne would cash their Checks, and DeCaro and Browne, or the party that cashed their Payroll Checks, would ultimately sustain a loss because the Checks would never be honored.

The Debtor interposed an answer (the “Answer”) to the Complaint which included an Affirmative Defense that two of the Payroll Checks, those issued on July 29, 1994, one to DeCaro and one to Browne, were forgeries.

At a pretrial conference: (1) the Debtor, by his attorney, advised the Court that he did not oppose the Court entering an order which determined that the amounts due on the Wegmans Judgment were nondis-chargeable; and (2) the Court advised the attorney for Wegmans that it was uncertain as to how the fact situation which it had presented in the Adversary Proceeding fell within one of the exceptions to discharge set forth in Section 523.

On January 21, 2000, the Court conducted a Trial at which James Weller (“Weller”), the Credit Manager of Wegmans, the Debtor and Browne testified. On the day of the Trial, Wegmans filed a Memorandum of Law in support of its position that the knowing and intentional issuance and delivery of a check on a closed bank account by an individual who had obtained goods or services constituted larceny in New York State, and, therefore, the debt represented by the amounts due on the Payroll Checks were nondischargeable under Section 523(a)(4).1

[616]*616At trial, Browne testified that: (1) he had worked for the Debtor as a painting foreman for approximately six months before July 1994, and, as such, was at times asked by the Debtor to distribute payroll checks to the painting crew; (2) he had obtained the Payroll Checks from the Debtor and had distributed them to himself and DeCaro, along with other members of the painting crew, on both July 22, 1994 and July 29, 1994; (8) he obtained the Payroll Checks for distribution directly from the Debtor after he had gone to the Debtor’s home to get them; (4) after they received their Payroll Checks, he and DeCaro had gone to Wegmans to cash them; (5) when he obtained the Payroll Checks from the Debtor, he did not see the Debtor sign the checks, nor did he actually look at the signatures on the Checks; and (6) he denied that when he obtained possession of the July 29, 1994 Payroll Checks from the Debtor they were unsigned and he later had someone sign the Debtor’s name to them.

At trial, the Debtor testified that: (1) although he could not specifically recollect how the July 22, 1994 Payroll Checks were distributed, he admitted that he did sign the Checks with knowledge that the bank account on which they were drawn was closed; (2) he did not sign the July 29, 1994 Payroll Checks and did not physically hand them to Browne or DeCaro; (3) he wished to pay the amounts due on the July 22, 1994 Payroll Checks; (4) he believed someone may have taken the July 29, 1994 Payroll Checks from his home; and (5) he received a call from Browne indicating that he had possession of the July 29, 1994 Payroll Checks which were unsigned, and that he was going to have the Debtor’s girlfriend sign the Debtor’s name to them.

At trial, the Debtor and the attorneys for the Debtor and Wegmans stipulated that the Court could enter an order which determined that the amounts due on the July 22, 1994 Payroll Checks were nondis-chargeable.

DISCUSSION

I. Findings of Fact

After hearing the conflicting testimony of Browne and the Debtor, and carefully observing the demeanor and credibility of both Browne and the Debtor, I find that Browne’s testimony was more credible. I further find that: (1) although the Debtor may not have signed the July 29, 1994 Payroll Checks, he caused them to be signed or otherwise authorized his signature to be placed on the Checks; and (2) the Debtor distributed or authorized the distribution of the Payroll Checks to De-Caro and Browne with knowledge that the bank account on which the Payroll Checks were drawn had been closed in June 1994.

II. Potential Section 523 Causes of Action

The exceptions to discharge set forth in Section 523 are to be construed strictly against a creditor requesting that a debt be determined to be nondischargeable. See In re Peters, 133 B.R. 291 (S.D.N.Y.1991), aff'd 964 F.2d 166 (2d Cir.1992). The intention of Congress in setting forth the exceptions in Section 523(a) was to insure that a debtor received a fresh start but not a head start.

In its Memorandum of Law, Wegmans’ only assertion was that the debts it held against the Debtor, as the holder in due course of the Payroll Checks, were nondis-chargeable because the Debtor had committed larceny within the meaning and intent of Section 523(a)(4). The Court has taken that as an acknowledgment by Wegmans that it does not have or wish to pursue a cause of action under either Section 523(a)(2)(A) or Section 523(a)(6).

Section 523(a)(2) excepts from discharge any debt for money, property, services or an extension, renewal or refinancing of credit, to the extent obtained by false pretenses, a false representation or actual fraud. In this case, even if the Debtor had drawn the July 29, 1994 Payroll Checks on a bank account which he [617]*617knew was closed, it does not appear that he obtained any money, property or services from either DeCaro, Browne or Weg-mans by issuing and delivering the Payroll Checks. DeCaro and Browne had already performed their services for the Debtor by the time they received their Payroll Checks, so they were not induced to perform those services in specific reliance on the July 29, 1994 Payroll Checks, but only on an expectation and promise of payment pursuant to their oral or written employment contract.2

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
247 B.R. 613, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 441, 35 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wegmans-food-markets-inc-v-macarthur-in-re-macarthur-nywb-2000.