Western Surety Co. v. Intrust Bank, N.A.

20 S.W.3d 566, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 943
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 20, 2000
DocketNos. WD 57219, WD 57179
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 20 S.W.3d 566 (Western Surety Co. v. Intrust Bank, N.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Western Surety Co. v. Intrust Bank, N.A., 20 S.W.3d 566, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 943 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Western Surety Company, as surety, brought an interpleader action seeking to determine the rights of opposing claimants to a twenty-five thousand dollar ($25,000) motor vehicle dealer bond. VanFran, Inc., d/b/a Car-Biz (Car-Biz), a motor vehicle dealership doing business in Missouri, was principal under the bond agreement. Intrust Bank, N.A., and Robert Hernandez filed complaints against Car-Biz in two separate actions. Each was awarded judgment against Car-Biz for damages in their respective cases. Each sought to collect its judgment against the motor vehicle dealer bond proceeds. Mr. Hernandez appeals from the judgment granting Intrust Bank’s motion for summary judgment on the interpleader action and apportioning pro rata the proceeds of the motor vehicle dealer bond to Intrust Bank and to Mr. Hernandez. Intrust Bank cross-appeals the trial court’s pro rata apportionment of the bond proceeds. The summary judgment of the trial court is reversed, and the case is remanded.

Factual and Procedural History

Car-Biz operates a used car dealership in Missouri specializing in second-chance financing. As required by all used car dealers in Missouri, Car-Biz secured a motor vehicle dealer bond in the amount of $25,000 from Western Surety naming Car-Biz as the principal and the State of Missouri as the obligee. Under the bond, Western Surety agreed to indemnify “any person dealing or transacting business with [Car-Biz] for any loss sustained by any person by reason of the acts of [Car-Biz], provided such acts of [Car-Biz] constitute grounds for suspension or revocation of [Car-Biz’s] license.”

Car-Biz had a business relationship with Intrust Bank whereby Car-Biz would clean, repair, and sell vehicles repossessed by Intrust Bank. Under the terms of the consignment, Intrust Bank would place the repossessed vehicles on Car-Biz’s lot for sale. Car-Biz would then sell the vehicles for the best price it could obtain, but for no less than the minimum sale price agreed to by Intrust Bank. Intrust Bank would retain possession of the vehicle’s certificate of title until the car sold and Car-Biz paid Intrust the agreed minimum price. Intrust Bank would then assign the vehicle’s certificate of title to the customer who purchased the car from Car-Biz’s lot.

During a routine check, in December of 1997, for the presence of vehicles placed on Car-Biz’s car lot, Intrust Bank found that two vehicles it had placed were missing. Intrust Bank later discovered that Car-Biz failed to pay Intrust Bank for eight of Intrust Bank’s repossessed vehicles sold by Car-Biz. Intrust Bank never released the certificates of title to seven of those vehicles. Thus, the customers who purchased these vehicles did not receive the certificates of title from Intrust Bank for [569]*569the vehicles they purchased on Car-Biz’s lot.

Intrust Bank filed suit against Car-Biz on March 20, 1998, alleging conversion, fraud, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment. Car-Biz appeared on June 4, 1998, and stipulated and consented to judgment on Intrust Bank’s breach of contract claim in the amount of $68,500. All other counts of Intrust Bank’s petition were dismissed with prejudice, along with Car-Biz’s counterclaims against Intrust Bank. On the same day of the consent judgment, Intrust Bank sent the judgment to the Missouri Department of Revenue seeking payment of twenty-five thousand dollars from Car-Biz’s motor vehicle dealer bond. The Missouri Department of Revenue thereafter forwarded a copy of Intrust Bank’s judgment to Western Surety on June 10,1998.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hernandez purchased a vehicle from Car-Biz in March of 1997. As part of the transaction, Car-Biz agreed that if Mr. Hernandez paid $2,784 and made installment payments to Car-Biz for the balance of the purchase price, Car-Biz would pay off the existing outstanding vehicle hen held by The Money Store Auto Finance, Inc. (The Money Store). When Car-Biz failed to pay the hen as promised, The Money Store repossessed Mr. Hernandez’s vehicle.

Mr. Hernandez filed his petition alleging fraud and deceptive merchandising practices against Car-Biz on April 20, 1998. Car-Biz failed to appear, and a hearing on damages was set for June 10, 1999. Evidence was heard and judgment was entered in favor of Mr. Hernandez for $19,874.08 in damages and $1,778.00 in attorney’s fees. On June 12, 1998, Mr. Hernandez sent his judgment to the Missouri Department of Revenue seeking payment from Car-Biz’s bond. The Missouri Department of Revenue thereafter forwarded a copy of Mr. Hernandez’s judgment to Western Surety on June 30,1998.

Western Surety filed an interpleader action on August 6, 1998, to settle the conflicting claims of Intrust Bank and Mr. Hernandez to the proceeds of the bond. Intrust Bank filed a motion for summary judgment. After hearing arguments on the motion, the court sustained it, in part, and apportioned the bond proceeds pro rata, directing payment of $17,897.39 to Intrust Bank and $6,102.61 to Mr. Hernandez. Mr. Hernandez appeals from the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Intrust Bank. Intrust Bank appeals from the trial court’s pro rata distribution of the bond proceeds.

Standard of Review

Appehate review of the propriety of summary judgment is essentially de novo. ITT Commercial Fin. Corp. v. Mid-America Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. banc 1993). The record is viewed in the light most favorable to the party against whom summary judgment was entered, and that party is afforded all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from the evidence. Id. The grant of summary judgment will be affirmed when no genuine issues of material fact exist and the movant has a right to judgment as a matter of law. State ex rel. Webb v. Hartford Cas. Ins. Co., 956 S.W.2d 272, 274 (Mo.App.1997).

Dealer Bond Unavailable to Indemnify Breach of Contract Judgment

Mr. Hernandez contends that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Intrust Bank because under § 301.560.1(4), RSMo Cum.Supp. 1999,1 only losses sustained by reason of the prohibited dealer conduct constitute grounds for surety liability. Mr. Hernandez argues that Intrust Bank did not sustain its loss for any reason falling within [570]*570the meaning of the statute, and certainly not by reason of Car-Biz’s failure to transfer title to the purchasers of the vehicles. Thus, he contends, Intrust Bank was not entitled to indemnification on its consent judgment.

Section 301.560.1(4) requires that a used motor vehicle dealer furnish a bond in the sum of $25,000. The bond “shall be an indemnity for any loss sustained by reason of the acts of the person bonded when such acts constitute grounds for the suspension or revocation of the dealer’s license.” Section 301.560.1(4). Section 301.562.2 fists twelve grounds for suspending or revoking a motor vehicle dealer’s license. The ground alleged to apply to both Mr. Hernandez’s and Intrust Bank’s judgments is the “obtaining or attempting to obtain any money, commission, fee, barter, exchange or other compensation by fraud, deception or misrepresentation.” Section 301.562.2(5).

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Bluebook (online)
20 S.W.3d 566, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 943, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-surety-co-v-intrust-bank-na-moctapp-2000.