Weyerhaeuser Co. v. United Pacific Insurance

728 P.2d 543, 82 Or. App. 211, 1986 Ore. App. LEXIS 4102
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 12, 1986
Docket8406-03442; CA A36037
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 728 P.2d 543 (Weyerhaeuser Co. v. United Pacific Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weyerhaeuser Co. v. United Pacific Insurance, 728 P.2d 543, 82 Or. App. 211, 1986 Ore. App. LEXIS 4102 (Or. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

BUTTLER, P. J.

Plaintiff, the named beneficiary of a payment and performance bond, brought this action against the surety to recover the loss that it sustained as a result of the bankrupt principal’s failure to make all payments required under a timber cutting contract. Defendant admits liability under the bond but contends that its liability is limited to the amount that plaintiff stipulated to on its cross-motion for summary judgment as its maximum claim against the principal’s estate in bankruptcy. The trial court granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment and entered judgment for plaintiff in that amount, plus 10 percent interest from the date the petition in bankruptcy was filed until paid.

On appeal, plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in denying its claim to post-bankruptcy petition interest payable under the terms of the contract, as modified, on the principal balance owed until the contract terminated by its own terms, and seeks remand to the trial court for a redetermination of its claim. In the alternative, plaintiff requests leave of this court to permit it to file a motion in the trial court for relief from the judgment, pursuant to ORCP 71B(2), in order to amend its complaint to reflect the difference between the appraised value of the timber that was returned to plaintiff on termination of the contract, on which the trial court’s judgment is based, and the value at which it ultimately was liquidated.

The relevant facts are undisputed. In October, 1981, plaintiff entered into a contract with D&R Timber, under which D&R was granted the right to cut and remove all standing and down timber on land owned by plaintiff until September 30, 1983. D&R agreed to make a down payment and four installment payments, for a total purchase price of $1,850,000, and to obtain the payment and performance bond involved in this action.1

[214]*214The down payment and first two installment payments were made in accordance with the contract terms. Before the first of two $500,000 installment payments became due on October 1, 1981, however, plaintiff granted D&R’s request for an extension to January 4,1982, on condition that D&R pay 14 percent interest on the deferred payment until paid. Subsequently, the due date was extended further to January, 1983. At the same time, the due date of the second $500,000 installment payment was also extended from March, 1982, to March, 1983. In consideration, D&R agreed to pay 15 percent interest on the entire unpaid balance until paid and to begin making quarterly interest payments, of which only one was made, in March, 1982.

D&R filed a petition in bankruptcy in November, 1982. Plaintiff filed a proof of claim in the bankruptcy proceeding for $1,096,781, of which $1,000,000 represented unpaid principal and $96,781 represented interest that had accrued before the bankruptcy petition was filed. The bankruptcy estate could not, as a matter of law, be held liable for “unmatured interest.” 11 USC § 502(b)(2).

D&R contested plaintiffs bankruptcy claim and filed a cross-motion for a partial summary judgment after plaintiff had filed a motion for summary judgment on its claim. D&R contended that plaintiffs claim should be offset by the value of the remaining timber. The bankruptcy court granted D&R’s motion and in November, 1984, entered a judgment limiting plaintiffs claim to $26,133, which is the difference between plaintiffs claim as alleged and the value of the remaining timber as appraised by plaintiff, and includes prepetition interest. Plaintiff resold the timber on December 10, 1984, for $830,000, $240,648 less than its appraised value on which the bankruptcy court had based its judgment.

This action was commenced in June, 1984. In January, 1985, plaintiff filed an amended complaint in which it [215]*215alleged that D&R’s default had caused it to sustain a net loss of $134,684.81. That sum represents plaintiffs loss, as calculated by the bankruptcy court, plus post-petition interest at the contract rate of 15 percent from the date of the petition (November 22, 1982) until September 30,1983, when D&R’s contract terminated. No reference is made in the amended complaint or in plaintiffs memorandum filed in support of its cross-motion for summary judgment, which was filed on March 27,1985, to the difference between the appraised value of the returned timber and its liquidated value.

On appeal, plaintiff contends that, even though a claim against an estate in bankruptcy may not include “unmatured interest,” 11 USC § 502(b)(2), a debtor’s bankruptcy does not affect the underlying debt or the obligation owed to the creditor by a third-party guarantor or surety. It argues that the protection afforded a debtor under the bankruptcy laws is for the exclusive benefit of the debtor and does not insulate the debtor’s surety from performing in full its obligation. In short, it contends that defendant is liable for post-petition interest, even though D&R is not.

On the other hand, defendant contends that, under both Oregon law and the terms of the surety bond, its obligation is coextensive with and dependent on D&R’s obligation to plaintiff. Therefore, it argues, the bankruptcy court’s determination of plaintiffs claim against D&R collaterally estops plaintiff from recovering any larger amount from defendant. In the alternative, it contends that the contract was rejected and terminated by operation of law, pursuant to 11 USC § 365, on the date when D&R filed its petition in bankruptcy and that, therefore, interest did not accrue under the terms of the contract after that date.

In support of its first proposition, defendant relies on Rawleigh v. Krueger, 148 Or 403, 36 P2d 987 (1934), in which the court held that a creditor may maintain an action against the debtor’s surety, even though the creditor had previously obtained a judgment against the debtor (principal), if the debtor and the surety are jointly and severally liable under the contract of suretyship. However, because the contract of suretyship expressly provided that the debtor and surety were jointly and severally liable, the court said that the creditor [216]*216could not recover a greater sum from the surety than the amount of its judgment against the debtor.

The surety agreement here does not contain language that expressly imposes joint and several liability. Assuming, however, that, under the terms of the bond, D&R and defendant are jointly and severally liable for payment of the contract price, up to the bond limit of $185,000, we do not believe that Rawleigh disposes of this case. Rawleigh did not involve a prior claim in bankruptcy where the creditor was limited by law in establishing the amount of his claim against the debtor. Rather, the creditor had filed a civil action against the debtor and had had a full opportunity to litigate and establish the full amount of its claim. That is not the case here. Plaintiff was precluded from claiming post-petition interest in the bankruptcy proceeding.

This case is no different from one where the debtor (principal) has been discharged in bankruptcy, leaving the creditor (beneficiary) with no recourse against the debtor, in which case there is no doubt that the surety would not be released from liability. A contrary rule would undermine one of the primary reasons for a creditor’s requiring a payment and performance bond: to provide a source of payment in the event that the debtor’s obligation is discharged in bankruptcy.

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Related

Weyerhaeuser Co. v. United Pacific Insurance
732 P.2d 921 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
728 P.2d 543, 82 Or. App. 211, 1986 Ore. App. LEXIS 4102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weyerhaeuser-co-v-united-pacific-insurance-orctapp-1986.