Zayed v. Arch Insurance

932 F. Supp. 2d 956, 2013 WL 1173952, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38255
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedMarch 20, 2013
DocketCase No. 11-CV-1319 (PJS/TNL)
StatusPublished

This text of 932 F. Supp. 2d 956 (Zayed v. Arch Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zayed v. Arch Insurance, 932 F. Supp. 2d 956, 2013 WL 1173952, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38255 (mnd 2013).

Opinion

ORDER

PATRICK J. SCHILTZ, District Judge.

Trevor Cook operated one of the largest Ponzi schemes in the history of Minnesota. In August 2009, just a few months before the government shut down Cook and his fraudulent enterprise, Cook filed a state-court action against Lynn Edward Baker and several entities affiliated with Baker, including Mesa Holdings, Inc. (“Mesa”). In that lawsuit, Cook essentially alleged that he had been defrauded by Baker. After the government shut down Cook, plaintiff R.J. Zayed was appointed as receiver for Cook’s estate. In that capacity, Zayed pursued Cook’s lawsuit against [958]*958Mesa and Baker, hoping to recover money that could be used to compensate Cook’s victims. The parties eventually reached a Miller-Shugarb settlement, and, pursuant to that settlement, a $1 million judgment was entered against Mesa and a $500,000 judgment was entered against Baker.

At the time that Cook sued Mesa and Baker, they were insured by defendant Arch Insurance Company (“Arch”). Arch, however, denied responsibility for defending or indemnifying Mesa or Baker in connection with Cook’s lawsuit. As part of the Miller-Shugarb settlement, Mesa and Baker assigned to Zayed any claims that they had against Arch for breach of its duties to defend and indemnify. Zayed then filed this action against Arch. Standing in the shoes of Mesa and Baker, Zayed seeks to force Arch to indemnify Mesa and Baker for the $1.5 million in judgments that were entered against them and to force Arch to pay the roughly $70,000 in attorney’s fees and costs that they incurred in defending Cook’s lawsuit.

Zayed and Arch have filed cross-motions for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, the Court holds that Arch had no duty to indemnify Mesa or Baker. The Court makes no determination regarding Arch’s alleged breach of its duty to defend, however, because that issue was not fully briefed by the parties.

I. BACKGROUND

Baker wore many hats. Baker owned 100 percent of Baker Capital LLC (“Baker Capital”). See Gilbride Deck Ex. 2 ¶ 7 [ECF No. 35-1 • at 13] (“Second Baker Deck”). Baker Capital, in turn, owned 33 percent of Mesa, and Baker personally owned, another 1 percent of Mesa. See Def. Mem. in Supp. at 3 [ECF No. 34] (“Def. Mem.”).1 Baker was also an officer and director of Mesa. See Gilbride Deck Ex. 1 ¶ 3 [ECF No. 35-1 at 3] (“First Baker Deck”). Mesa owned 100 percent of Mesa Financial Advisors, Inc. (“Mesa Financial”), of which Baker was likewise an officer and director. See id. ¶¶ 2-3.

Mesa Financial’s business strategy was to purchase small registered investment advisor firms (“RIAs”), then operate and provide back-office support for those RIAs. Id. ¶ 3. In 2008, Mesa sought to raise funds for Mesa Financial to use in acquiring new RIAs. Id. ¶4. Mesa hired Baker Capital to raise those funds. See Gilbride Deck Ex. 4 [ECF No. 35-1 at 24].

Later that year, Baker was introduced to Cook, who owned Oxford Global FX, LLC (“Oxford”). Based on discussions with Baker, Cook and Oxford decided to make a series of investments in Mesa and other Baker-related entities:

First, in September 2008, Oxford invested $500,000 in Mesa, receiving a zero coupon convertible promissory note in return. See Dwyer Aff. Ex. 7 [ECF No. 41-2 at 3-8].
Second, in October 2008, Oxford invested an additional $2 million in Mesa, this time receiving common stock in return. See Dwyer Aff. Ex. 32 [ECF No. 41-6 at 29],
Third, during the first half of 2009, Oxford made a series of short-term loans to Mesa totaling $1.05 million.2
[959]*959Finally, in March 2009, Cook personally invested $200,000 in currency funds managed by Baker Capital. See Am. Compl. ¶ 15 [ECF No. 27-1].

Neither Oxford nor Cook ever got any of their money back.

In August 2009, Cook sued Baker, Baker Capital, Mesa, Mesa Financial, and other Baker-related entities in Minnesota state court over the last of these four investments — the $200,000 deposited by Cook into the currency funds managed by Baker Capital. See Gilbride Decl. Ex. 20 [ECF No. 35-5 at 3-12] (“First Cook Compl.”). Specifically, Cook alleged that the defendants refused his requests to withdraw his money from those currency funds. Id. ¶¶ 12-15. Cook’s complaint included claims for breach of contract, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, and violation of the Minnesota Securities Act, Minn.Stat. § 80A.40 et seq. First Cook Compl. ¶¶ 22-36. Cook’s complaint also alleged that each of the defendants was the alter ego of each of the other defendants. Id. ¶¶ 8-11.

Two months later, in October 2009, Cook amended his complaint. See Gilbride Decl. Ex. 10 [ECF No. 35-3] (“Second Cook Compl.”). The amended complaint repeated the allegations made in the original complaint and added allegations that Baker had misrepresented Mesa’s financial health when he solicited the investments from Oxford. Id. ¶¶ 11-27. Like the original complaint, the amended complaint sought the return of the $200,000 that Cook had personally invested in the currency funds. But the amended complaint also sought the return of the $3,550,000 that Oxford had invested in or loaned to Mesa, plus additional costs. Id. at 13-14. Finally, the amended complaint sought non-monetary relief; specifically, Cook sought the involuntary dissolution of Mesa pursuant to MinmStat. § 302A.751. Id. ¶¶ 50-61.

In 2009, Mesa carried a directors, officers, and organization liability insurance policy (“the Policy”) that had been issued by Arch. Broadly speaking, the Policy required Arch to defend Mesa and Mesa’s directors and officers (including Baker) against claims arising out of wrongful acts. See generally Dwyer Aff. Exs. 9-10 [ECF No. 41-2 at 37-75] (“D & O Policy”). The Policy also required Arch to indemnify Mesa up to $1 million for any “Loss” suffered because of such claims, see D & O Policy at 38; D & O Policy Liability- Coverage Part §§ l.B & l.C, and to indemnify Mesa’s directors and officers (including Baker) up to $500,000 for any “Non-Indemnifiable Loss” suffered by those individuals, see D & O Policy at 38; D & O Policy Liability Coverage Part § l.A.

Arch initially did not deny its obligation to defend Mesa and Baker against Cook’s state-court action, see Dwyer Aff. Exs. 11-12 [ECF No. 41-3 at 1-10], and it paid a total of $9,991.90 in defense costs, see Dwyer Aff. Ex. 15 [ECF No. 41-3 at 57]. Arch later concluded, however, that none of Cook's claims was covered by the Policy. See Dwyer Aff. Ex. 16 [ECF No. 41-3 at 58-64], Arch stopped paying defense costs, and it denied that it would be responsible for indemnifying Mesa or Baker for any loss resulting from Cook’s lawsuit. Id. at 64.

Meanwhile, Cook had his own problems. On November 23, 2009, both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed complaints against Cook, Oxford, and other entities controlled by Cook, alleging that Cook had defrauded hundreds of in[960]*960vestors out of more than $190 million. See U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Comm’n v. Cook, No.

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Bluebook (online)
932 F. Supp. 2d 956, 2013 WL 1173952, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38255, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zayed-v-arch-insurance-mnd-2013.