Sure, Inc. v. Premier Petroleum, Inc.
Sure, Inc. v. Premier Petroleum, Inc.
Opinion
*219 Sure, Inc. ("Sure") appeals from the trial court's grant of summary judgment on its claims against Premier Petroleum, Inc. ("Premier") arising out of a petroleum supply contract and loan documents executed by the parties. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the trial court's grant of summary judgment on Sure's claim for breach of contract, affirm the grant of summary judgment on Sure's *220 claim for wrongful foreclosure, and affirm in part and reverse in part the grant of summary judgment on Sure's claim of fraud.
It is well settled that
[s]ummary judgments enjoy no presumption of correctness on appeal, and an appellate court must satisfy itself de novo that the requirements of OCGA § 9-11-56 (c) have been met. In our de novo review of the grant of a motion for summary judgment, we must view the evidence, and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.
(Citations and punctuation omitted.)
Cowart v. Widener
,
*22 So viewed, the evidence of record shows that at the pertinent time, Sure owned and operated a convenience store and gas station in Suwanee, Georgia (the "Station"). Natt Nwokolo is the president, secretary, and majority shareholder of Sure. 1 Premier is a Georgia petroleum supplier/distributor, and Aziz Dhanani is its president. Premier conducts its business by purchasing gasoline from a branded oil company at wholesale and then providing the gasoline to various retail gas stations and convenience stores.
Supply Agreement
In December 2009, Nwokolo decided to rebrand the Station from a CITGO to a Shell Oil station. In conjunction with that decision, Nwokolo spoke with representatives of Premier, and on December 11, 2009, Sure and Premier entered into a Contract Supply Agreement (the "Supply Agreement"), which provided that Premier would be the exclusive supplier of petroleum products to the Station and that Sure would purchase a minimum of 60,000 gallons of such products per month.
Under the terms of the Supply Agreement, Premier agreed to assist Sure by processing its credit card payments, and Sure was required to pay for gasoline deliveries at the time of delivery. Additionally, Premier agreed to pay Sure a rebate of $.02 per gallon for a period of three years beginning after the Station was completely rebranded and accepted by Shell.
*221 Loan from Premier to Sure
Certain renovations were required as part of the re-branding of the Station, and Nwokolo also decided to update the Station's gas pumps. Premier agreed to lend Sure money to help accomplish these changes (the "Loan"), and the parties executed loan documents, including a $56,000 promissory note (the "Note") and a "Deed to Secure Debt, Assignment of Leases and Rents and Security Agreement" (the "Deed to Secure Debt"), both signed by Sure, as well as a personal guaranty signed by Nwokolo. The Deed to Secure Debt granted Premier a security interest in a one-acre lot owned by Sure adjacent to the Station (the "Adjacent Property").
At or around the time of the closing on the Loan, Premier issued a check dated January 28, 2010, in the amount of $6,000 to Sure. Then, on February 8, 2010, Premier issued a check on behalf of Sure in the amount of $14,000 to a third-party, B & B Petroleum System Services, Inc. ("B&B"), toward the replacement or refurbishment of the gasoline pumps. Although Premier produced written documentation showing Nwokolo's authorization for Premier to pay $50,000 of the Loan proceeds to B & B (the "Authorization"), Nwokolo asserts that he never authorized that any of the Loan proceeds be paid to B&B, he never signed the Authorization, and the signature on that document is a forgery. Rather, he believed that all the Loan proceeds would be paid to Sure directly.
Nwokolo wrote Premier a letter dated February 25, 2010, to inform the company that Sure had decided not to accept the $56,000 Loan, noting that Sure had only received $6,000 of the Loan proceeds as of that date. Nwokolo represented that he had asked B&B, and it had agreed, to refund the $14,000 payment back to Premier, and he stated that he intended to refund the $6,000 paid to Sure. However, the letter was not mailed until March 17, 2010.
Premier responded by letter dated March 19, 2010, noting that the first payment under the Note, due on March 1, 2010, had not been paid. The March 19 letter gave Sure five days in which to pay the $20,000 in Loan proceeds that Premier had paid out. Premier again wrote Nwokolo and Sure on April 14, 2010, to give notice that Sure was in default under the terms of the Note and that the company could cure the default by paying the sum of $4,515.27, representing the outstanding Loan payments for March and April 2010, including interest. Premier next wrote Sure and Nwokolo on October 13, 2010, demanding payment of all amounts due and owing under the Note and informing them that, in the absence of such payment within the next ten days, Premier intended to pursue legal action, including foreclosure under *23 the Deed to Secure Debt. Neither Sure nor Nwokolo has ever returned the $6,000 Sure received in January 2010 nor have *222 they ever paid Premier any amounts under the terms of the Loan documents. Premier subsequently foreclosed on the Adjacent Property, and as the highest bidder at the foreclosure sale, Premier acquired that property (the "Foreclosure").
Despite this Loan dispute, Premier and Sure continued to operate under the terms of the Supply Contract, with Premier continuing to supply Sure with Shell gasoline. At some point, Premier adopted the practice of withholding the credit card payments it was servicing for Sure and netting them against the cost of Sure's gasoline purchases, maintaining a running credit balance on Sure's behalf.
Bankruptcy Proceedings
On June 3, 2011, after the Foreclosure, Sure filed for bankruptcy in federal court to stop Premier from proceeding against its business as well. That bankruptcy action was dismissed on September 21, 2012, and Sure was not discharged in that proceeding.
Sure filed a second bankruptcy action on November 5, 2012 (the "Second Bankruptcy Action"). During the course of that proceeding, Sure filed a "Notice of Rejection and Motion to Approve Rejection of the Executory Contract Between Sure, Inc. and Premier Petroleum, Inc." ("Motion to Reject"), seeking to relieve itself of its future obligations under the Supply Agreement, and the bankruptcy court granted that motion, approving Sure's rejection of that agreement on April 29, 2013. Sure subsequently filed a motion in the bankruptcy court to compel Premier to turn over credit card receipts it claimed Premier was wrongfully withholding under the Supply Agreement. The bankruptcy court denied the motion, instead determining that Sure should seek relief in the form of an adversary proceeding. On June 17, 2013, the trustee in the Second Bankruptcy Action filed a motion to dismiss or convert the action on the grounds that Sure had failed to file monthly operating reports as required and had also failed to pay administrative fees that were due and owing. The bankruptcy court granted the trustee's motion and dismissed the Second Bankruptcy Action on October 2, 2013, without granting Sure a discharge. 2
Current Lawsuit
On February 2, 2015, Sure filed the complaint in this action and seeks recovery against Premier for breach of contract, fraud, and *223 wrongful foreclosure. Sure claims it is entitled to recover credit card proceeds that Premier has wrongfully withheld; to recover a $.02 per gallon rebate on the gasoline it purchased from Premier; and to have the foreclosure on the Adjacent Property declared null and void. Premier answered denying liability and moved for summary judgment on Sure's claims.
The trial court granted Premier's motion finding that Sure (1) could not sue Premier for breach of contract because Sure rejected the Supply Agreement in the Second Bankruptcy Action; (2) is judicially estopped from claiming the $.02 per gallon rebate because it never listed this claim as an asset of its bankruptcy estate; (3) is collaterally estopped from re-litigating the issue of any credit card monies because the issue was already decided adversely to Sure in the Second Bankruptcy Action; (4) is not entitled to a claim for wrongful foreclosure because it never paid the monies due and owing under the Note and because it never tendered the amount due; and (5) is not entitled to relief on its fraud claims because it failed to plead fraud with particularity, failed to provide evidence of any false representations by Premier, signed documents containing merger clauses, and failed to provide evidence of reasonable reliance. This appeal followed.
1. Breach of Contract -Sure first asserts that the trial court erred in finding that its breach of contract claim is barred by the proceedings in the Second Bankruptcy Action. We agree.
(a) Sure filed its Motion to Reject pursuant to
It is well settled that "[r]ejection of an executory contract under § 365 of the Bankruptcy Code constitutes a breach and the injured party is entitled to assert a claim based thereon."
Puett v. McCannon
,
rejection does not embody the contract-vaporizing properties so commonly ascribed to it. Rejection merely frees the [bankruptcy] estate from the obligation to perform; it does not make the contract disappear. More specifically, rejection has absolutely no effect upon the contract's continued existence; the contract is not cancelled, repudiated, rescinded, or in any other fashion terminated.
*224
(Citations and punctuation omitted.)
Thompkins v. Lil' Joe Records, Inc.
,
Sure asserts two breach of contract claims: (1) for non-payment of the $.02 per gallon rebate and (2) for return of the credit card proceeds it asserts Premier has wrongfully withheld. These claims do not address issues of future performance. Rather, Sure is taking the position that it completely rebranded the station and the rebranding was accepted by Shell and that Premier breached the contract by failing to pay the $.02 rebate during the ensuing three years. We find that the rejection of the Supply Agreement in bankruptcy does not bar such a claim. Likewise, Sure's claim that Premier has wrongfully withheld credit card proceeds, over and above any amounts Sure owed Premier, also relates to an executed portion of the contract. It appears that Premier has processed the credit card sales, and Sure has paid for its gasoline purchases. Sure simply seeks to recover any overages retained by Premier. The rejection in bankruptcy does not bar such a claim.
The case of
Speir v. Nicholson
,
(b) Sure also asserts that the trial court erred in finding that its claim for the rebate is judicially estopped by its failure to list the claim in its petition in the Second Bankruptcy. Once again, we agree.
"The federal doctrine of judicial estoppel precludes a party from asserting a position in one judicial proceeding after having successfully asserted a contrary position in a prior proceeding."
Period Homes v. Wallick
,
Georgia courts consider three factors to determine whether the doctrine bars a claim:
(1) the party's later position must be "clearly inconsistent" with its earlier position; (2) the party must have succeeded in persuading a court to accept the party's earlier position; ... absent success in a prior proceeding, a party's later inconsistent position introduces no risk of inconsistent court determinations, and thus poses little threat to judicial integrity; and (3) whether the party seeking to assert an inconsistent position would derive an unfair advantage or impose an unfair detriment on the opposing party if not estopped.
(Citation and punctuation omitted.)
IBF Participating Income Fund v. Dillard-Winecoff, LLC
,
*226
Applying this authority, we find that the trial court abused its discretion in applying judicial estoppel to bar Sure's rebate claim because the Second Bankruptcy Action was dismissed without a discharge. Our Supreme Court has held that no benefit or unfair advantage arises from a bankruptcy debtor's failure to list a claim when the bankruptcy action ultimately is dismissed prior to a discharge in bankruptcy.
Dillard-Winecoff
,
(c) We also agree with Sure's argument that the trial court erred in finding that Sure's claim for the credit card receipts was barred by collateral estoppel.
"The doctrine of collateral estoppel, also known as issue preclusion, prevents the re-litigation of an issue actually litigated and adjudicated on the merits between the same parties or their privies." (Citation and punctuation omitted.)
York v. RES-GA LJY, LLC
,
*26
Therefore, the bankruptcy court's order reflects only the court's determination that the issue of the credit card receipts could not be resolved by motion but instead required a separate adversary proceeding.
Dzikowski v. Boomer's Sports & Recreation Ctr., Inc. (In re Boca Arena, Inc.)
,
Nothing in the record before us indicates that an adversary proceeding was ever initiated, much less completed, in conjunction with the Second Bankruptcy Action, and the record contains no other evidence showing that Sure's claim for credit card receipts has ever been adjudicated on the merits. Therefore, the doctrine of collateral estoppel does not apply to bar Sure from pursuing that claim in this litigation.
2. Wrongful foreclosure -Sure asserts that the trial court erred in granting the motion for summary judgment as to its wrongful foreclosure claim because genuine issues of material fact exist on the issue of whether Premier paid a grossly inadequate price for the Adjacent Property at the Foreclosure sale. The trial court granted summary judgment on Sure's claim for wrongful foreclosure on a number of grounds, including that Sure failed to tender the amount due as required to obtain equitable relief on its claim for wrongful foreclosure.
Under Georgia law, "[h]e who would have equity must do equity and must give effect to all equitable rights of the other party respecting the subject matter of the action." OCGA § 23-1-10. And "[u]nder application of this maxim [to a wrongful foreclosure action], before the complainant would be entitled to equitable relief, she must do equity and tender the amount due under the security deed and note."
Berry v. Govt. Nat. Mtg. Assn.
,
Nevertheless, Sure argues on appeal that it should be exempted from the tender requirement because Premier's improper conduct in withholding Sure's credit card receipts, inter alia, caused Sure's default on the Loan resulting in the Foreclosure, citing
Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, Inc. v. Ichthus Community Trust
,
Each party has a duty to present his best case on a motion for summary judgment. [Our Supreme] Court has specifically held that, in responding to a motion for summary judgment, plaintiffs have a statutory duty "to produce whatever viable theory of recovery they might have or run the risk of an adjudication on the merits of their case."
(Citations omitted.)
Pfeiffer v. Ga. Dept. of Transp.
,
Accordingly, we find the trial court properly granted summary judgment on Sure's wrongful foreclosure claim on the ground that Sure failed to tender the amounts it *27 owed under the terms of the Note and the Deed to Secure Debt. Therefore, we need not address the parties' arguments regarding the other grounds cited by the trial court in support of this ruling.
3.
Fraud
-Sure also asserts that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment on its fraud claim. Although Sure raises a number of arguments on appeal in support of this assertion, the only argument it raised below was its contention that at the time Premier made the Loan, it had no present intent to furnish Sure the full $56,000 to make renovations to the Station. Rather, its intent was to force Sure into default in order to obtain the Adjacent Property through foreclosure. Accordingly, this is the only argument we may consider on appeal.
Pfeiffer
, 275 Ga. at 828 (2),
In order to establish a claim for fraud, Sure must prove:
a false representation by a defendant, scienter, intention to induce the plaintiff to act or refrain from acting, justifiable reliance by plaintiff, and damage to plaintiff. For an action for fraud to survive a motion for summary judgment, there must be some evidence from which a jury could find each element of the tort.
(Citation omitted.)
Roberts v. Nessim
,
*229
Nevertheless, a claim of fraud generally "cannot be predicated on a promise contained in a contract because fraud generally cannot be predicated on statements that are in the nature of promises as to future events, and to hold otherwise, any breach of a contract would amount to fraud."
Sure asserts that Premier signed the Loan documents with no present intent to actually loan it the $56,000 referenced in the promissory note as part of its plan to induce Sure to put up as collateral the Adjacent Property, which Nwokolo asserts is worth far more than $56,000. Nwokolo testified in his deposition that the fair market value of the Adjacent Property was $1.5 million based on recent sales of similarly undeveloped properties in the area. 3 Sure contended that Premier worked to ensure its default on the Loan by failing to give it the full Loan proceeds and instead forwarding $14,000 to B&B without its consent. Nwokolo testified that he never signed the Authorization for this payment and that, in fact, his signature on that document is forged. Sure argues that these post-contract actions would allow a jury to infer that Premier had fraudulent intent at the time the Loan documents were signed.
We find that this evidence is sufficient to create genuine issues of material fact on its
*28
fraud claim, including whether Premier ever
*230
intended to loan Sure the amount agreed, whether Nwokolo authorized the payment of money to B&B, and whether it forged his signature on the Authorization. Accordingly, the trial court erred in granting Premier's motion for summary judgment as to this allegation of fraud. See generally
Vachon
,
Judgment affirmed in part and reversed in part.
Barnes, P. J., and Mercier, J., concur.
Nwokolo testified in his February 2016 deposition that he was the sole shareholder of Sure, but he averred in his October 2016 affidavit that he was the "majority shareholder."
Additional facts will be discussed as necessary to address the parties' appellate arguments.
Under Georgia law, "[a] witness need not be an expert or dealer in an article or property to testify as to its value if he or she has had an opportunity to form a reasoned opinion." OCGA § 24-7-701 (b). This provision "crystallizes principles of prior Georgia law relating to the value of property." Ronald L. Carlson & Michael Scott Carlson, Carlson on Evidence 369 (5th ed. 2016). Under prior law, an owner of property must give the facts upon which he bases his opinion of value, and "[a] showing that the witness had some knowledge, experience, or familiarity as to the value of the item is the requisite foundation." (Citation and punctuation omitted.)
Dickens v. Calhoun First Nat. Bank
,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.