D'Amour v. Birchall (In re Birchall)
D'Amour v. Birchall (In re Birchall)
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM OF DECISION
I. INTRODUCTION
The matter before the Court is the “Plaintiffs Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment” (the “Motion for Summary Judgment”) filed by the plaintiff, Suzanne D’Amour (the “Plaintiff’). The Plaintiff commenced the present adversary proceeding seeking a determination that the debt owed her by the debtor, Richard G. Birchall (the “Debtor”), is excepted from discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A), (a)(4), and/or (a)(6).
II. BACKGROUND
The facts are not in dispute.
To effectuate his plan, the Debtor formed a Delaware corporation known as Bay Investments, Inc. (“Bay Investments”), naming himself the president, vice president, and chairman of the board of directors.
Between April 5, 1994 and August 15, 1994, the Plaintiff transferred more than $2,000,000 to the Debtor, who deposited the money into his attorney trust account.
After making several demands for an accounting of the assets she had entrusted to him, which the Debtor refused, the Plaintiff filed a complaint against him in Barnstable County Superior Court (the “Superior Court Complaint”) on December 20, 2000.
Shortly after the Plaintiff filed the Superior Court Complaint, the Debtor formed yet another corporation, opened a bank account in its name, and transferred funds from the Bay Partners Account and the Cape Cod Account into this new account, intending to conceal from the Plaintiff
The Debtor filed numerous pleadings in the superior court action, including a motion to dismiss, an answer, an amended answer, a motion for summary judgment, and a motion to set aside certain transfer s.
On August 1, 2005, the Office of Bar Counsel for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts filed with the Board of Bar Overseers of the Supreme Judicial Court (the “BBO”) a petition for discipline based, in part, on the same facts and circumstances as the superior court action.
On December 20, 2006, the Plaintiff filed a supplementary process action in the Orleans District Court of the Trial Court of Massachusetts that included a charge of fraud.
The Debtor was imprisoned by order of the district court for refusing to pay the damages he owed.
The Debtor filed the present bankruptcy case on October 19, 2012.
On June 12, 2013, the Debtor filed a nonsensical motion to dismiss, arguing that the Default Judgment against him precluded the Plaintiffs claim on the grounds of res judicata.
III. POSITION OF THE PARTY
The Plaintiff argues that the doctrine of collateral estoppel gives the Default Judgment preclusive effect in this proceeding. The Plaintiff contends that the general rule that default judgments do not have preclusive effect should not apply because the Debtor participated in the superior court action for over four years and had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issues therein. Next, the Plaintiff asserts that, under Massachusetts law, when a court enters a default judgment, the factual allegations of a complaint are accepted as true. Thus, she argues that the Default Judgment conclusively establishes not only that the Debtor committed breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and misrepresentation, but also the facts alleged in the Superior Court Complaint. The Plaintiff additionally asks that I apply collateral estoppel to the district court’s findings in the supplementary process action, and the BBO’s findings in the petition for discipline that resulted in the Debtor’s disbarment.
The Plaintiff asserts that the Default Judgment, the orders from the supplementary process action, and the petition for discipline clearly establish that the Debtor received assets from her in a fiduciary capacity, as her attorney, and fraudulently converted those assets to his own use. Accordingly, the Plaintiff argues the debt is one resulting from fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity and is excepted from discharge pursuant to § 523(a)(4). The Plaintiff did not expressly seek summary judgment on any other theory of § 523(a)(4) despite having alleged others in her complaint. The Plaintiff additionally contends that the Default Judgment establishes that the Debtor obtained money from her by fraud or falsehood pursuant to § 523(a)(2) and willfully and maliciously caused her injury pursuant to § 523(a)(6).
IV. DISCUSSION
A. The Summary Judgment Standard
Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56, “the court shall grant summary judgment if the mov-ant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”
B. Collateral Estoppel
I first address what effect, if any, the Default Judgment has on the current proceeding. “In determining whether a party should be estopped from relitigating an issue decided in a prior state court action, the bankruptcy court must look to that state’s law of collateral estoppel.”
Here, I find that collateral estoppel applies to the Default Judgment. The Debtor actively participated in the state court litigation for over four years, filing numerous pleadings and motions during that time. The superior court entered the Default Judgment as a sanction due to the Debtor’s refusal to comply with discovery requests and repeated violations of court orders. Accordingly, this is not a “typical default case” in which “no answer was filed and the defendant’s participation was on the periphery of the case.”
The remaining elements are easily satisfied. First, the Debtor was a party to the superior court action. Next, the issues in the superior court action were identical to the issues at hand. The Default Judgment established the Debtor’s liability for breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and
The same holds true for the Fraud Order. Again, the issues and parties in the supplementary process proceeding were identical to this proceeding. Moreover, the Debtor actively participated in the nine day evidentiary hearing that preceded entry of the Fraud Order. Lastly, a finding of fraudulent intent was essential to the Fraud Order, as the Debtor could not have been found guilty of fraud under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 224, § 19 otherwise.
C. Section 523(a) ft)
Section 523(a)(4) provides, in relevant part, “[a] discharge under section 727 ... does not discharge an individual debt- or from any debt ... for fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity, embezzlement, or larceny.” In support of the Motion for Summary Judgment, the Plaintiff argued that the Debtor’s actions constituted fraud or defalcation in a fiduciary capacity. If relying on the fraud or defalcation prong of § 523(a)(4), the party objecting to the debtor’s discharge must show: (1) that the debt “result[s] from a fiduciary’s defalcation under an express or technical trust;” (2) that the debtor “acted in a fiduciary capacity with respect to the trust;” and (3) that the transaction in question is a “defalcation [or fraud] within the meaning of bankruptcy law.”
From the outset, I note that the alleged fraudulent or defalcating act is that the Debtor converted assets which the Plaintiff had entrusted to him to his own use — in a word, embezzlement. Traditionally, embezzlement is “the fraudulent conversion of the property of another by one who is already in lawful possession of it.”
Here, the undisputed facts clearly establish each element of embezzlement. First, the Plaintiff voluntarily entrusted three parcels of real property and over $2,000,000 to the Debtor for him to safeguard. Thus, the assets were initially rightfully in the Debtor’s possession. Second, by removing the Plaintiffs assets from her control, converting them to his own use, and refusing to return them — -all contrary to their agreement — the Debtor appropriated the property for a use other than that for which it was entrusted. Finally, the superior court expressly found that the Debtor acted with fraudulent intent in the Fraud Order.
Accordingly, I find that the Debtor’s debt to the Plaintiff is excepted from discharge pursuant to § 523(a)(4) as a debt for embezzlement. Because I find that the debt is excepted from discharge pursuant to § 523(a)(4), it is unnecessary to determine the validity of the Plaintiffs claims under §§ 523(a)(2)(A) and (a)(6).
Y. CONCLUSION
In light of the foregoing, I will enter an order granting the Motion for Summary Judgment.
. Unless expressly stated otherwise, all references to the "Bankruptcy Code” or to specific sections shall be to the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, as amended by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, Pub.L. No. 109-8, 119 Stat. 23, 11 U.S.C. § 101, etseq.
. Pursuant to Local Rule 56.1 of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, adopted and made applicable to proceedings in the Bankruptcy Court by Massachusetts Local Bankruptcy Rule 7056-1, motions for summary judgment must include "a concise statement of material facts of record as to which the moving party contends there is no genuine issue to be tried, with page references to affidavits, depositions, and other documentation.” LR, D. Mass 56.1. All referenced documents must be filed as exhibits to the motion or opposition. Id. Material facts set forth in the moving party’s statement are deemed admitted for purposes of summary judgment if not controverted by an opposing statement. Id. While the Plaintiff filed a statement pursuant to Local Rule 56.1 (the "Plaintiff's Statement of Facts”) with citations to supporting exhibits, see "Statement of Undisputed Material Facts in Support of Plaintiff’s Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment,” Docket No. 43, the Debtor filed neither an opposition to summary judgment nor an opposing statement of facts. Accordingly, the facts contained within the Plaintiff’s Statement of Facts are deemed admitted for the purposes of this motion.
. Plaintiff’s Statement of Facts, Docket No. 43 at ¶ 1.
. Id. at V 2.
. Id. at ¶ 5a.
. Id. at ¶ 5b.
. Id. at ¶ 5c.
. Id.
. Id. at ¶ 5e.
. Id. at ¶¶ 5d and e.
. Id. a^5f.
. Id. at ¶ 5h.
.Id. at ¶ 5i.
. Id. at ¶¶ 5g and j.
. Id. at ¶ 5j.
. Id. at ¶ 5k.
. Id.
. Id. at ¶ 51.
. Id. at ¶ 6.
. Id. at ¶ 7.
. Id. at ¶ 8.
. Id. at ¶ 9.
. Id. at ¶ 10.
. Id. atHll.
. Id. at ¶¶ 12-14.
. Id. at ¶ 16.
. Id. at ¶ 18.
. Id. at ¶ 2; Affidavit of Pamela A. Harbeson, Esq. in Support of Plaintiff’s Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment (the "Harbeson Affidavit”), Docket No. 45 at Ex. C.
. Plaintiff’s Statement of Facts, Docket No. 43 at ¶ 3.
. Harbeson Affidavit, Docket No. 45 at Ex. D.
. Plaintiff’s Statement of Facts, Docket No. 43 at ¶¶ 21-22.
. Id. at ¶¶ 23-24.
. Id. at ¶ 24.
. Id. at ¶¶ 25-26.
. Id. at ¶ 27.
. Id.
. Id.
. Id. at ¶ 28; see In re Birchall, Case No. 07-13232-WC H; In re Birchall, Case No. 07-17294-WC H.
. Plaintiff's Statement of Facts, Docket No. 43 at ¶ 31.
. Id.
. The Debtor’s case was originally assigned to Judge Henry J. Boroff of this district, but he transferred it to me upon the filing of the present adversary proceeding in light of my familiarity with the history of this dispute.
. Id. at ¶ 32.
. Id. at ¶ 33.
. See Docket No. 25.
. See Docket Nos. 41 and 42.
. See Docket No. 52.
. See Docket No. 57.
. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a), made applicable to adversary proceedings by Fed. R. Bankr.P. 7056.
. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).
. Id.
. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
. Desmond v. Varrasso (In re Varrasso), 37 F.3d 760, 764 (1st Cir. 1994).
. Id.
. Backlund v. Stanley-Snow (In re Stanley-Snow), 405 B.R. 11, 18 (1st Cir. BAP 2009).
. McHeffey v. Pereira (In re Pereira), 428 B.R. 276, 281 (Bankr.D.Mass. 2010) (citing Alba v. Raytheon Co., 441 Mass. 836, 843, 809 N.E.2d 516 (2004)).
. Treglia v. MacDonald, 430 Mass. 237, 241, 717 N.E.2d 249 (1999) (citation omitted).
. Id.
. See In re Stanley-Snow, 405 B.R. at 19-21; Int’l Strategies Grp., Ltd. v. Pomeroy (In re Pomeroy), 353 B.R. 371, 377 (Bankr.D.Mass. 2006).
. See In re Stanley-Snow, 405 B.R. at 20.
. See the Superior Court Complaint, Docket No. 25 at Ex. A, ¶¶ 37-51.
. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 224, § 19 provides, in relevant part:
At any time pending the examination of the defendant or debtor, the plaintiff or creditor or a person in his behalf may allege charges ... That, since the debt was contracted or the cause of action accrued, the defendant or debtor has fraudulently conveyed, concealed or otherwise disposed of the whole or a part of his or its property, with intent to secure it to his or its own use or to defraud his or its creditors....
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 224, § 19.
. Raso v. Fahey (In re Fahey), 482 B.R. 678, 687 (1st Cir. BAP 2012) (internal quotations omitted).
. Sherman v. Potapov (In re Sherman), 603 F.3d 11, 13 (1st Cir. 2010) (quoting United States v. Young, 955 F.2d 99, 102 (1st Cir. 1992)).
. Lento v. Marshall (In re Marshall), 497 B.R. 3, 12 (Bankr.D.Mass. 2013) (internal quotations omitted).
. See In re Sherman, 603 F.3d at 13.
. The Debtor is not prejudiced by a finding of embezzlement, as opposed to fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity, because it does not require any findings beyond what is necessary to rule in the Plaintiff's favor on the latter basis. Moreover, the Plaintiff alleged embezzlement in her complaint. In any event, the Debtor failed to oppose the Motion for Summary Judgment, and the Default Judgment and the Fraud Order preclude him from disputing the facts that establish embezzlement under § 523(a)(4).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In re Richard G. BIRCHALL, Debtor. Suzanne D'Amour v. Richard G. Birchall
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published