General Elec. Capital v. Union Planters

• Citation: 409 F.3d 1049
• Decision Date: 31 May 2005
• Docket Number: No. 03-3832.,No. 03-3828.,03-3828.,03-3832.
• Parties: GENERAL ELECTRIC CAPITAL CORPORATION, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. UNION PLANTERS BANK, NA, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)

409 F.3d 1049

GENERAL ELECTRIC CAPITAL CORPORATION, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. UNION PLANTERS BANK, NA, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

No. 03-3828.

No. 03-3832.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: September 16, 2004.

Filed: May 31, 2005.

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Lance Gotthoffer, argued, New York, NY (Michael Tsang on the brief), for appellant/cross-appellee.

Jeffrey S. Heuer, argued, St. Louis, MO, for appellee/cross-appellant.

Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, BEAM, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.

BEAM, Circuit Judge.

This diversity case involves a dispute between two creditors—General Electric Capital Corporation (GECC), the plaintiff, and Union Planters Bank (UPB), the defendant—about funds UPB received from their common debtor—Machinery, Inc. (Machinery). The district court granted GECC's motion for summary judgment on liability, and held a bench trial to determine damages. Ultimately, the court entered judgment against UPB for $62,818. GECC appeals the damages determination, and UPB cross-appeals the liability ruling. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand the case for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

Machinery was in the business of renting, selling, and servicing aerial manlift equipment. Machinery financed the purchase of its manlift inventory with GECC, UPB, and various other lenders, and it gave those creditors security interests in the inventory they financed. UPB was also Machinery's lender on an operating note, secured by a blanket lien on all of Machinery's property, and it was Machinery's depository bank. In March 2000, GECC and UPB entered into a subordination agreement in which UPB subordinated its security interest in GECC-financed inventory to the interest of GECC, as well as its interest in "all cash, rents and non-cash proceeds" arising from that same property.

In April 2000, UPB and Machinery set up a cash management system. Under this system, Machinery maintained three demand deposit accounts with UPB: a parent account and two operating accounts. Machinery would deposit the funds it had collected from equipment rentals, sales, and service into the parent account and write checks on the operating accounts to cover expenses. Each day, when Machinery's checks were presented for payment, UPB would transfer funds from the parent account to the operating accounts to cover the checks. If the parent account balance was inadequate to cover the operating-account expenditures, a revolving line of credit covered the shortfall. And, if an excess existed in the parent account after the items drawn on the operating accounts were paid, UPB would automatically "sweep" the funds from Machinery's parent account to pay down the balance owing on the line of credit. In July 2000, Machinery established the $1,250,000 line of credit at issue in this case.¹

From April 2000, Machinery deposited its revenue in the parent account without identifying which items of inventory, if any, generated the funds it was depositing. UPB swept funds from the parent account and provided funds to the operating accounts regularly and automatically. The system operated in this manner until the beginning of March 2001, when Machinery's affairs began to fall apart. Machinery fell into default with UPB, and UPB terminated the automatic feature of the cash management system. Ultimately, Machinery filed for bankruptcy on March 29, 2001.

GECC filed suit against UPB claiming that UPB wrongfully swept proceeds of GECC-financed inventory from Machinery's parent account in January, February and March 2001. GECC asserted causes of action for wrongful setoff, breach of the subordination agreement, conversion, tortious interference with contract, and unjust enrichment. GECC moved for partial summary judgment on its conversion claim, arguing that UPB converted funds in which GECC had a superior interest when UPB swept the account. UPB cross-moved for summary judgment on all of GECC's claims. The district court granted GECC's partial motion, holding that UPB was liable for conversion, but reserved the question of damages for trial. The court dismissed the remaining counts with prejudice because they all sought relief for the same injury.

Evidence of damages was presented at a bench trial. The district court concluded that UPB converted $62,818 of funds in which GECC had a superior interest when it swept Machinery's account in January, February, and March.

GECC appeals the damages ruling, and UPB cross-appeals the district court's entry of summary judgment on liability. The district court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, and we have appellate jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

II. DISCUSSION

In diversity cases, we apply the substantive law of the state in which the district court sits. Erie R.R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938). Here, that is Missouri, and we review the district court's interpretation of Missouri law de novo. Bass v. Gen. Motors Corp., 150 F.3d 842, 846-47 (8th Cir.1998).

UPB appeals the district court's grant of partial summary judgment to GECC on its conversion claim, and the district court's denial of its cross-motion for summary judgment on the same claim. "We review a grant of summary judgment de novo and apply the same standards as the district court." Bockelman v. MCI Worldcom, Inc., 403 F.3d 528, 531 (8th Cir.2005). "Summary judgment is warranted if the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, shows that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Id.

GECC appeals the district court's damages judgment. "Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure mandates that in cases tried to the court, findings of fact shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous." Adzick v. UNUM Life Ins. Co., 351 F.3d 883, 889 (8th Cir. 2003).

Under Missouri law,

[c]onversion is the unauthorized assumption of the right of ownership over the personal property of another to the exclusion of the owner's rights. Kennedy v. Fournie, 898 S.W.2d 672, 678 (Mo. App.1995) . . . . [A] plaintiff must show title to, or a right of property in, and a right to the immediate possession of the property concerned at the alleged date of conversion. Id.

Bell v. Lafont Auto Sales, 85 S.W.3d 50, 54 (Mo.Ct.App.2002).

This case involves a conflict over funds generated by leases of inventory in which GECC held a security interest. Those proceeds were deposited in Machinery's parent account with UPB. This was typical of Machinery's operations and there is no evidence that GECC objected to the deposit of those funds in that account. GECC's conversion theory is based on what happened after those funds were deposited.

GECC claimed that UPB converted GECC's property when it swept funds from Machinery's parent account under the cash management system in January, February, and March 2001. GECC premised this claim on its security interest in the proceeds of GECC-financed inventory. Specifically, it sought to establish that it had a "right of property in, and a right to the immediate possession of," the funds UPB received. Id. Because GECC's rights were premised on its security interest, GECC had to prove that it had a security interest in the funds UPB received from the parent account. To do that, GECC was faced with two tasks. First, it had to prove that proceeds in which it held a security interest were deposited in Machinery's parent account. If GECC established that fact, then GECC's security interest in the funds that were deposited continued in the deposit account to the extent of the amount of such deposits. GECC's second task, then, was to prove that the funds UPB received through its sweeps were encumbered by GECC's security interest in the deposit account. We address these two aspects of GECC's claim in turn.

A. GECC's Security Interest in Machinery's Deposits

The district court determined that GECC had a security interest in certain funds that were deposited by Machinery in its parent account. It made this determination at the bench trial, and its conclusion is a finding of fact.

GECC sought to establish its security interest in deposited funds by establishing that (1) ninety-two of Machinery's customers made lease payments to Machinery during January, February, and March 2001, (2) those customers leased GECC-financed inventory, and (3) the funds paid by those customers were deposited in the parent account. The funds paid by a lessee of inventory are proceeds of that inventory under Missouri law, and GECC's security interest in the inventory therefore continued in those proceeds. Mo. Ann. Stat. § 400.9-306(1)-(2), cmt. 6.² But GECC's evidence was weak. Audit records indeed revealed that the ninety-two customers had leased GECC-financed inventory. And cancelled checks that had been deposited in Machinery's parent account established the amounts paid by the ninety-two customers to Machinery. But no leases, invoices, or other evidence tying the payments to the collateral was presented. GECC nonetheless argued that the audit records and cancelled checks showed that the funds paid by the ninety-two lessees and deposited in the parent account were proceeds of GECC-financed inventory because those customers were likely making payments on their leases of GECC-financed inventory.

UPB countered with testimony establishing that twenty-three of the ninety-two customers also leased equipment in which GECC had no security interest. The district court concluded that GECC had not proven that those twenty-three customers' payments were proceeds of GECC-financed inventory because the inference upon which GECC relied—that such customers were likely making payments on their leases of GECC-financed inventory— was no longer valid given UPB's evidence. The court therefore excluded those twenty-three customers' payments from its deposit calculations and held that GECC had...