Murphy Oil USA, Inc. v. Baker (In re Baker), Case No. 08-93509-BHL-7
| Decision Date | 29 September 2011 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 08-93509-BHL-7,Adv. No. 09-59050 |
| Parties | In re: JOHN M. BAKER, Debtor. MURPHY OIL USA, INC., Plaintiff, v. JOHN M. BAKER, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Southern District of Indiana |
Basil H. Lorch III
United States Bankruptcy Judge
This matter is before the Court on the Plaintiff's Complaint to Determine Liability and Non-Dischargability of Debt Under 11 U.S.C. § 523, as supplemented by its More DefiniteStatement of the Claim [Docket # 41].1 The Court tried the matter on June 1, 2011. The Plaintiff and Defendants submitted post-trial briefs [Docket #s 71 and 72, respectively] on June 17, 2011.
Murphy Oil USA, Inc. ("Murphy"), the Plaintiff, seeks a determination that the Defendants, John M. Baker and Stacy Lea Baker, are liable to it under various state law theories. Further, Murphy seeks a judgment liquidating the Bakers' alleged obligations to Murphy and finding that the debts are excepted from discharge in their respective Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2), (4), or (6). Having considered the foregoing, and for the reasons set forth below, the Court finds Mr. Baker to be liable to Murphy in the amount of $691,757.78, which judgment may not be discharged in Mr. Baker's bankruptcy case. Further, Mr. Baker is liable to Murphy for its reasonable attorney's fees and certain of its costs, and this, too, is excepted from discharge. In contrast, Murphy did not meet its burden of proof in its case against Mrs. Baker, and the Court finds that her obligations to Murphy are wholly discharged by the Court's order of May 11, 2011.
Mr. and Mrs. Baker were at all relevant times husband and wife and co-owners of several modest enterprises in and around Orange County, Indiana. Mr. Baker's proprietorship, Baker Oil, distributed petroleum fuel products to five area retailers and a few local farmers. The Bakers owned three of these gas stations, having succeeded in their interests from Mr. Baker's parents. For Mr. Baker, these enterprises were a family legacy, and he spent most of his lifeattempting to advance their interests. Mrs. Baker earned wages for her work maintaining the books, dealing with vendors, and training and supervising employees.
Murphy was a vendor to Baker Oil. In 2006, they entered into an arrangement whereby Murphy authorized Baker Oil to purchase fuel from Murphy on credit. The terms of the credit agreement required Baker Oil to pay for fuel purchases within twelve days, so long as its account balance remained under $150,000. The agreement contemplated credit purchases greater than the "limit;" if Baker Oil's account balance exceeded $150,000, the excess was to be paid immediately. Such payments were to be accomplished by electronic funds transfers initiated by Murphy from a checking account jointly held by Baker Oil Company and Mrs. Baker. Both Mr. and Mrs. Baker signed a personal guarantee of Baker Oil's obligations to Murphy.
For more than a year, Murphy and Baker Oil transacted regular business. Baker Oil acquired fuel from a terminal where Murphy was one of several suppliers from which Baker Oil could choose to purchase fuel. This task was accomplished by Joe Burton, a longtime agent of Baker Oil, who took possession of fuel from the terminal in Princeton, Indiana, and delivered it to the gas stations and a few storage tanks maintained by Baker Oil in Orange County, about an hour and a half away. In the ordinary course of business, Baker Oil purchased fuel from Murphy costing approximately $300,000 to $500,000 per month, divided into more than a dozen separate purchases. Murphy became Baker Oil's biggest vendor, though it purchased fuel from others. Baker Oil frequently exceeded its credit limit by tens of thousands of dollars, but such excesses never persisted for more than a few days and never prompted Murphy to restrict the credit it was willing to extend to Baker Oil. Though Murphy, like many in the industry, had installed at other fuel terminals technology that cut off a purchaser's access to fuel when the purchaser exceeded its credit limit, Murphy had not yet installed such technology at the terminal in Princeton. Dueto its antiquated information systems, Murphy would not learn of Baker Oil's purchases until two business days after fuel was drawn.
In 2008, the Bakers were facing pressure from the state tax authorities, who alleged that the Bakers owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in delinquent sales taxes, fuel taxes, withholding taxes on behalf of their employees, and income taxes. Schedules D and E of Mr. Baker's petition, filed less than a year after the events at issue, suggest that his state tax debt may have exceeded two million dollars. The Bakers had failed to file dozens of state and federal tax returns for periods that were now years past. Mr. Baker's Statement of Financial Affairs indicates he earned no income in the three years before he sought relief in the Bankruptcy Court. In addition, Mrs. Baker struggled with ongoing serious health problems that consumed her energy and kept her from the bookkeeping.
In the spring of 2008, fuel prices were historically high and volatile. Consequently, Mr. Baker, hoping to avoid buying high and selling low, had allowed Baker Oil's inventories to shrink. During the week ending Saturday, April 12, 2008, Mr. Baker consulted with Mr. Burton and a local fuel broker and price prognosticator and concluded that prices were going to continue to rise in the near- to medium-term, and that then was as good a time as any in the foreseeable future to purchase fuel. Mr. Baker instructed Mr. Burton to "top off the tanks."
Thereafter, beginning on the evening of Friday, April 11, 2008, and continuing around the clock until the last load of fuel was drawn in the early morning hours of Monday, April 14, 2008, Baker Oil took as much of Murphy's fuel as it had the capacity to take. This impressive logistical operation was choreographed by Mr. Burton, who had to enlist two other drivers to assist him. When one of the drivers was indisposed by a personal matter, Mr. Burton alerted Mr. Baker, who himself filled in for a midnight run and pulled a load of fuel at 2:10 a.m. on Saturdaymorning. When the operation was completed, drivers working for Baker Oil had taken approximately 189,000 gallons of fuel, representing more than twenty truckloads and consisting of a variety of grades of unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel, including significant quantities of high-grade products that Baker rarely bought and sold. The total price for the fuel taken over the weekend was $723,578.64. In the ordinary course of business, such a quantity of fuel would satisfy Baker Oil's needs for a month or more. Never before had Baker Oil purchased on such a scale. Its business records for the months leading up to the taking show no purchases greater than $50,000; it typically purchased fuel from Murphy by the individual truckload, which cost just over $20,000.
On Monday, Murphy initiated an electronic funds transfer from Baker Oil's checking account. The bank declined the transfer, which had been previously scheduled to pay for a prior purchase for just under forty-five thousand dollars, for insufficient funds. That day or the next, Murphy's credit officer contacted Mrs. Baker to discuss the declined transfer. Both were ignorant of Baker Oil's weekend activities. Mrs. Baker was alarmed to learn the account lacked funds to cover this ordinary transaction, and she began to investigate. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Murphy initiated smaller transfers to cover other ordinary purchases Baker Oil made before the weekend; both were declined for insufficient funds.
Soon, Mrs. Baker was aware of the weekend's taking and knew that Baker Oil could not hope to satisfy the enormous transfer that Murphy would initiate from its checking account. On Wednesday, Mrs. Baker opened a new account on behalf of Baker Oil at another bank, and commenced paying other fuel vendors from it. On Thursday, Mrs. Baker ordered the bank to stop payment on transfers initiated by Murphy from the old checking account.
The next week, on April 23, Murphy's regional manager, who was in Indianapolis for a trade show, traveled to Orange County and called unannounced on the gas stations to confront the Bakers. Neither appeared, but they agreed to meet the next day at the trade show, where relations between Murphy and the Bakers became acrimonious and it became clear that informal terms for a short-term repayment were not feasible. Murphy soon sued the Bakers in state court. With Murphy's suit in state court proceeding toward a judgment, Mr. Baker filed for relief in this Court on December 15, 2008.2
Murphy's complaint sets forth six alternative counts under which it asks for a determination of liability against the Bakers. Two sound in contract, seeking judgment against the Bakers as unincorporated co-proprietors of Baker Oil and as guarantors of its debts. The Bakers have not meaningfully disputed their contractual liability to Murphy. The remaining causes of action are torts based on an Indiana statute that provides a private right of action for victims of crimes, who may recover treble damages, their filing fees and travel costs, and a reasonable attorney's fee. Ind. Code § 34-24-3-1. Murphy alleges the Bakers' actions constitute theft, conversion, fraud, and check deception, as those crimes are defined by Indiana law.
Further, Murphy requests a determination that the judgment it seeks against the Bakers is excepted from discharge in their Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases under one of three grounds provided in § 523(a).3 First, Murphy alleges, pursuant to § 523(a)(2)(A), that the Bakers obtained the fuel by false pretenses or a false representation. Second, under § 523(a)(4), Murphy accuses the Bakers of larceny, as that term is defined by federal law. Third, Murphy alleges thatthe Bakers willfully and maliciously injured its property, and that...
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