Quaif v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 19 October 1993
• Docket Number: No. 92-9273,92-9273
• Parties: Bankr. L. Rep. P 75,489 Alan S. QUAIF, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jeffrey JOHNSON, Commissioner of Banking & Insurance of the State of Vermont, as Receiver for Ambassador Insurance Co., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 950

4 F.3d 950

Bankr. L. Rep. P 75,489

Alan S. QUAIF, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jeffrey JOHNSON, Commissioner of Banking & Insurance of the

State of Vermont, as Receiver for Ambassador

Insurance Co., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 92-9273.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

Oct. 19, 1993.

Jay E. Loeb, Gershon Olim Katz Loeb & Lester, Atlanta, GA, for plaintiff-appellant.

William B. Brown, George H. Myshrall, Jr., Heyman & Sizemore, Atlanta, GA, for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Before KRAVITCH and BLACK, Circuit Judges, and DYER, Senior Circuit Judge.

PER CURIAM:

AFFIRMED on the basis of the Order of the District Court dated November 17, 1992, incorporated into and made part of this Opinion and attached hereto as Appendix.

APPENDIX

United States District Court

Northern District of Georgia

Atlanta Division

Alan S. Quaif, Appellant,

v.

Jeffrey Johnson, Commissioner of Banking and Insurance of

the State of Vermont, as Receiver for AMBASSADOR

INSURANCE CO., Appellee.

Civil No. 1:92-cv-1254-ODE.

Nov. 18, 1992.

ORDER

ORINDA D. EVANS, District Judge.

This bankruptcy case is before the court on Appellant Quaif's appeal from an order of the bankruptcy court granting summary judgment on a complaint of non-dischargeability. For the reasons outlined below, the bankruptcy court's order is AFFIRMED.

The debtor in this Chapter 7 case is Alan S. Quaif ("Quaif"). Quaif was the sole shareholder and principal officer of Overseas & Domestic Underwriters, Ltd. ("Overseas"). Overseas entered into a contract with Ambassador Insurance Co. ("Ambassador") by which Overseas would act as agent for Ambassador in the sale of insurance to other commercial insurance agents. ¹ This agency agreement commenced on or about September 24, 1974.

The agency agreement contains the following provision:

Premiums received by CORRESPONDENT [Overseas] shall be deemed AMBASSADOR'S funds and shall be held in trust by CORRESPONDENT for and on behalf of AMBASSADOR. All premiums shall be remitted to AMBASSADOR within 45 days form the end of the month in which the policy or endorsement is effective.

Another provision of the agreement stated that Quaif warranted that he had "a valid insurance broker's and/or agent's license issued by the State of Georgia and would place insurance business with Ambassador in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations of said state."

Overseas collected premiums on behalf of Ambassador and other insurance companies. These premiums were deposited into a common premium account, and records were kept showing the origin of the deposits and the insurance company on whose behalf such premiums were collected. The premium funds were kept separate from Overseas' operating and payroll accounts; however, Overseas did not maintain a segregated account for each insurance company, but instead kept all premiums in a single bank account.

Ambassador was adjudged insolvent in 1983. Thereafter, Jeffrey Johnson, as Commissioner of Banking and Insurance of the State of Vermont ("Johnson"), became the Receiver for Ambassador. Johnson soon discovered that Overseas had failed to remit a large amount of premium funds collected on behalf of Ambassador. It was later learned that much of this money had been transferred to the operating and payroll accounts of Overseas to meet its operating expenses.

On February 26, 1985, Johnson filed a complaint in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia, and obtained a money judgment against Quaif for $454,209.45 on July 12, 1989. The basis for this judgment was that Quaif and Overseas had failed to pay the required premiums to Ambassador, and had instead transferred some of them to Overseas' operating and payroll accounts. In 1987, Overseas also sought bankruptcy protection.

Johnson then filed a complaint in the bankruptcy court requesting a declaration that this judgment against Quaif was not dischargeable in bankruptcy. The bankruptcy court entered summary judgment in favor of Johnson, holding that the debt was non-dischargeable pursuant to 11 U.S.C. Sec. 523(a)(4) because Quaif committed a defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity. Quaif now appeals the grant of summary judgment by the bankruptcy court.

Although the Bankruptcy Code generally favors the discharge of debts, some debts are deemed to be non-dischargeable. One of these categories is described in 11 U.S.C. Sec. 523(a)(4), which provides that there should not be a discharge of a debt "for fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity, embezzlement, or larceny." The bankruptcy court found that Quaif was acting in a fiduciary capacity when he acquired the premiums, and that he had committed a "defalcation" by failing to remit those premiums to Ambassador.

Quaif makes several arguments on appeal from the bankruptcy court's order. First, he argues that there was no fiduciary relation ship for purposes of Sec. 523(a)(4) because there was no express trust and no trust created by statute. Second, he argues that there was no contractually-created fiduciary relationship. Finally, he argues that the bankruptcy court improperly looked to Georgia law rather than Vermont law when analyzing the impact of state law on the determination of fiduciary capacity.

Johnson argues that a fiduciary relationship existed between Ambassador and Quaif for three reasons: (1) the general principal-agent status created a fiduciary relationship; (2) the contract provided that the premiums were to be held "in trust"; and (3) the Georgia insurance code created a technical trust for the benefit of Ambassador. He also argues that no wrongful intent is necessary for defalcation, so the other prong of Sec. 523(a)(4) is clearly satisfied.

The bankruptcy court based its holding on O.C.G.A. Sec. 33-23-79, which provides:

All funds representing premiums received or return premiums due the insured by any agent, broker, or solicitor shall be accounted for in his fiduciary capacity, shall not be commingled with his personal funds, and shall be promptly accounted for and paid to the insurer, insured, or agent as entitled to such funds. Nothing contained in this Code section shall be deemed to require any agent, broker, or solicitor to maintain a separate bank deposit for the funds of each principal, if the funds so held for each principal are reasonably ascertainable from the books of accounts and records of the agent, broker, or solicitor.

This statute applies to Quaif rather than to Overseas, because of O.C.G.A. Sec. 33-23-1 which provides that only an individual, not a corporation, may be licensed as an agent. The bankruptcy court concluded that these statutes created a fiduciary duty within the meaning of Sec. 523(a)(4), and that therefore the claim was non-dischargeable.

The language of Sec. 523(a)(4) is similar, but not identical, to provisions of the various bankruptcy statutes in effect since 1841. Although the wording has changed slightly, all of the versions have referred to "defalcation" and to "fiduciary capacity" or "fiduciary character." The Supreme Court has consistently held that the term "fiduciary" is not to be construed expansively, but instead is intended to refer to "technical" trusts. See Chapman v. Forsyth, 43 U.S. (2 How.) 202, 11 L.Ed. 236 (1844); Upshur v. Briscoe, 138 U.S. 365, 11 S.Ct. 313, 34 L.Ed. 931 (1891); Davis v. Aetna Acceptance Co., 293 U.S. 328, 55 S.Ct. 151, 79 L.Ed. 393 (1934). Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has not spoken on this issue since the Davis case, leaving the lower courts to struggle with the concept of "technical" trusts.

In nineteenth century jurisprudence, the concept of "trust" generally fell into two categories: (1) a voluntary trust, created by contract, often referred to as an "express" trust, and (2) a trust created by operation of law, such as a constructive trust or resulting trust, which generally served as a remedy for some dereliction of duty in a confidential relationship, regardless of the intentions of the parties. In re Turner, 134 B.R. 646, 650 (Bankr.N.D.Okl.1991). ² In the early judicial interpretation of the predecessors to Sec. 523(a)(4), the courts seemed to include the voluntary, "express" trust within the scope of "fiduciary capacity," while excluding the involuntary resulting or constructive trust from the scope of the exception. See Chapman. Davis and other cases also articulated a requirement that the trust relationship have existed prior to the act which created the debt in order to fall within the statutory exception. Matter of Angelle, 610 F.2d 1335 (5th Cir.1980). A resulting trust would therefore not fall within the exception because the act which created the debt simultaneously created the trust relationship.

The difficulty arose with the advent of statutorily-created "trusts." Statutes, such as O.C.G.A. Sec. 33-23-79, create fiduciary duties that are dependent upon the relationship between the parties, but fit into neither of the traditional categories. They are not agreed upon by the parties, nor are they created ex post as a remedial measure to right a wrong. The lower courts have struggled with reconciling this new type of fiduciary duty with the traditional categories, but have failed to produce uniform results. See Turner, 134 B.R. at 653-56, and cases cited therein.

The Eleventh Circuit, during its eleven-year existence, has never explicitly addressed the problem before this court. ³ The most recent binding precedent is Matter of Cross, 666 F.2d 873 (5th Cir. Unit B, 1982), decided under the old Bankruptcy Act. ⁴ In Cross, the officer/debtor committed a defalcation by failing to pay subcontractors and suppliers on a construction job to be completed by the officer's corporation. The court concluded that the exception to discharge required that there be a pre-existing fiduciary duty owing to the creditor, not just the corporation which the officer worked for. The...