Custom Packaging, Inc. v. Patti Holliday ( 2001 )

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
AT KNOXVILLE
December 6, 2000 Session
CUSTOM PACKAGING, INC. v. PATTI HOLLIDAY, ET AL.
Direct Appeal from the Chancery Court for Knox County
No. 133995-2 Daryl Fansler, Chancellor
FILED JANUARY 19, 2001
No. E2000-01744-COA-R3-CV
Custom Packaging, Inc., appeals a summary judgment granted against it in its suit seeking
recovery on a sworn account for merchandise sold according to the complaint to “Patti Holliday, Ind.
& d/b/a Repeat Fibre.” The Trial Court sustained Ms. Holliday’s motion for summary judgment,
finding there are no material disputed facts. We vacate the judgment below and remand the case for
further proceedings.
Tenn.R.App.P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Chancery Court Vacated;
Cause Remanded
HOUSTON M. GODDARD, P.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which HERSCHEL P. FRANKS and
CHARLES D. SUSANO, JR., JJ., joined.
John E. Buffaloe, Jr., Nashville, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Custom Packaging, Inc.
John P. Newton, Jr., Knoxville, Tennessee, for the Appellee, Patti Holliday
OPINION
Custom Packaging, Inc., appeals a summary judgment granted against it in its suit seeking
recovery on a sworn account for merchandise sold according to the complaint to “Patti Holliday, Ind.
& d/b/a Repeat Fibre.”
The Trial Court was of the opinion that the sale was to Repeat, Inc., d/b/a Repeat Fibre, and
as a result granted a summary judgment in favor of Ms. Holliday
The standard of review of summary judgment has recently been restated by our Supreme
Court in Staples v. CBL & Associates, Inc., 15 S.W.3d 83, at page 89, as follows:
The standards governing the assessment of evidence in the summary
judgment context are also well established. Courts must view the evidence in the
light most favorable to the nonmoving party and must also draw all reasonable
inferences in the nonmoving party’s favor. See Robinson v. Omer, 952 S.W.2d
at 426; Byrd v. Hall, 847 S.W.2d at 210-11. Courts should grant a summary
judgment only when both the facts and the inferences to be drawn from the facts
permit a reasonable person to reach only one conclusion. See McCall v. Wilder,
913 S.W.2d 150, 153 (Tenn.1995); Carvell v. Bottoms, 900 S.W.2d 23, 26
(Tenn.1995).
Ms. Holliday filed the following affidavit in support of her motion for summary judgment:
AFFIDAVIT OF PATTI J. HOLLIDAY
Comes now the Defendant, Patti Holliday, and swears under oath to the
following:
1. I, Patti Holliday, am an individual who resides at 3769 Summer Rose
Drive, Chamblee, Georgia, 30341.
2. Repeat, Inc., is the name of the corporation I incorporated. It was
chartered by the State of Tennessee on March 4, 1994.
3. I was the President of Repeat, Inc., at all times while the corporation
was in existence.
4. The charter of incorporation was duly recorded in the Register of Deeds
in Knox County on March 21, 1995.
5. The corporation existed from the date of inception until August 15,
1997 when the corporation was administratively dissolved.
6. The corporation used the tradename Repeat Fibre.
7. Over several months in 1995 and 1996, Repeat, Inc., ordered products
from the Custom Packaging, Inc., as a part of doing ordinary business.
8. Many documents sent to Custom Packaging, Inc., carried the Repeat
name and address including at least thirty-one (31) checks issued on the
Nationsbank account for Repeat, Inc., and paid to the order of Custom Packaging
for accounts payable. Letterhead, fax cover letters and envelopes, all with the
Repeat, Inc., name and address were also sent to Custom Packaging, Inc.
9. When I, on behalf of Repeat, Inc., entered business transactions with
Custom Packaging, Inc., it was for the purpose of purchasing products for
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ordinary business use by the corporation. At no time did I represent to Custom
Packaging, Inc., that the purchases were being made on behalf of myself as an
individual.
10. At no time did I sign a personal guarantee for the debts being incurred
on behalf of Repeat, Inc., nor was I ever asked to sign a personal guarantee by
agents for Custom Packaging, Inc.
11. On August 15, 1997, the State of Tennessee notified me, as the
registered agent for Repeat, Inc., that the corporation had been administratively
dissolved when the State sent me a Certificate of Administrative Dissolution.
12. On November 20, 1998, Repeat, Inc., sought bankruptcy protection
by filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, Case No. 98-35149 in the United States
Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Northern Division.
Responding thereto, Custom Packaging filed the affidavit of Gary West, "one of the owners
of Custom Packaging," which reads as follows:
AFFIDAVIT OF GARY WEST
STATE OF TENNESSEE )
)
COUNTY OF WILSON )
Gary West, first being duly sworn, deposes and states as follows:
1. I am one of the owners of Custom Packaging, Inc. and am personally
engaged in the operation and management of the business.
2. I know the defendant, Patti Holliday, having dealt with her personally
in the course of business dealings between our company and her
3. Our company always dealt with Patti Holliday as an individual and we
extended credit to her individually.
4. We never extended credit to a corporation known as Repeat, Inc.
5. Attached hereto are copies of outstanding invoices for this account and
all of them are in the name of Repeat Fibre, not Repeat, Inc.
6. Attached to most of the invoices are delivery receipts showing the
product was sold to Repeat Fibre and Patti Holliday.
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7. We always believed that Patti Holliday and Repeat Fibre were one and
the same and that Repeat Fibre was simply the name under which Patti Holliday
was doing business. She is the person to whom we extended credit.
8. We will accept anyone’s check, including cashier’s checks and money
orders for payment on an outstanding account, but that does not mean that we
intended to grant credit to an entity just because we received their check as
payment on someone else’s account.
Further, the deponent saith not.
Documentary evidence was attached to both affidavits supporting the assertions contained
therein.
Upon reviewing the record in accordance with the dictates of Staples, which requires us to
accept as true Mr.West’s affidavit as to disputed facts and indulging all reasonable inferences in
favor of Custom Packaging, we conclude that it is reasonable to infer that the materials in question
were sold to Ms. Holliday. We say this because in addition to Mr. West’s affidavit, a number of the
shipments had on the delivery receipt the following:
________________________________________________________________
SOLD TO
Repeat Fibre Patti Holliday
For the foregoing reasons the judgment of the Trial Court is vacated and the cause remanded
for proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. Costs of appeal are adjudged against Patti
Holliday.
_________________________________________
HOUSTON M. GODDARD, PRESIDING JUDGE
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