Adkisson's
CHARGING ORDERS
The Creditor's Remedy Against A Debtor's Interest In An LLC Or Partnership
2002 - North Carolina - Herring
Herring v. Keasler, 563 S.E.2d 614 (N.C.App. 06/04/2002).
North Carolina Court of Appeals
No. COA01-1000
563 S.E.2d 614, 2002.NC.0000665
June 04, 2002
MAX HERRING, AS ASSIGNEE OF BRANCH BANKING & TRUST CO., PLAINTIFF,
v.
BENNETT M. KEASLER, JR., DEFENDANT.
Appeal by plaintiff from order filed 16 May 2001 by Judge Jack W. Jenkins in Wake County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 14 May 2002. Wake County No. 94 CVS 7235
Michael W. Strickland & Associates, P.A., by Nelson G. Harris, for plaintiff-appellant.
Hunton & Williams, by John D. Burns, for defendant-appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by: Greene, Judge
PUBLISHED
Max Herring (Plaintiff), as assignee of Branch Banking & Trust Company (BB&T), appeals an order filed 16 May 2001 enjoining Plaintiff from seizing or selling Bennett M. Keasler, Jr.'s (Defendant) membership interests in various limited liability companies.
On 3 January 1996, BB&T obtained a default judgment (the judgment) against Defendant and his wife in the amount of $29,062.57 plus interest. *fn1 On 12 December 2000, BB&T assigned its interest in the judgment to Plaintiff, and Plaintiff obtained a writ of execution against Defendant on 19 March 2001. Subsequently, on 19 April 2001, Defendant filed an emergency motion seeking an order to restrain Plaintiff from attempting to have Defendant's membership interests in several limited liability companies seized and sold. In Defendant's affidavit, he stated he had a 20% membership interest in several limited liability companies, "including River Place I, LLC; River Place II, LLC; River Place III, LLC[;] and River Place IV, LLC [(collectively, the LLCs)], which were created for the purpose of developing real estate in Wake County, North Carolina."
In an order dated 20 April 2001, the trial court temporarily restrained Plaintiff from seeking the seizure and sale of Defendant's membership interests in the LLCs. Thereafter, Plaintiff filed a motion on 23 April 2001 seeking an order under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-362 directing Defendant's membership interests in the LLCs be sold and the proceeds applied towards the judgment. Pending the sale of Defendant's membership interests in the LLCs, Plaintiff requested an order directing any distributions and allocations of those interests to be applied towards the satisfaction of the judgment (charging order). On 16 May 2001, the trial court filed an order: enjoining Plaintiff from seeking the seizure or sale of Defendant's membership interests in the LLCs; denying Plaintiff's motion, insofar as he sought to have Defendant's membership interests in the LLCs sold or transferred; and granting Plaintiff's motion for a charging order. With respect to the charging order, the trial court directed: Defendant's membership interests in the LLCs to be charged with payment of the judgment, plus interest; the LLCs to deliver to Plaintiff any distributions and allocations that Defendant would be entitled to receive on account of his membership interests in the LLCs; Defendant to deliver to Plaintiff any allocations and distributions he would receive; and Plaintiff to not obtain any rights in the LLCs, except as those of an assignee and under the respective operating agreement.
The dispositive issue is whether N.C. Gen. Stat. § 57C-5-03 permits a trial court to order a judgment debtor's membership interest in a limited liability company seized and sold and the proceeds applied towards the satisfaction of a judgment.
Generally, a trial court may order any property, whether subject or not to be sold under execution (except the homestead and personal property exemptions of the judgment debtor), in the hands of the judgment debtor or of any other person, or due to the judgment debtor, to be applied towards the satisfaction of [a] judgment. N.C.G.S. § 1-362 (2001).
North Carolina General Statutes § 57C-5-03, however, provides that with respect to a judgment debtor's membership interest in a limited liability company, a trial court "may charge the membership interest of the member with payment of the unsatisfied amount of the judgment with interest." N.C.G.S. § 57C-5-03 (2001). This "charge" entitles the judgment creditor "to receive . . . the distributions and allocations to which the [judgment debtor] would be entitled." N.C.G.S. § 57C-5-02 (2001). The "charge" "does not dissolve the limited liability company or entitle the [judgment creditor] to become or exercise any rights of a member." Id. Furthermore, because the forced sale of a membership interest in a limited liability company to satisfy a debt would necessarily entail the transfer of a member's ownership interest to another, thus permitting the purchaser to become a member, forced sales of the type permitted in section 1-362 are prohibited. See N.C.G.S. § 57C-3-03 (2001) (except as provided in the operating agreement or articles of organization, consent of all the members of a limited liability company required to "[a]dmit any person as a member").
In this case, despite Plaintiff's attempts to have Defendant's membership interests in the LLCs seized and sold, his only remedy is to have those interests charged with payment of the judgment under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 57C-5-03. Accordingly, the trial court did not err in ordering that the judgment be satisfied through the application of the distributions and allocations of Defendant's membership interests in the LLCs and in denying Plaintiff's motion to have Defendant's membership interests seized and sold.
Affirmed.
Judges HUDSON and BIGGS concur.
Opinion Footnotes
*fn1 The judgment as to Defendant's wife was subsequently vacated.
RECENT ARTICLES
by Jay Adkisson
2021.01.19 ... Equitable Remedy To Circumvent Charging Order Exclusivity Denied In Ramos
2020.12.17 ... Louisiana Court Of Appeals Rejects Busting Of Single-Member LLC In AOK Property
2020.11.28 ... Uniform Law Commission Creates Drafting Committee To Clean Up And Modernize American LLC Law
2020.11.26 ... Contempt Not Precluded By Charging Order Exclusivity In Gengs
2020.11.23 ... Charging Order Against Interest Of LLC In Bankruptcy Held Not To Violate The Automatic Stay In Nilhan
2020.06.20 ... Payment Of Distributions Directly To Creditor Holding A Charging Order Deemed Appropriate In BMO Case
______________
More Articles On Charging Orders click here
LAW REVIEW ARTICLES
by Jay Adkisson
For more on the historical background of Charging Orders and contemporary issues involving the same, see Jay Adkisson's article, Charging Orders: The Peculiar Mechanism, 61 South Dakota Law Review 440 (2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2928487
WEBSITE CONTENTS
General Information
Analysis of Uniform Limited Liability Company Act Sections re Charging Orders
The Uniform Acts re Charging Orders and Transferable Interests (without Jay's comments):
Effect of Bankruptcy On The Debtor-Member's LLC Interest here
Collected Court Opinions On Charging Orders here and below
Charging Order Example Sample Form
TOPICAL RESEARCH
NATURE OF REMEDY
Distributions/Economic Rights - Creditors rights to distributional interests/economic rights
PREJUDGMENT
Prejudgment Relief - Freezing the interest and distributions pending judgment
MOTION MECHANICS
Procedure - The procedure for obtaining a charging order and ancillary provisions
Unknown Interest - Where the debtor's interest, if any, has not been ascertained
Order Form Generally - Most issues to the form of the charging order
Order Form Future Interests - How the charging order affects subsequently-acquired interests
Exemptions - Available state and federal protections that may apply to charging orders
INTERSTATE
Conflicts-Of-Law - Determining which state's laws apply to a charging order dispute
Jurisdiction - Issues relating to the court's authority over out-of-state debtors and LLCs
Foreign Entities - Charging orders against out-of-state entities
CREDITOR RESTRICTIONS
Creditor Rights Restrictions - Limitations on creditors' management and informational rights
Information Rights - Creditors' ability to access information about the LLC
Management & Voting Rights - Rights of creditor after charging order issued
LIEN EFFECT AND PRIORITY
Lien - The lien effect of a charging order and priority issues
COMPLIANCE
Compliance - Issues for the LLC and non-debtor members in complying with a charging order
Receiver - The role of the receiver in charging order proceedings
SINGLE MEMBER LLC
Single-Member LLCs - Enforcing the judgment against an LLC with a sole member
FORECLOSURE
Foreclosure - Liquidation by judicial sale of the debtor's right to distributions
REPURCHASE AND REDEMPTION RIGHTS
Repurchase/Redemption Rights - Third-parties' ability to purchase the charged interest
APPEAL
Appeal - Issues relating to the appeal of a charging order
RELATION TO OTHER REMEDIES
Exclusivity - The charging order as the sole remedy available to creditors and exceptions
Voidable Transactions/Fraudulent Transfers - Issues relating to avoidable transfers of interests
SUNDRY OTHER
Bankruptcy - Treatment of the debtor/member's interest in bankruptcy
Intra-Member Disputes - Where one member obtains a charging order against another
Taxes - Tax issues relating to charging orders for all involved parties
= = = = =
Additional Court Opinions About charging orders (unsorted)
THE CHARGING ORDERS PRACTICE GUIDE
The Charging Order Practice Guide: Understanding Judgment Creditor Rights Against LLC Members, by Jay D. Adkisson (2018), published by the LLCs, Partnerships and Unincorporated Entities Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association, click here for more
Available for purchase directly from the ABA at https://goo.gl/faZzY6
Also available from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Charging-Orders-Practice-Guide-Understanding/dp/1641052643
OTHER INFORMATIONAL WEBSITES
by Jay Adkisson
Contact Jay Adkisson:
Phone: 702-953-9617 Fax: 877-698-0678 jay [at] jayad.com
Unless a dire emergency, please send me an e-mail first in lieu of calling to set up a telephone appointment for a date and time certain.
Las Vegas Office: 6671 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Suite 210, Las Vegas, NV 89119, Ph: 702-953-9617, Fax: 877-698-0678. By appointment only.
Newport Beach Office: 100 Bayview Circle, Suite 210, Newport Beach, California 92660. Ph: 949-200-7773, Fax: 877-698-0678. By appointment only.
Social Media Contact: Twitter and LinkedIn
Admitted to practice law in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oklahoma and Texas.
Jay is a Managing Partner of Adkisson Pitet LLP.
© 2021 Jay D. Adkisson. All Rights Reserved. No claim to government works or the works of the Uniform Law Commission. The information contained in this website is for general educational purposes only, does not constitute any legal advice or opinion, and should not be relied upon in relation to particular cases. Use this information at your own peril; it is no substitute for the legal advice or opinion of an attorney licensed to practice law in the appropriate jurisdiction. This site is https://chargingorder.com Contact: jay [at] jayad.com or by phone to 702-953-9617 or by fax to 877-698-0678.