United States District Court, D. Alaska
RAYMOND JAMES TRUST, N.A., as Successor Trustee to the SLCC Revocable Trust, Plaintiff,
v.
VONNA KAY HUSBY and HUSBY LEGACY INC., Defendants.
ORDER
H.
Russel Holland United States District Judge
Motion
for Attachment and Preliminary Injunction [1]
Plaintiff
Raymond James Trust, N.A., as successor trustee of the SLCC
Revocable Trust, moves for a writ of attachment and
preliminary injunction. By order of May 16, 2019, the court
scheduled this motion for a hearing on May 21, 2019. At that
hearing, defendants appeared in person and through counsel.
Defendant Vonna Kay Husby offered substantial testimony and
was subject to cross-examination by counsel for plaintiff. In
the course of Ms. Husby's testimony, counsel orally
proposed stipulations with respect to plaintiff's motion
for a preliminary injunction, and those oral stipulations
have now been reduced to writing.[2]
The
parties' stipulation places a freeze on the Husby Legacy,
Inc., Account No. XXX-XXX3450 at the Mt. McKinley Bank. The
stipulation does not address the Crawford Memorial Fund or
other Raymond James Trust/SLCC Revocable Trust accounts which
were discussed during the hearing of May 21, 2019. The court
assumes that those accounts have been administratively
secured to plaintiff's satisfaction. The parties'
stipulation is approved.
As a
result of the above described stipulation, plaintiff's
motion for a preliminary injunction is rendered moot. There
is no risk of future harm to the SLCC Revocable Trust or
other Crawford assets. The parties' stipulation will
serve to preserve the status quo pending a
resolution of plaintiff's complaint. Plaintiff's
motion for a preliminary injunction is denied.
Plaintiff
also seeks a writ of attachment. Such writs are the subject
of Rule 64, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which makes
relief such as attachment available in accordance with the
laws of the state in which the court is located. AS
09.40.0l0(a) authorizes the issuance of writs of attachment
for purposes of securing the satisfaction of a judgment which
may be entered. Section (a)(1) limits the availability of
attachment to cases based upon an express or implied contract
for the payment of money where there is no security for the
contract.
Plaintiff's
complaint contains three counts: conversion, undue influence,
and unjust enrichment. As the Alaska Supreme Court has
explained in Alaska Sales & Service, Inc. v.
Millet, 735 P.2d 743, 746 (Alaska 1987):
[U]njust enrichment is not in and of itself a theory of
recovery. Rather, it is a prerequisite for the enforcement of
the doctrine of restitution[.] Restitution, in turn, is not a
“cause of action” but rather a remedy for various
causes of actions.
Here,
plaintiff's complaint does not expressly assert a
contract implied in law. But, as the Alaska Supreme Court has
further observed:
Courts generally treat actions brought upon theories of
unjust enrichment, quasi-contract, contracts implied in law
and quantum meruit as essentially the same.
Id. at 746 n.6. The court concludes that
pre-judgment relief in the form of attachment is available
based upon plaintiff's Count 3.
Plaintiff
recognizes that “[t]o obtain a prejudgment attachment,
a plaintiff must show ‘by a preponderance of the
evidence the probable validity of the plaintiff's claim
for relief ... and the absence of any reasonable probability
that a successful defense can be asserted by the
defendant.'”[3] Plaintiff also recognizes that its burden
of proof in seeking a preliminary injunction is substantially
the same as that required for a prejudgment writ of
attachment.[4]
Based
upon plaintiff's affidavits and the testimony of
defendant Vonna Husby, it is not at all clear to the court
that either defendant has been unjustly enriched by Ms.
Husby's actions on behalf of her client, Sarah C.
Crawford, or Crawford's SLCC Revocable Trust. The
evidence as to the validity of plaintiff's unjust
enrichment claim is in substantial conflict. Ms. Husby has
offered credible testimony that all of her actions -
including formation of the Crawford Memorial Fund, the
formation of Husby Legacy, Inc., and the opening of the -3450
Husby Legacy, Inc., account at Mt. McKinley Bank - were all
in ...