39 B.R. 460 | W.D. Mo. | 1984
FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND FINAL DECREE AND JUDGMENT DENYING COMPLAINT FOR A DECREE OF NONDIS-CHARGEABILITY
This is an action brought by the plaintiff for the purpose of obtaining a decree of
The governing decisions of our district court clearly hold that, in order to earn a decree of nondischargeability on the grounds of willful and malicious conversion, the plaintiff must demonstrate a “subjective, conscious” intent to convert the property of another. In re Bellmer, Civil Action No. 79-6042-CV-SJ (W.D.Mo.1980). Accordingly, even if the debtors’ belief that they had a right to dispose of the security on their own account is unreasonable, they may still be acquitted of any willful and malicious conduct. A “good faith” belief, “even though unreasonable” suffices to demonstrate the absence of willfulness and malice. Matter of Roberts, 8 B.R. 291, 293 (Bkrtcy.W.D.Mo.1981). The governing security agreement does not clearly and directly say that all monies derived from the crops must be paid to or for the benefit of the plaintiff. Its wording would only require the debtors’ notification of the elevator as to the existence of the security agreement; accordingly, it contains no clear language which would prohibit the debtors from paying the expenses of harvesting from the proceeds of the crops. In In re Bellmer, supra, the existence of the slightest ambiguity in the governing security instrument was held to excuse the conversion of the security and prevent its being labelled willful and malicious.
ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the defendants’ liability to plaintiff be, and it is hereby, declared to be dischargeable in bankruptcy.
. In the Bellmer case, for example, which is cited in the text, the district court took note that the security interest in after-acquired property was inconspicuous and that, therefore, “(i)t is unclear whether, even if the bankrupt had carefully read all provisions of the agreement, he would have understood that after-acquired accounts receivable would have been or could have been subject to the security interest.”