No. 90-026 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 1993

A MINING, INC., Montana Corporation, Plaintiff and Respondent,



### v. BRUCE KNUDSEN and LLOYD KNUDSEN, Defendants and Appellants.

APPEAL FROM: District Court of the First Judicial District, In and for the County of Lewis and Clark, The Honorable Thomas C. Honzel, Judge presiding.

COUNSEL OF RECORD: For Appellants: Leo J. Kottas, Sr., Attorney at Law, Mesa, Arizona For Respondent: FrankAltman, Altman & Boucher, Havre,Montana

Submitted on ~riefs: ~pril 1, 1993 ~ecided: September 21, 1993 Filed:Justice William E. Hunt, Sr., delivered the opinion of the Court. DefendantsBruce Knudsen and Lloyd Knudsen appeal from a jury verdict and judgment in the First Judicial District Court, Lewis and Clark County, in favorof 

### LA Mining, Inc., of Havre, awarding plaintiff $539,555.53, plus costsand attorney fees, for fraud and breach of several mining excavation contracts. Appellant Bruce Knudsen failed toanswer L

### AMining's District Court complaint,and thus,plaintiff's amended complaint excluded him as aparty below. Additionally, before trial, theU.S. Bankruptcy Court,District of Montana, discharged Bruce Knudsen in bankruptcy from personal liability for any judgment obtained for existing debt. Consequently, we dismiss appellant Bruce Knudsen as a party on appeal for lack of standing. We affirm. On appeal,appellant submits 18 issues. Many of these issues, however, are moot due to appellant's subsequent discharge in bankruptcy for the award based on breach of the contracts. The briefs contain much irrelevant material not pertinent to this appeal. Thus,we decline to address appellant's issues as stated. We determine the sole issuetobewhether the jury verdict for fraud was supportedby the evidencepresented at trial. On August 4, 1989, the jury returned a verdict against Lloyd Knudsen in favor of 

### L A Mining on one fraud and several contract claims. On November 23, 1990, Lloyd Knudsen also filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Montana. On October 11, 1991, the parties stipulated to theBankruptcy Court that the judgment for fraud against appellant would be dischargeable only on this Court's reversal of the jury verdict, or if on remand no fraud award was levied against appellant. OnMarch 9,1992, theBankruptcy Court dischargedLloyd Knudsen from personal liability forany existingdebtsor judgments obtained, except for those nondischargeable under Section 523 (a) (2)(A) of the Bankruptcy Code; namely, the judgment for fraud. The jurybased its verdict on testimony of multiple witnesses that appellant had relayed to respondent that he was solvent and able to underwrite the contracts entered into between himself and respondent. After hearing the testimony of appellant and other witnesses, including corporate officers of L A Mining who negotiated the contractswith appellant, the jury did not believe appellant and found in favor of respondent. We hold, after review of trial testimony, that the jury had sufficient evidence with which to support a jury verdict of fraud in favor of L A Mining. We affirm. Pursuant to Section 

### I,Paragraph 3(c), Montana Supreme Court 1988 InternalOperating Rules, thisdecision shall not be cited as precedent and shallbepublished by its filingas a public document with the Clerk of the Supreme Court and by a report of its result to Montana Law Week, State Reporter and West Publishing Company.We concur: