Opinion ID: 1927280
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Continental Bank Matters

Text: Robert J. Triffin graduated from Temple University in 1973. From 1973 to 1986, Triffin was self-employed as a collection agent. Triffin purchased commercial paper and then sued for recovery in his own name in the Court of Common Pleas of various counties in Pennsylvania. In 1974, Triffin incorporated General Funding, which was a non-recourse purchaser of delinquent commercial accounts. In 1984, Triffin incorporated a second company, Great States Leasing, Inc. (Great States), to purchase obligations and debts incurred under leases of personal property. During the fall of 1984, in order to pay vendors of the leased equipment faster than competitors, Triffin made financial arrangements with General Funding's best customers. Those arrangements involved giving to customers presigned checks on General Funding's bank account. In 1984, Triffin expanded this practice by issuing blank presigned checks to Henry Wexler, President of Pioneer Gate Company (Pioneer), an assignor of post-dated checks. Pioneer accepted post-dated checks from its customers and then discounted those checks to General Funding. In March 1985, Triffin brought suit against Continental Bank, the bank where General Funding had its bank account. Triffin claimed that Continental had wrongfully paid on a check drawn to the order of Pioneer on General Funding's account. Continental Bank counterclaimed, alleging that Triffin had been a party to a check-kiting scheme and had negligently or fraudulently caused the overdraft in General Funding's account. Triffin did not cooperate in the pre-trial discovery connected with the Continental Bank litigation. He did not appear for a deposition scheduled for August 5, 1987. As a result, on October 30, 1987, the court directed Triffin to appear for depositions or suffer sanctions. Despite the order, Triffin failed to appear at a deposition scheduled for November 24, 1987. The court then ordered Triffin to pay $150 in counsel fees to Continental Bank. Triffin failed to pay those fees or to appear for a deposition scheduled for March 11, 1988. Finally, on April 22, 1988, the court entered an order dismissing Triffin's complaint with prejudice and barring Triffin from entering evidence in defense of Continental Bank's counterclaim. On October 27, 1988, the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed those sanctions. Triffin v. Continental Bank, 386 Pa.Super. 660, 555 A. 2d 947 (1988), appeal denied, 524 Pa. 610, 569 A. 2d 1369 (1989). Neither Triffin nor his counsel, Henry Janssen, appeared at the trial held on November 1, 1989. Janssen told the court that Triffin had instructed him not to appear in court on his behalf. Janssen remained counsel of record because Triffin did not sign the motion papers required for Janssen's withdrawal. Triffin claims that Janssen would not withdraw until he was paid. The trial proceeded, and Continental Bank presented its evidence. The Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas determined that Triffin was involved in a check-kiting scheme with Wexler between December 1984 and March 21, 1985. See Triffin v. Continental Bank, No. 5509, slip op. at 3 (Pa. C.P. June 18, 1990). The court then entered judgment: AND NOW, this 1st day of November, 1989 after trial this Court finds that the defendant Robert J. Triffin committed actual fraud against Continental Bank and Continental Bank suffered the loss of $74,648.08 plus the loss of use of its funds summing $25,283.93 for a total loss of $99,932.00 and JUDGMENT is hereby entered in favor of Continental Bank and against Robert J. Triffin a/k/a Joseph E. Murri and General Funding and General Funding Leasing Division in the amount of $99,932.00 plus costs. [ Id. (emphasis added).] Triffin then filed a motion to strike the judgment, contending that he did not have notice of the ex parte trial in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. That motion was denied because the record demonstrated that (1) both Janssen and Triffin were given notice of the trial and (2) Triffin instructed Janssen not to appear and failed to appear himself. Moreover, the court explained that even if Triffin had been present at trial, he could not have presented a defense because he had been sanctioned by the court for failing to appear for depositions. The trial court's judgment was affirmed on appeal by the Pennsylvania Superior Court. See Triffin v. Continental Bank, 412 Pa.Super. 657, 594 A. 2d 790, appeal denied, 529 Pa. 636, 600 A. 2d 955 (1991). Despite claiming to understand that the RG 303 Panel would not retry Continental Bank, Triffin insisted on attempting to prove that he did not commit civil fraud. Also, before this Court, Triffin asserts that he was the victim of a reverse check-kiting scheme orchestrated by Wexler and Triffin's former bookkeeper Thelma Bart. To bolster that claim, he notes that he never received any of the money that Wexler and Bart took from the Continental account. Triffin presents several contradictory excuses for his behavior relating to the Continental Bank litigation. Before this Court, he claims that he failed to cooperate during pre-trial discovery because his mother, who has supported him since 1986, refused to loan him the money to return from Nebraska, where he was attending law school, to attend the depositions. In his Pennsylvania Bar application, however, he claimed that he was unwilling to skip classes to attend the depositions. With respect to his failure to attend the trial, he explains, in his brief to the Court, that he realized that Continental Bank had a valid UCC claim and the practical course of action would be to return to the Philadelphia area upon completion of law school, and with money earned from the anticipated practice of law, to pay the judgment he assumed Continental Bank would receive. In his Pennsylvania Bar application, however, he stated that he failed to attend trial because he had no notice of it.