Opinion ID: 1988100
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: the summary judgment on champs-elysees's claim

Text: The chancery court also granted Champs-Elysees a summary judgment on its claim that Wesley Green misappropriated corporate funds by paying himself $46,600 from the corporation's account. The court reasoned that even if Wesley Green's claim that the company owed Dianne Green $90,000 in unpaid salary was true, Wesley Green was nevertheless without any authority to appropriate Company funds to himself to satisfy an obligation which the Company is alleged to have had to Mrs. Dianne Green. The Court of Appeals reached a different conclusion. It found that the facts material to Champs-Elysees's misappropriation of corporate funds claim were disputed. On appeal, Champs-Elysees offers two arguments for reversing the decision of the Court of Appeals to reverse the summary judgment on its misappropriation of corporate funds claim. First, it asserts that Wesley Green's claim that Mark Green and Mr. Fourier approved the payments to Wesley Green is so fanciful and farfetched that it should be disregarded. Second, it asserts that Wesley Green could not make payments to himself to remedy the under-payment of Dianne Green's salary, even with the approval of other corporate officers, because these payments were owed to Dianne Green, not to Wesley Green. Champs-Elysees argues, therefore, that the corporate officers could not approve permitting Wesley Green to pay money owed to Dianne Green to himself. Wesley Green testified categorically that Mark Green and Mr. Fourier knew of and approved the payments he was making to himself and the purpose for which these payments were being made. The record lacks any contradiction of this testimony by either Mark Green or Mr. Fourier. In the face of Wesley Green's essentially uncontradicted testimony, we decline Champs-Elysees's invitation to weigh the evidence and to reject Wesley Green's assertion that other corporate officers were aware of and approved his making payments to himself. Champs-Elysees also asserts that Mark Green's and Mr. Fourier's knowledge and approval of the payments that Wesley Green was making to himself is irrelevant because neither of them had authority to approve these payments to Wesley Green. It argues that if the corporation owed a debt, it was to Dianne Green, not to Wesley Green and, therefore, that the payments that Wesley Green was making to himself would not have discharged the corporation's liability to Dianne Green for the unpaid portion of her salary. The cornerstone of the claim that Wesley Green's payments to himself were not for a corporate purpose is the premise that these payments would not have extinguished Dianne Green's claims against Champs-Elysees for her unpaid salary. There are two reasons why the present record is insufficient to permit reaching this conclusion as a matter of law. First, the testimony regarding Dianne Green's unusual and confusing post-1995 salary arrangement just does not support the conclusion that the under-payments were debts to Dianne Green. Many of the parties understood that Dianne Green's compensation was not only for her services but for Wesley Green's as well. [45] The record does not reflect whether the claimed under-payments were for services that Dianne Green provided or for services that Wesley Green provided. Second, the record is silent with regard to the understanding between Wesley Green and Dianne Green about the payments that Wesley Green was making to himself. Thus, whether Dianne Green authorized, acquiesced, or objected to this method of addressing the under-payment of her salary is unknown. Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to Wesley Green, the non-moving party, the factual foundation upon which Champs-Elysees has constructed its misappropriation of corporate funds claim is disputed and unresolved. The current record does not support the conclusions as a matter of law that only Dianne Green was entitled to recover the alleged salary under-payment or that Wesley Green's payment of corporate funds to himself would not have prevented Dianne Green from also recovering for the same debt from Champs-Elysees. Accordingly, we agree with the Court of Appeals that the chancery court erred by granting Champs-Elysees a summary judgment on its misappropriation of corporate funds claim.