Altior Law Partner and Shareholder Stephen McKenney recently prevailed in the defense of an appeal in the matter of Pinnacle North, LLC v Keith A. White, MCOA No. 370640 (Per Curiam, Unpublished). The case stemmed from Pinnacle North, LLC’s efforts to collect a judgment against its former commercial tenant, Marketplace Home Mortgage, LLC (MHM), “in the amount of $52,548.24, plus interest, costs, and attorney fees from the date of th[e] judgment going forward.” Prior to entry of that judgment, yet after MHM had been rendered insolvent through a sale of its assets, MHM’s sole member, Keith White, wrote himself a $50,000 check from MCM. Despite MHM’s admitted insolvency, White claimed he paid himself “for money he had previously contributed toward MHM’s legal fees in unrelated litigation” and “so [he] could feel like [he] won a little at least.”
Altior Law attorney Stephen McKenney brought an action on behalf of Pinnacle North and against White to pierce MHM’s corporate veil for the entire amount of the underlying judgment, including attorneys fees, and to recover the $50,000 payment under Michigan’s UVTA. After a two-day bench trial, the Court entered judgment in favor of Pinnacle North concluding the $50,000 payment was a voidable transfer under the UVTA, that MHM’s corporate veil should be pierced, and that White was “liable for the entire amount of the default judgment against MHM, plus costs, attorney fees, and interest.” The trial court then awarded Pinnacle North approximately $92,000 in attorney fees against White.
White appealed, but the Michigan Court of Appeals sided with Pinnacle North and affirmed the trial court’s judgment in total. In doing so, the Court agreed and adopted Pinnacle North’s arguments that White had operated MHM as his alter ego, that the $50,000 payment was a distribution made while insolvent and without reasonably equivalent value, and that White was liable for the entirety of the judgment previously entered against MHM – including attorneys fees.
Altior Law applauds Steve for both his effective trial advocacy in securing the judgment and his skilled defense of Pinnacle North’s judgment on appeal.