Genesis Office Systems, Inc. v. PNC Bank, N.A.

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 8:14-cv-02704-PJM. Copies to all parties and the district court. [999762948]. [15-1681]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 15-1681

GENESIS OFFICE SYSTEMS, INC.,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
PNC BANK, N.A.,
Defendant - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Greenbelt.
Peter J. Messitte, Senior District
Judge. (8:14-cv-02704-PJM)

Submitted:

December 22, 2015

Before DIAZ and
Circuit Judge.

THACKER,

Circuit

Decided:

Judges,

February 26, 2016

and

DAVIS,

Senior

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Rickey Nelson Jones, LAW OFFICES OF REVEREND RICKEY NELSON
JONES, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. Michael S. Barranco,
TREANOR POPE & HUGHES, P.A., Towson, Maryland, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
In 2014, Ronald Hawkins, the Chief Executive Officer of
Genesis Office Systems, Inc. (“Genesis”), sought to redeem two
Certificates of Deposit (“CDs”), which were opened in 1997 and
2001.

The officials of PNC Bank, N.A. (“PNC”) informed him that

the CDs had been redeemed in 2002.
action

against

district

PNC

court

claiming

granted

Genesis thereafter filed an

conversion

summary

of

judgment

the
in

funds.

favor

The

of

PNC,

determining that Genesis’s claim was filed beyond the limitation
period and that the undisputed evidence showed that the CDs had
been redeemed.
We

We affirm.

review

the

district

court’s

order

granting

summary

judgment de novo, viewing the facts and drawing all reasonable
inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.
Boyer-Liberto v. Fontainebleau Corp., 786 F.3d 264, 276 (4th
Cir. 2015) (en banc).

Summary judgment is properly granted “if

the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any
material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter
of

law.”

sufficiently

Fed.

R.

Civ.

supports

its

P.

56(a).

motion

for

If

the

summary

moving

party

judgment,

the

nonmoving party must demonstrate “that there are genuine issues
of material fact.”
Cir.

2008).

Emmett v. Johnson, 532 F.3d 291, 297 (4th

“Conclusory

or

speculative

allegations

do

not

suffice, nor does a mere scintilla of evidence in support of
2

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[the nonmoving party’s] case.”

Thompson v. Potomac Elec. Power

Co., 312 F.3d 645, 649 (4th Cir. 2002) (internal quotation marks
omitted).
PNC

provided

unrefuted

documentary

evidence

showing

the

dates the CDs were opened, the renewal dates, and the dates of
redemption

in

2002.

The

court

noted

that

12

years

passed

between 2002, when the CDs were redeemed, and 2014, when Hawkins
attempted to redeem the CDs.

In those 12 years, Genesis and

Hawkins received no interest statements, tax statements, renewal
notices, or other communications from the bank with respect to
the CDs.
Addressing whether there existed any genuine issue of fact,
the district court stated that the evidence showed that Genesis
transferred

the

CDs

to

Hawkins

to

pay

its

debt

to

Hawkins.

Thus, Genesis no longer had a claim to the money in the CDs.

To

the extent that Hawkins had a claim to the CDs, the court ruled
that, by waiting 12 years to assert a claim, Hawkins lost any
claim he may have had.

See Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc.

§ 5-101 (2013) (providing for three-year limitation period for
contract and debt claims).
Genesis
provisions
action

argued
and

therefore

required

therefore

the

that

on

the

statute

the

continued

part
of

CDs

of

had

indefinitely

the

limitations
3

automatic

holder
did

of

not

renewal

without
the

CDs,

start

to

any
and
run.

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However, in light of the evidence that the CDs had been redeemed
— and the absence of any acknowledgment of the CDs after 2002 —
the automatic renewal provision does not refute the evidence
that the CDs had been redeemed.
We

conclude

that

the

district

court

did

not

err

in

determining that there were no genuine issues of material fact.
Notably,
issued

to

PNC

presented

Genesis

and

documentary
the

evidence

transactions

of

the

related

to

two
the

CDs
CDs.

These documents showed the dates the CDs were issued, renewal
dates, and the final entry on both was “TD Redemption” and an
amount

showing

the

value

of

the

CD

on

March

September 9, 2002, the dates of redemption.

29,

2002,

and

Genesis presented

no evidence in support of its claim that the CDs had not been
redeemed, other than the fact that Hawkins was in possession of
what he claimed were the original CD certificates.
Hawkins’

affidavit,

he

purported

to

explain

why

Concerning
the

CDs

no

longer appeared on the tax returns and the corporate books of
Genesis by stating that he, as CEO, decided to transfer the CDs
to his personal possession in satisfaction of Genesis’ debt to
him.

However,
Moreover,

no

official

during

his

transfer

of

deposition

the

CDs

testimony,

was

made.

Hawkins

testified that he did not know and could not explain why the CDs
no

longer

conclude

appeared
that

the

on

the

corporation’s

statements
4

in

tax

statements.

Hawkins’

We

self-serving,

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uncorroborated affidavit — which are contrary to his prior sworn
testimony — are insufficient to create a material issue of fact.
See Cleveland v. Policy Mgmt. Sys. Corp., 526 U.S. 795, 806
(1999)

(“[A]

party

cannot

create

a

genuine

issue

of

fact

sufficient to survive summary judgment simply by contradicting
his or her own previous sworn statement (by, say, filing a later
affidavit

that

flatly

contradicts

that

party’s

earlier

sworn

deposition) without explaining the contradiction or attempting
to

resolve

the

disparity.”);

see

In

re

Family

Dollar

FLSA

Litig., 637 F.3d 508, 512 (4th Cir. 2011) (same).
In

the

face

of

PNC’s

evidence

that

the

CDs

had

been

redeemed in 2002, Genesis failed to present any evidence to show
the

existence

Emmett,

532

properly

of

any

F.3d

entered

genuine

at
in

297.
favor

district court’s order.

issues

of

Accordingly,
of

PNC.

We

material
summary

fact.

See

judgment

was

therefore

affirm

the

We dispense with oral argument because

the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the
materials

before

this

court

and

argument

would

not

aid

the

decisional process.
AFFIRMED

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