We, Earsell and Carrie Collier, are resident citizens of
Harrison'County, Mississippi and were the owners of Bradley-Collier Trucking Company, Inc. For many years we enjoyed a good and favorable reputation in the business, credit and professional trucking community.The Fourteenth
Amendment states that "all persons born in the United States of America are citizens", that no state could "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law". This Constitutional Amendment is a definition
of Citizenship. As citizens of the United States of America we know that our civil rights have been violated by Deposit Guaranty National Banks' vice President, Mr. Frank Meigs, District Manager, Mr. Nark Williamson and Loan
Officer, Gordon Long. These three persons violated our liberty and property rights as defined by the Fourteenth Amendment. They interrupted and destroyed Bradley-Collier Trucking Company, Inc. and forcefully took operating capital
in the amount of One Hundred Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($115,000). Gordon Long's deposition alone cites several of our civil rights that were violated during this foreclosure. Due to the inhuman and cruel actions of these officers
of Deposit Guaranty National Bank twenty-six (26) families were faced with unemployment.
In February, 1990, Bradley-Collier Trucking Company, Inc. entered into lending agreements with Deposit Guaranty National Bank, Gulfport,
Mississippi and the United States Small Business Administration (SBA). We also personally guaranteed the lending agreement with the bank.
Prior to June 14,
1991 Bradley-Collier Trucking Company, Inc. was in the process of negotiating with and arranging to enter into an agreement with a third party financier (Riveria Finance Company, Atlanta, Georgia) to factor the companys' accounts receivable.
On May 30, 1991 Earsell Collier, Sr., Earsell Collier, Jr., and Robert Reily (Riveria Finance Company Representative) went to Deposit Guaranty National Bank and met with Loan Officer, Gordon Long. A verbal request was made
asking the bank to release Bradley-Collier's accounts receivable so that the company could factor them in order to increase cash flow. A proposal was made to : (1) pay $50,000 (5 payments on the note to Deposit Guaranty) (1 past
due and 4 futurel and (2) to allow the factoring company to hold a separate escrow account out which $10,000 per month would be taken from the monthly income from the accounts receivable to pay on the note (directly from the
factoring company to Deposit Guaranty National Bank). Gordon Long stated that this "sounded good" and he would present it to "his superiors". On May 31, 1991, Mr. Collier contacted Mr. Long to determine his response to the offer.
Mr. Long informed him that he had not presented it yet and that he was going on vacation for one week and would present the proposal when he returned.
On June 13, 1991, Gordon Long informed Mr. Collier that he was going to be
meeting with his superiors on that day and that he needed Mr. Collier to fax a written request to him for release of the collateral. The same information was conveyed to Mr. Robert Reily (Riveria) by Gordon Long. Repeated phone
calls were made to Mr. Long that afternoon and Mr. Long finally informed Mr. Collier that no decision had been made yet.
On the morning of June 14, 1991, Gordon Long informed Mr. Collier that the bank had approved the proposal
and that he was going to SBA to get their approval Mr. Collier asked Mr. Long to go ahead and approve his payroll checks for that day just in case SBA could not approve the transaction on the same day and that funds would be;
available for deposit on Monday, June 17, 1991. Gordon Long told Mr. Collier he saw "no problem" with this. At 11:30 a.m. on June 14, 1991, Mr. Gordon Long informed Mr. Collier by telephone that SBA had said no to the proposal and
that Deposit Guaranty National Bank would not assist with the payroll requirement (A request that had been honored by Deposit Guaranty National Bank since the beginning of the loan agreement).
On the afternoon of June 14, 1991
Deposit Guaranty National Bank notified each and every business which had accounts receivable due and payable to Bradley-Collier Trucking Company that Bradley-Collier Trucking Company, Inc. had defaulted on the loan and that
Deposit Guaranty National 'Bank was taking control of all proceeds of accounts receivable payable to Bradley-Collier Trucking Company, Inc. The notice instructed each of Bradley-Collier Trucking Company's accounts receivable
debtors to forward their future payments directly to Deposit Guaranty National Bank.
On the afternoon of June 14, 1991 Gordon Long intentionally, falsely, and maliciously, or in the alternative, negligently notified,
by written publication to SBA that Bradley-Collier Trucking Company, Inc. had gone out of business. That communication was intentional false, malicious, and /or made with reckless disregard for the truth of its contents. The
communications displayed and/or
transmitted to the SBA by or on behalf of Deposit Guaranty National Bank were the basis for the SBA's approval of the foreclosure on the collateral of Bradley-Collier Trucking Company, Inc. Bradley-Collier Trucking Company, Inc. did not discover, and could not have discovered through the exercise of due diligence, the existence of the false and defamatory communications to SBA until August 13, 1991, when they were advised of the existence of the document by SBA when they sought SBA's assistance in providing them with relief from Deposit Guaranty National Bank. After several failed attempts to obtain a copy of the communication, Gordon Long finally tendered the document on or about August 21, 1991.
The foreclosure proceeding and/or liquidation and/or repossession and/or conversion was instituted by Deposit Guaranty National Bank and Gordon Long after Gordon Long led Bradley-Collier Trucking Company, Inc. to believe that
the company vas not in default of any of the terms of their agreements with the bank.
Keep in mind that at all times relevant, Bradley-Collier Trucking Company, Inc. was participating in a federal loan guaranty program whereby
Deposit Guaranty National Bank assumed the duty to aid small and disadvantaged businesses by issuing a guaranteed loan to the company. Due to public policy course of dealing, promises made by the bank, representations made by the
bank, and the mutual relationship between the parties and SBA, there existed a special relationship between the parties which transcends the traditional bank-customer relationship.
Due to the conduct of Deposit Guaranty National
Bank, Bradley-Collier Trucking Company, Inc. Suffered a substantial loss in cash flow and operating income which, in conjunction with other circumstances caused by the acts of the bank, ultimately led to Bradley-Collier Trucking
Company, Inc. going out of business and filing, otherwise unwarranted, bankruptcy.
Deposit Guaranty National Bank had a duty to properly supervise Gordon Long, Nark Williamson and Frank Meigs to insure that they were properly
trained, supervised, counseled, advised and otherwise prepared in order to avoid the wrongful foreclosure, conversion, liquidation, trespass to or other interference with Bradley-collier Trucking Company, Inc.
That by reason of
the conduct set forth above made by the bank, the Collier's lost 35 years of personal and business reputation, to include but not limited to, their life savings, present and future income, investments, suffered severe emotional
distress, damage to their health, suffered lost profits and future lost profits, suffered damage to their relationship with SBA. We beg for mercy and justice in the eyes of the law and an opportunity to put our lives back together
therefore, we respectfully request that a thorough investigation be conducted into this matter and clarify the aforementioned questions that still remain unanswered to this day.
Respectfully submitted,
