Armada (Singapore) Pte Ltd. v. Shah (In re Ashapura Minechem Ltd.)

480 B.R. 129, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90230
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided June 28, 2012·No. Nos. 11-14668 (JMP), 12 Civ. 257 (SAS)·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SHIRA A. SCHEINDLIN, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Appellant Armada (Singapore) Pte Ltd., (“Armada”) appeals pursuant to section 158 of Title 28 of the United States Code from a Bench Decision of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York granting Appellee Ashapura Mine-chem Ltd.’s (“Ashapura”) petition for recognition as a foreign main proceeding of an insolvency proceeding voluntarily commenced in India by Ashapura. For the reasons set forth below, the Bench Decision is affirmed.

II. BACKGROUND

Appellee Chetan Shah is the Managing Director of Ashapura Minechem Ltd., a mining and industrial business headquartered in Mumbai, India.1 He was appointed Foreign Representative by Ashapura’s Board of Directors for the purpose of these U.S. proceedings.2 The greater part of Ashapura’s assets are situated in India, as are all of its employees.3

In the conduct of its business, Ashapura entered into maritime Contracts of Aff-reighment (“COAs”) to ship minerals to foreign ports with several international shipping companies including Appellant Armada (Singapore) Pte Ltd. (“Armada”), based in Singapore, and Eitzen Bulk A/S (“Eitzen”).4 However, when the government of Gujarat, the Indian state where Ashapura conducts its mining activities, placed an indirect embargo on the export [134]*134of bauxite, Ashapura failed to fulfill its part of the contracts.5 Armada sought and in February 2010 obtained an arbitration award against Ashapura totaling sixty-five million dollars.6 Eitzen obtained a separate award as well.7 Ashapura opted not to defend these arbitrations on the ground that the contracts were void ab initio under the doctrine of force majeure.8

In June 2010, Armada filed a petition in the Southern District of NewATork for an order converting its arbitration award into a judgment against Ashapura.9 The petition was granted and the court entered a judgment for Armada in excess of seventy million dollars.10

In May 2011, Ashapura initiated proceedings before India’s Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (“BIFR”) to rehabilitate its finances under The Sick Industrial Companies Act (“SICA”) of 1985.11 That proceeding is still pending before the BIFR.12 Pursuant to section 22 of SICA, Ashapura obtained a stay of all actions and proceedings against it in India.13 However, this foreign insolvency law has encountered mounting criticism and led to a repeal of the statute that governs the BIFR proceeding.14 The SICA Repeal Act of 2008 would eliminate section 22 stays on unsecured creditors’ collection efforts.15 However, the current iteration of SICA will remain in force until the Indian legislature formally enacts implementing legislation for SICA’s substitute.16 The Indian legislature had not done so by the time the Bankruptcy Court made its ruling and the parties have not notified this Court of any change.

In October 2011, Ashapura’s Board of Directors authorized Shah to seek relief in bankruptcy court under Chapter 15 of Title ll.17 Shah’s initial request for a preliminary injunction against creditor claims was denied.18 Subsequently, Shah filed a petition for recognition of the SICA proceeding as a “foreign proceeding” or “foreign main proceeding” pursuant to Chapter 15 of Title 11.19 A hearing was held on November 18, 2011 during which an Indian attorney at law Mayur Bhatt testified on behalf of Ashapura.20 Bhatt is Ashapura’s counsel in the BIFR proceedings and has experience handling other SICA cases.21 Armada did not call any witnesses, but instead offered various exhibits into evi[135]*135dence that were downloaded from internet sites.22

Following that hearing, the bankruptcy court granted recognition as a foreign main proceeding and relief pursuant to section 1521(a) to Ashapura and granted a stay against the order enforcing the arbitration award-rulings which Armada now appeals.23

III. LEGAL STANDARD

A. Appellate Jurisdiction

This court has jurisdiction to hear appeals from final orders issued by the Bankruptcy Court under sections 158(a)(1) and 1334 of Title 28.24

B. Standard of Review

A district court functions as an appellate court in reviewing judgments rendered by bankruptcy courts.25 Findings of fact are reviewed for clear error26 whereas findings that involve questions of law, or mixed questions of fact and law, are reviewed de novo.27 Credibility determinations by bankruptcy courts are reviewed for clear error, as are decisions resting on physical or documentary evidence or inference from other facts.28 A finding of fact is clearly erroneous if the court is “ ‘left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.’ ”29

C.Recognition of a Foreign Insolvency Proceeding

Chapter 15 of Title 11 governs all cross-border insolvency disputes, and specifically petitions for the recognition of foreign insolvency proceedings in the United States.30 The purpose of Chapter 15 is “to incorporate the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency,” adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in 1997.31 “Recognition [under section 1517] is not a rubber stamp exercise, and any such presumption is rebuttable upon the Court’s examination of any and all relevant facts.”32

As a threshold matter, the appointed representative of a foreign debtor [136]

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Armada (Singapore) Pte Ltd. v. Shah (In re Ashapura Minechem Ltd.), 480 B.R. 129, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90230 (S.D.N.Y. 2012).

480 B.R. 129 (Armada (Singapore) Pte Ltd. v. Shah (In re Ashapura Minechem Ltd.)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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