Askenaizer v. Recore Trading Co., LLC (In re Catco Recycling, LLC)

559 B.R. 293
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. New Hampshire
DecidedAugust 9, 2016
DocketBk. No. 14-11021-BAH; Adv. No. 15-1022-BAH
StatusPublished

This text of 559 B.R. 293 (Askenaizer v. Recore Trading Co., LLC (In re Catco Recycling, LLC)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Askenaizer v. Recore Trading Co., LLC (In re Catco Recycling, LLC), 559 B.R. 293 (N.H. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Bruce A. Harwood, Chief Bankruptcy Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Michael S. Askenaizer, the chapter 7 trustee (the “Trustee”) of the bankruptcy estate of Cateo Recycling, LLC (“Cateo” or the “Debtor”), filed a two-count com-plaint against Recore Trading Company, LLC (“Recore”) (Doc. No. 1) (the “Com-plaint”). At issue in this case is whether Recore owed money to the Debtor on the petition date that is property of the estate and must be turned over to the Trustee. The Court conducted a trial of this matter on June 14, 2016, and took the matter under advisement. This Court has jurisdiction of the subject matter and the parties pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334 and 157(a) and Local Rule 77.4(a) of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire. This is a core proceeding in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 157(b).

11. FACTS

In 2005, Donald Belisle III (“Belisle III”) formed the Debtor, a business that recycled catalytic converters, other metals, and scrap produced by salvage yards. Beli-sle Ill’s father, Donald Belisle (“Belisle”), owns a similar company, Recore, .but it operates on a much larger scale. In the spring of 2013, Belisle III approached his father to see if Recore would be interested in purchasing Catco’s assets as Belisle III indicated that his company was in financial trouble and would be going out of business. Belisle III wanted $250,000.00 for Catco’s assets, but Belisle agreed that Re-core would pay only $150,000.00. On July 12, 2013, Belisle III, the sole member of the Debtor, and Belisle, the sole member of Recore, executed a document titled “Preliminary Purchase And Sale Agreement” (the “P & S Agreement”), which states in its entirety:

[296]*296Preliminary Purchase And Sale Agreement

Seller Donald Belisle III (Cateo Recycling)

Buyer.Recare Trading Co LLC.

Seller agrees to sell all assets of "Cateo Recycling" To Buyer including but not limited to Peterbilt dump truck, Isuzu box truck, Nissan fork lift, Baler, Cat shear, wire stripper mise containers.and shelving, customer lists, company name and rights. Buyer agrees to pay seller $150,000.00 total with $50,000.00 due at signing, $50,000.00 due in 60 days and the balance of $50,000,00 due in 120 days. This agreement is preliminary and will be superseded by final agreement when it Is prepared by buyers attorney.

Seller<i^&s==^=^ Donald Belislelll

Buyer Donald Belisle

The P & S Agreement was drafted by Belisle, who testified that this agreement was only preliminary and was to be super-seded by legal documents to be drafted by his attorney. While other documents were drafted by Recore’s attorney after July 12, 2013 (including documents that would have required Belisle III to cease operating Cateo and work exclusively for Recore), they were never signed. The reason why those documents were never signed was not clear from the record as the testimony of Belisle and Belisle III conflicted on this point. The parties do not dispute, however, that the P & S Agreement is the only document memorializing the sale that was executed by both Recpre and the Debtor. The P & S Agreement does not contain any provision indicating that Recore was buying or assuming Catco’s liabilities as part of the transaction.

Belisle testified that the most important asset being purchased by Recore was Cat-co’s customer list, which in the parties’ business really means suppliers, i.e., com-panies thqt could supply Cateo and Recore with product to be recycled. Belisle III testified that the equipment was the pri-mary asset being sold.

Pursuant to the terms of the P & S Agreement, Recore issued and delivered to Belisle III the first $50,000.00 payment due under the P & S Agreement on July 12, 2013. The check was made payable to Belisle III, instead of the Debtor, at Beli-sle Ill’s request.1 Recore described this payment as “goodwill” in its financial rec-ords.

[297]*297On or about the date the P & S Agreement was executed, Belisle III also be-came a full time employee of Recore. Beli-sle III and his father had agreed that Belisle would come work for Recore and bring Catco’s customers/suppliers with him. Belisle testified that this was the most important part of the deal to him. Belisle III testified that he was paid $2,000.00 per week in salary as a Recore employee, with $1,000.00 being paid through Recore’s payroll account and the second $1,000.00 being paid through Re-core’s operating account, in order to keep from Recore’s longtime general manager the fact that Belisle III was receiving a higher wage than he was. Recore’s records show that only the $1,000.00 payments from the payroll account were subject to tax withholdings; these checks from the payroll account were in the net amount of $844.68.2 They were categorized by Recore as “payroll expenses” in its financial rec-ords.

Belisle testified that Belisle III was paid $1,000.00 per week in salary and an extra $1,000.00 per week because, during the first week of his employment, Belisle III requested additional monies so that he could pay his bills. Belisle testified that the second $1,000.00 per week payment was to be deducted from the final installment due under the P & S Agreement, i.e., they were to be treated like an advance. Like the initial $50,000.00 installment payment, these separate $1,000.00 per week pay-ments were described as “goodwill” in Re-core’s financial records and not as “payroll expenses.”3

At trial, Belisle III disputed Belisle’s contention that the second $1,000.00 pay-ments were not salary. He stated his ex-penses could- not be covered by weekly wages of $1,000.00, as his child support payments were $320.00 per week and his mortgage was $3,500.00 per month, or roughly $807.00 per week. However, this assertion is consistent with Belisle’s testi-mony that Belisle III needed additional funds in order to meet his expenses.

Recore suggested at trial that Belisle III continued to operate Cateo after the execution of the P & S Agreement. Recore offered a transaction spreadsheet from Rebuilders Automotive Supply Co. (“RAS”) that shows multiple transactions .between Cateo and RAS during July and August. Belisle III. testified that the trans-actions shown on RAS’s spreadsheet dur-ing this time period reflect only payments for material that was purchased or deliv-ered before the execution of the P & S Agreement. Belisle disputes Belisle Ill’s explanation and contends that the spread-sheets instead show additional “advances” to Cateo and not simply “final payments.”

Between September 13 and 17, 2013, Recore issued three more checks made payable to Belisle III, which together to-taled $50,000.00. These checks represented the second $50,000.00 installment due from Recore to Cateo under the P & S Agreement. In its financial records, Recore again described these payments as “goodwill.”

In November 2013, while attending an out-of-state trade show, Belisle met a rep-resentative of RAS, who informed Belisle [298]

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Bluebook (online)
559 B.R. 293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/askenaizer-v-recore-trading-co-llc-in-re-catco-recycling-llc-nhb-2016.