Atna Liquidating Trust v. Elwood Staffing Services Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedAugust 6, 2019
Docket1:17-cv-02363
StatusUnknown

This text of Atna Liquidating Trust v. Elwood Staffing Services Inc. (Atna Liquidating Trust v. Elwood Staffing Services Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atna Liquidating Trust v. Elwood Staffing Services Inc., (D. Colo. 2019).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO Judge Robert E. Blackburn Civil Action No. 17-cv-02363-REB (Bankruptcy Case No. 15-22848-JGR (Chapter 11) - Jointly Administered Under Case No. 15-22848-JGR) (Adversary Proceeding No. 17-01160-JGR) In re: ATNA RESOURCES, INC., et al., Debtors.1 ATNA LIQUIDATING TRUST, KENNETH J. BUECHLER, LIQUIDATING TRUSTEE, Plaintiff, v. ELWOOD STAFFING SERVICES, INC., Defendant. ORDER Blackburn, J. This matter is an adversary proceeding filed initially in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado as Adv. Proceeding No. 17-01160-JGR. This adversary proceeding was initiated when the plaintiff, Atna Liquidating Trust, Kenneth J. Buechler, Liquidating Trustee (the Trustee), filed in the bankruptcy court a complaint [#1 - Adv. Proceeding No. 17-01160-JGR] against the defendant, Elwood

1 This case involves seven separately filed bankruptcy petitions jointly administered under bankruptcy Case No. 15-22848-JGR. The debtors are as follows: Atna Resources Inc. (15-22848), Canyon Resources Corporation (15-22849), CR Briggs Corporation (15-22850), CR Montana Corporation (15-22851), CR Kendall Corporation (15-22852), Atna Resources Ltd. (15-22853), and Horizon Wyoming Uranium, Inc. (15-22854). Staffing Services, Inc. The Trustee later filed an amended complaint [#20 - Adv. Proceeding No. 17-01160-JGR] (the Complaint). In the Complaint, the Trustee seeks to recover from Elwood alleged preferential transfers and fraudulent transfers. I entered an order [#6]2 withdrawing the reference of this adversary proceeding to the bankruptcy court and again referred this matter to the bankruptcy court for resolution of pretrial issues, including dispositive motions. On December 14, 2018, the bankruptcy court entered its Order Granting Defendant’s Motion To Dismiss Third and Fourth Claims of Amended Complaint

[#46 - Adv. Pro. No 17-01160-JGR]3. The bankruptcy court ordered that the third and fourth claims alleged in the Complaint be dismissed with prejudice. The bankruptcy court entered judgment [#47 - Adv. Pro. No 17-01160-JGR] dismissing the third and fourth claims with prejudice. The Trustee then filed with this court a motion for clarification [#8] asking this court to determine if the court would treat the order and judgment of the bankruptcy court as a binding order and judgment or as proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law subject to objections and de novo review by the district court. Addressing the motion to clarify, I concluded that I must treat the final order and judgment [#46, #47 - Adv. Proceeding No. 17-01160-JGR] of the bankruptcy

court as proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. Order [#10].

2 “[#6]” is an example of the convention I use to identify the docket number assigned to a specific paper by the court’s case management and electronic case filing system (CM/ECF). I use this convention throughout this order. 3 “[#46 - Adv. Pro. No 17-01160-JGR] is the convention I use in this order to identify the docket number assigned to a specific paper by the CM/ECF system of the bankruptcy court. I use this convention throughout this order. 2 The proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law of the bankruptcy court are subject to de novo review under 28 U.S.C. § 157(c)(1). Under § 157(c)(1), the district court must enter a final order or judgment after considering the proposed findings and conclusions of the bankruptcy court and after reviewing de novo those matters to which any party has timely and specifically objected. Now before me are the following: (1) the Defendant’s Motion for Partial Dismissal of Complaint [#21 - Adv. Pro. No 17-01160-JGR]; and (2) the Order

Granting Defendant’s Motion To Dismiss third and Fourth Claims of Amended Complaint [#46 - Adv. Proceeding No. 17-01160-JGR], which I treat as proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The Trustee filed objections [#13] to the order of the bankruptcy court, and Elwood filed a response [#15] to the objections. Having reviewed the filings noted above and the relevant portions of the record, I now conduct a de novo review of the order of the bankruptcy court under 28 U.S.C. § 157(c)(1). I. STANDARD OF REVIEW The motion to dismiss seeks dismissal of the third and fourth claims under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). In its order, the bankruptcy court recited the relevant standard

applicable to a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6). To summarize, under Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 562 (2007), I must review the complaint to determine if it “‘contains enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ridge at Red Hawk, L.L.C. v. Schneider, 493 F.3d 1174, 1177 (10th Cir. 2007) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 569). I must accept all well-pleaded factual allegations of the complaint as true. McDonald v. Kinder-Morgan, Inc., 287 F.3d 992, 997 (10th Cir. 2002). However, mere “labels and conclusions or a formulaic recitation of the 3 elements of a cause of action” will not be sufficient to defeat a motion to dismiss. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). See also Robbins v. Oklahoma, 519 F.3d 1242, 1247-48 (10th Cir. 2008) (“Without some factual allegation in the complaint, it is hard to see how a claimant could satisfy the requirement of providing not only ‘fair notice’ of the nature of the claim, but also ‘grounds' on which the claim rests.”) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555 n. 3) (internal citations and footnote omitted). To meet the plausibility standard, the

complaint must suggest “more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. II. BACKGROUND The debtors in these jointly administered bankruptcy cases are affiliated mineral exploration and mining entities that operated under the umbrella of a publicly-traded Canadian company, debtor Atna Resources, Ltd. (Atna Ltd.). Atna Ltd. operated its United States-based companies through a wholly-owned Delaware corporation, Canyon Resources Corporation (Canyon). In turn, Canyon was the sole owner of three Colorado corporations: CR Briggs Corporation (CR Briggs), CR Montana Corporation,

and CR Kendall Corporation. Canyon also was the sole owner of Atna Resources, Inc. (Atna, Inc.), a Nevada corporation, and Horizon Wyoming Uranium, Inc., a Wyoming corporation. Attached to the order of the bankruptcy court is a helpful organizational chart which shows the organization of these entities. Order [#46 - Adv. Pro. No 17- 01160-JGR], p. 18. All of these entities are debtors in this jointly administered case. Canyon maintained a centralized cash account (CCA) for the affiliated companies. Prior to the bankruptcy filings, substantially all the revenues funding the 4 Canyon CCA were provided by Atna, Inc. through the operation of the Pinson mine and by CR Briggs through the operation of the CR Briggs mine. The other companies did not generate significant revenues. Canyon would make transfers from the commingled funds in the Canyon CCA to the separate bank accounts of Atna, Inc.

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