Boyle v. Golenbock & Barell (In re Reisini)

31 B.R. 490, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 5818
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 13, 1983
DocketBankruptcy No. 79 B 1638 (PBA)
StatusPublished

This text of 31 B.R. 490 (Boyle v. Golenbock & Barell (In re Reisini)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boyle v. Golenbock & Barell (In re Reisini), 31 B.R. 490, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 5818 (S.D.N.Y. 1983).

Opinion

PRUDENCE B. ABRAM, Bankruptcy Judge:

On January 18, 1983, Roger Boyle, as Trustee of the Estate of Nicolas Reisini, Bankrupt, commenced an adversary proceeding against the law firm of Golenbock and Bareli (“G & B”), to set aside a certain mortgage as a preference pursuant to Section 60 of the former Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C. § 96. An answer was filed by G & B on February 18,1983 denying the mortgage was preferential and asserting a counterclaim against the Trustee and Alan Rothschild, the former receiver and present escrow agent for proceeds of sale of the mortgaged property, demanding payment out of the sale proceeds. On April 12,1983, G & B filed a motion for summary judgment on the grounds that there is no genuine issue as .to any material fact and that G & B is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. The Trustee opposed G & B’s request for summary judgment. A joint statement of material facts not in dispute was submitted. As set forth below, this court determines that the Trustee is entitled to judgment in part and that summary judgment must be denied in part because certain material issues of fact not stipulated to exist as to the remaining matter.

[492]*492The facts are as follows: On April 26, 1979, Nicolas Reisini executed and delivered to G & B a second mortgage to secure a note of the same date in the principal amount of $150,000 on a house he owned located in Tuxedo, New York. The note bore a maturity date of June 30, 1979, or just over two months after its issue date. Four days after the execution of the note and mortgage and on April 30,1979, G & B sent a letter to Reisini confirming the mortgage as

“Security for the payment of all fees for professional services rendered and hereafter to be rendered by us to you and to any corporation in which you now or may hereafter have an interest, including, without limitation, Robin International, Inc., a New York corporation, and International Environmental Dynamics, Inc., a Delaware corporation.... ”

Reisini signed the letter indicating his acceptance and approval of it.

On May 16, 1979, twenty days after execution and delivery of the mortgage to it, G & B duly recorded its mortgage. On September 7, 1979, an involuntary petition in bankruptcy was filed against Reisini. Adjudication eventually occurred almost two years later, on April 24, 1981. The Trustee was appointed on July 10, 1981; Alan Rothschild had previously been appointed as receiver for the Tuxedo house.

Pursuant to a consent order, the Tuxedo property was sold and the proceeds of the sale were delivered to Rothschild, the receiver, to hold in escrow pursuant to an agreement providing that

“the liens and claims held by the parties hereto in and against the property shall be deemed to attach to the net proceeds of the sale of the property — the ‘substitute res’ — as if the proceeds were the property.”

G & B’s mortgage is subordinate to the first mortgage of W.R. Nominee Corp. On March 10, 1983, the court approved a compromise of the first mortgagee’s claim in the sum of $343,300 plus interest and certain expenses. As of March 21, 1983 the funds held in escrow totalled $538,346.93 including accrued interest. The receiver has since made the required payment to the first mortgagee leaving a balance of approximately $139,569.79 in the fund, which amount is approximately $10,500 less than the principal amount G & B claims under its mortgage note. G & B states that its records reflect unpaid fees and disbursements in the amount of $187,447, which is approximately $48,000 more than is available in the fund, for professional services rendered by G & B on behalf of Reisini, Robin International, Inc., a corporation owned by Reisini, and possibly other corporations. The services rendered prior to April 25, 1979 total $43,248.50; services from April 26 through September 6, 1979 are in the amount of $60,505; and services rendered after September 7, 1979 are in the amount of $77,-704.50. Disbursements of $6,090 have not been allocated by period.

G & B claims it is entitled under its mortgage to the remaining fund of $139,-569.79 held by the receiver. Although in his complaint the Trustee sought to recover the entire amount remaining, the Trustee now concedes that G & B is entitled to recover under its mortgage for services rendered from the date of the execution and delivery of the mortgage and note, April 26,1979, to the date of the filing of the involuntary petition, September 7, 1979, a total of $60,-505, and that the mortgage was not preferential to this extent.

The Trustee continues to seek to avoid the G & B mortgage to the extent that it secures payment for services rendered prior to April 26, 1979 in the amount of $43,-248.50. The Trustee also continues to seek to avoid the G & B mortgage to the extent that it purports to secure payment for services rendered after September 7,1979 in the amount of $77,704.50.

With respect to the debt for services rendered prior to April 26, 1979, this court is of the opinion that the mortgage constitutes a voidable preference under § 60 of the former Bankruptcy Act because, although the transfer occurred outside of the preference period, perfection occurred within the preference period, i.e., within four [493]*493months of the filing of the involuntary petition. Concededly the transfer was not a contemporaneous exchange with respect to the pre-April 26, 1979 debts and perfection did not occur until twenty days later.

Section 60(a)(7) of the Bankruptcy Act provides that the 21-day grace period for perfecting transfers is available only for transfers which are made “for or on account of a new and contemporaneous consideration.” Section 60(a)(7) “provides no ‘grace period’ for perfecting transfers made for a consideration antedating their actual execution as between parties.” 3 Collier on Bankruptcy § 60.39[4] at 964 (14th ed. 1977). In the present case, the transfer of real property was perfected when it was recorded, on May 16, 1979, within the four-month preference period. Although G & B perfected its mortgage within 21 days of the transfer, it cannot avail itself of the savings provision to escape the preference period when it, in fact, did not have a contemporaneous transfer with respect to $43,248.50 in legal fees. Diamond Door Co. v. Lane-Stanton Lumber Co., 505 F.2d 1199 (9th Cir.1974); In re Hygrade Envelope Corp., 393 F.2d 60, 63 (2d Cir.1968). The policy behind § 60(a)(7) is to protect a party who never intended to extend credit and never intended the transaction to be one for antecedent indebtedness, but whose transfer, because of a delay in perfection, is deemed to have occurred after the indebtedness arose. The court does not find this to be the case here. Accordingly, the transfer is deemed to have been made on May 16, 1979, and is thus a transfer on account of antecedent debt made within the four-month -preference period as to the $43,-248.50. This amount is recoverable by the Trustee from the escrow fund for the benefit of the estate of the bankrupt.

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Bluebook (online)
31 B.R. 490, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 5818, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boyle-v-golenbock-barell-in-re-reisini-nysd-1983.