Braunstein v. Karger (In re Melon Produce, Inc.)

122 B.R. 641, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2813
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedJanuary 8, 1991
DocketCiv. A. No. 90-11853-H
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 122 B.R. 641 (Braunstein v. Karger (In re Melon Produce, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Braunstein v. Karger (In re Melon Produce, Inc.), 122 B.R. 641, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2813 (D. Mass. 1991).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

HARRINGTON, District Judge.

Plaintiff Joseph Braunstein (the “Trustee”) is the duly appointed bankruptcy trustee for Melon Produce, Inc. (“Melon”), pursuant to the filing of an involuntary bankruptcy petition under Chapter 7. The petition was filed on January 27, 1988. Defendant Peter Karger (“Karger”) was the President and sole shareholder of Melon. The Trustee filed this bankruptcy action seeking to avoid and recover certain alleged preferential and fraudulent transfers. Upon motion by the Defendant Kar-ger for a jury trial in this matter, the case was transferred to this Court.

The case now comes before the Court upon the Trustee’s Motion for Summary Judgment on the preference claim contained in Count I of the Trustee’s Amended Complaint. The Trustee seeks to avoid an alleged preferential transfer and to recover the sum of $430,022.39 from Karger. Kar-ger has filed a Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment on Count I. The Court has reviewed the documents filed in this case and has considered the oral arguments made by counsel. For the reasons set forth below, the Court rules that the Trustee’s Motion for Summary Judgment should be granted.

Undisputed Facts

On August 3, 1984, Karger made a series of loans totalling $632,000.00 to A. Pelligri-no & Son, Inc., a company undergoing reorganization under Chapter 11. Karger executed three promissory notes, in the amounts of $100,000.00, $232,000.00, and $300,000.00, respectively, under which A. Pelligrino & Son agreed to repay Karger the principal sum with interest. On Au[643]*643gust 7, 1984 Melon guaranteed the $300,-000.00 obligation of A. Pelligrino & Son and executed a security agreement with Karger under which it secured this guaranty. The security agreement granted Kar-ger an interest in certain personal property of the Debtor Melon.

On February 11, 1987 Melon authorized the sale of its only existing assets — a lease in New England Produce Center, Inc. (the “NEPC Lease”), and two shares of stock in New England Produce Center, Inc. (the “NEPC Stock”). The NEPC Lease and the NEPC Stock were sold for $470,000.00. At the closing of the sale on February 27, 1987, Melon received two checks in the aggregate amount of $430,022.39. Melon then paid Karger these proceeds. Melon endorsed the two checks, and Karger’s agent deposited them into Karger’s account. At the time of this transaction, Melon’s liabilities, including a debt to Kar-ger1 and $342,108.11 in debts owed to twenty-five other creditors,2 exceeded its assets by more than $300,000.00.

DISCUSSION

The Trustee argues that the payment of the $430,022.39 to Karger from the proceeds of the sale of the NEPC Lease and NEPC Stock constituted a “preferential transfer” under the Bankruptcy Code. The’ Bankruptcy Code provides, in pertinent part, that a trustee may avoid as a “preference” any transfer of an interest of the debtor:

1. to or for the benefit of a creditor;
2. for or on account of an antecedent debt owed by the debtor before such transfer was made;
3. made while the debtor was insolvent;
4. made between ninety days and one year before the date of the filing of the petition, if such creditor at the time of the transfer was an insider; and
5. that enables such creditor to receive more than such creditor would receive under Chapter 7 had the transfer not been made.

See 11 U.S.C. § 547(b). The Trustee contends that he has satisfied these five elements of a preference claim and, thus, that he is entitled to avoid the transfer and to recover the monies paid to Karger.

In particular, the Trustee asserts that Melon paid $430,022.39 from the proceeds of the sale of the NEPC Lease and the NEPC Stock to Karger to satisfy an existing unsecured debt owed to Karger. He further asserts that Karger, as sole shareholder and director of Melon, was an “insider,” and that the money was transferred to him on February 27, 1987, within one year of the filing of the bankruptcy petition. At this point in 1987, Melon was insolvent. As a result of the transfer, the Trustee suggests, Karger received more than he otherwise would have under a Chapter 7 distribution in which the proceeds of the sale would have been distributed among all of Melon’s unsecured creditors.

Karger apparently agrees that the Trustee has satisfied his burden of establishing at least three of the elements of his preference claim. In particular, Karger does not dispute that he was a creditor of Melon and that he received the payment in question in satisfaction of an antecedent debt owed to him. He also does not contest that the transfer occurred within the statutory preference period of one year. Moreover, Karger does not identify any material factual disputes as to the other [644]*644elements which would otherwise preclude entry of summary judgment. See Fed.R. Civ.P. 56(e); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509-10, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Though Karger’s opposition to the Trustee’s motion argues that the Trustee has failed to prove insolvency of Melon (Defendant’s Opposition, pp. 15-17), the Court considers the twenty-five uncontested Proofs of Claims as sufficient evidence of existing liabilities to establish insolvency. See In re Pinto, 98 B.R. 200, 208 n. 3 (Bkrtcy.E.D.Pa.1989). Karger sets forth no specific facts which call into question the validity of these claims, nor does he offer any evidence from which a jury might infer that Melon was solvent.

For purposes of this summary judgment motion, therefore, the Court finds that no genuine factual dispute exists with respect any of the elements of the Trustee’s claim. However, Karger raises one issue which requires the Court to resolve a discrete question of law. In particular, Karger argues that the payment to him cannot be considered preferential because he was a secured creditor. As a secured creditor, Karger asserts that he would have had priority over Melon’s other unsecured creditors and, thus, that he received no more than the amount to which he otherwise would have been entitled under a Chapter 7 distribution. The Court, then, must examine the terms of the August 7, 1984 security agreement (the “Agreement) between Melon and Karger to determine whether, at the time of the transfer, Karger was, as the Trustee argues, an unsecured creditor, or whether he was a secured creditor.

The Agreement provides, in relevant part, that Karger would retain a security interest in:

the personal property of [Melon] ... whether now existing or hereafter acquired or arising, and any and all additions, substitutions, accessions, proceeds and products thereto or thereof (all of the same being hereinafter called the “Collateral”).

The Agreement further defines the collateral as:

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122 B.R. 641, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2813, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/braunstein-v-karger-in-re-melon-produce-inc-mad-1991.