Brian Weiss v. Bella Casa Prop. Servs. LLC

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Decided: November 15, 2018
• Docket: 17-55652
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS NOV 15 2018 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

In re: WALLDESIGN, INC., No. 17-55652

Debtor, D.C. No. 8:15-cv-01371-VAP ______________________________

BRIAN WEISS, as Trustee of the MEMORANDUM* Walldesign Liquidation Trust,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

BELLA CASA PROPERTY SERVICES LLC,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Virginia A. Phillips, Chief Judge, Presiding

Submitted November 6, 2018** Pasadena, California

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). Before: RAWLINSON and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges, and BOUGH, *** District Judge.

Bella Casa Property Services appeals a district court order affirming the

bankruptcy court’s grant of summary judgment to Brian Weiss, acting trustee for

Walldesign, Inc. The bankruptcy court found various payments made from a

Walldesign bank account to Bella Casa by Michael Bello, a Walldesign officer,

voidable as fraudulent transfers. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 158(d)(1)

and affirm.

1. It is undisputed that the transfers to Casa Bella were for the benefit of

Bello, not Walldesign, and were not disclosed to corporate management. Nor is

there any doubt that the funds were Walldesign’s. See Matter of Walldesign, Inc.,

872 F.3d 954, 971 (9th Cir. 2017), cert. denied sub nom. Henry v. Weiss, 138 S. Ct.

2575 (2018). They were transferred from an account in Walldesign’s name and

funded with refund checks from Walldesign’s suppliers. The bankruptcy court

therefore did not err in treating the payments as fraudulent transfers. See 11 U.S.C.

§ 548(a); Cal. Civ. Code § 3439.04(a).

2. A fraudulent conveyance can be recovered even from an initial transferee

that acted in good faith. 11 U.S.C. § 550(a)–(b)(1); Cal. Civ. Code § 3439.08(b)(1).

*** The Honorable Stephen R. Bough, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri, sitting by designation.

2 There can be no dispute that Bella Casa was the initial transferee of the funds at

issue. See Walldesign, 872 F.3d at 967.

3. The bankruptcy court did not err in considering declarations summarizing

Walldesign’s financial and bank statements, and documents in the Walldesign

Chapter 11 case docket. See Fed. R. Evid. 1006 (allowing admission of summaries

of voluminous writings).

AFFIRMED.