Cadle Co. II, Inc. v. Gasbusters Production I Ltd. Partnership

441 F. App'x 310
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 9, 2011
Docket10-5060
StatusUnpublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 441 F. App'x 310 (Cadle Co. II, Inc. v. Gasbusters Production I Ltd. Partnership) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cadle Co. II, Inc. v. Gasbusters Production I Ltd. Partnership, 441 F. App'x 310 (6th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

AVERN COHN, District Judge.

This is an appeal of a bankruptcy court decision. Appellant The Cadle Company II, Inc. (.Cadle), the primary unsecured creditor in a bankruptcy estate (estate), appeals a bankruptcy court’s decision that Appellee Gasbusters Production I Limited Partnership (GPILP) has the ownership right to assert claims against the estate. GPILP’s claims are based on agreements entered into between GPILP and estate debtor Clarence Lester Paul (Paul) relating to the operation and management of 15 gas and oil wells (wells).

For the reasons that follow, the bankruptcy court’s decision will be affirmed.

I. BACKGROUND

The estate whose assets are now at issue was formed when, on February 6, 2004, Paul and his wife Margaret S. Paul (Mr. and Mrs. Paul) filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. Two years after the bankruptcy petition was filed, GPILP filed a proof of claim against the estate in the amount of $424,825.00, in order to recover from what GPILP asserts was a breach of contract by Paul for failing to operate and properly manage gas wells. At the same time, GPILP moved for payment of gas-sale proceeds in the amount of $25,659.33, which GPILP asserts it was entitled to because the proceeds were earned during a period of time in which it had an ownership right — between settlement of a separate claim against GPILP, described below, and Mr. and Mrs. Paul’s bankruptcy petition. Cadle subsequently purchased most of the assets of and rights in the Paul estate.

*312 Cadle filed an objection to GPILP’s proof of claim and motion for gas-sale proceeds with the bankruptcy court. 2 As to the proof of claim, Cadle contended that GPILP was not entitled to recover from the estate because it did not have an ownership interest in the wells, primarily because of claimed deficiencies in the well-transfer agreements. Cadle also argued that GPILP used an arbitrary methodology when it calculated the proof-of-claim amount. Finally, Cadle maintained that the amount needed to be further reduced to account for certain expenses and offset items owed by GPILP to Paul.

The bankruptcy court held an evidentia-ry hearing to aid in its resolution of the parties’ motions. Following the hearing, Cadle’s objections were overruled and GPILP was awarded claims against the estate and gas-sale proceeds, but for a reduced amount: $312,239.50 for the proof of claim, and $20,861.15 in gas-sale proceeds. With regard to the proof-of-claim amount, the bankruptcy court rejected Ca-dle’s argument that the claim needed to be even further reduced because of the various expense offsets, finding that Cadle failed to provide credible evidence concerning their existence and amount.

On appeal, a district court affirmed the bankruptcy court’s decisions. Cadle appeals. We review the bankruptcy court’s decision directly, rather than the district court order. Nuvell Credit Corp. v. West-fall, 599 F.3d 498, 500 (6th Cir.2010).

II. DISCUSSION

A. Proof of Claim

Cadle argues on several grounds as follows that the bankruptcy court erred in finding that GPILP had an ownership interest to assert a proof of claim against the estate.

1. Judicial Admissions

First, Cadle says that the bankruptcy court erred during the evidentiary hearing when it decided a motion in li-mine in favor of GPILP, which allowed statements made by Cadle in a prior adversary proceeding to be treated as judicial admissions, rather than evidentiary admissions. The statements involve allegations by Cadle that Paul concealed wrongful business activities using alter-ego entities, 3 and the decision effectively prevented Cadle from arguing that GPILP’s proof of claim against the estate was invalid on the ground that it should have been made against the alter-ego entities and not Paul. We review a grant of a motion in limine for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Humphrey, 608 F.3d 955, 957 (6th Cir.2010).

It is well established in our circuit that “ ‘[pjleadings in a prior case may be used as evidentiary admissions.’ ” Barnes v. Owens-Coming Fiberglas Corp., 201 F.3d 815, 829 (6th Cir.2000) (quoting Williams v. Union Carbide Corp., 790 F.2d 552, 556 (6th Cir.1986)).

Judicial admissions, on the other hand, are formal admissions in the pleadings of a present action, “which have the effect of withdrawing a fact from issue and dispensing wholly with the need for proof of the fact.” In re Fordson Eng’ Corp., 25 B.R. 506, 509 (Bankr.E.D.Mich.1982). “[Ujnder *313 federal law, stipulations and admissions in the pleadings are generally binding on the parties and the Court.” Ferguson v. Neighborhood Hous. Servs., Inc., 780 F.2d 549, 551 (6th Cir.1986) (citation and quotation marks omitted). “Not only are such admissions and stipulations binding before the trial court, but they are binding on appeal as well.” Id. (citation omitted).

Further, admissions made during a deposition, absent exceptional circumstances, have been held to be binding on the parties as a judicial admission and cannot be challenged in the trial court or on appeal. Maynard v. Brewer, 787 F.2d 591 (6th Cir. March 4, 1986) (table order) (holding that a “blatant judicial admission by a plaintiff in his deposition that a jailer did not assault him, absent exceptional circumstances ... [was] binding on the parties”).

Here, in support of its motion in limine, GPILP provided the bankruptcy court with an amended complaint from a prior adversary proceeding, which contained the statements that were treated as judicial admissions. GPILP also provided deposition testimony from the present bankruptcy court proceeding, in which a Cadle representative confirmed the statements as true and a Cadle attorney stipulated to their truth.

The bankruptcy court’s written decision granting the motion states:

On the motion filed by [GPILP] seeking an order deeming the allegations of fact, including mixed statements of law and fact, in pleadings and papers filed by [Cadle] in adversary no. 06-AP-3003 as judicial admissions of Cadle for purposes of this bankruptcy case, and the Court being sufficiently advised, it is hereby ORDERED that the motion is GRANTED.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Heeter v. Bowers
S.D. Ohio, 2025
Beard 403365 v. Schiebner
W.D. Michigan, 2023
In re: Julie Marie Wood
Sixth Circuit, 2022
Wells Fargo Bank v. Mesh Suture
31 F.4th 1300 (Tenth Circuit, 2022)
Watford v. Ormond
E.D. Kentucky, 2020
Davis v. Echo Valley Condo. Ass'n
349 F. Supp. 3d 645 (E.D. Michigan, 2018)
Cadle Co. v. Gasbusters Production I Ltd. Partnership
509 S.W.3d 713 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2016)
PNC Bank, National Ass'n v. Goyette Mechanical Co.
140 F. Supp. 3d 623 (E.D. Michigan, 2015)
United States v. American Mercantile Corp.
889 F. Supp. 2d 1058 (W.D. Tennessee, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
441 F. App'x 310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cadle-co-ii-inc-v-gasbusters-production-i-ltd-partnership-ca6-2011.