Carmel v. Illinois Department of Revenue (In re Lakeside Community Hospital)

191 B.R. 122, 1996 Bankr. LEXIS 66, 28 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 591
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJanuary 25, 1996
DocketBankruptcy No. 91 B 07290; Adv. Nos. 95 A 00923, 95 A 00922 and 95 A 00880
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 191 B.R. 122 (Carmel v. Illinois Department of Revenue (In re Lakeside Community Hospital)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carmel v. Illinois Department of Revenue (In re Lakeside Community Hospital), 191 B.R. 122, 1996 Bankr. LEXIS 66, 28 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 591 (Ill. 1996).

Opinion

INTRODUCTION

RONALD BARLIANT, Bankruptcy Judge.

This matter is before the court on motions to dismiss three adversary complaints seeking to recover tax payments to (1) the Illinois Department of Revenue, (2) the Illinois Department of Employment, and (3) David D. Orr (“Orr”) and Edward J. Rosewell (“Rose-well”).1 The complaints allege that the tax payments were either preferential transfers, avoidable under §§ 547 and 550 of the Bankruptcy Code,2 or fraudulent transfers, avoidable under §§ 548 and 550. The complaints against the Departments of Revenue and Employment also allege that they filed liens against Leyden Community Hospital (“Ley-den”), the alter ego of the debtor, to secure penalties and therefore the liens are avoidable under §§ 724(a) and 726(a)(4).

Count II of the complaint against the Department of Revenue, which is the lien avoidance claim, will be dismissed pursuant the parties’ agreement because that defendant never recorded a hen. The preference and fraudulent transfer claims, Counts I and III, will also be dismissed because the payments of Illinois trust fund taxes were not made with property of the Debtor. Contrary to the assertions of the moving parties, however, the remaining claims are not time barred. The motions of the Illinois Department of Employment and Orr and Rosewell will therefore be denied.

[124]*124BACKGROUND

On January 28, 1991, Leyden entered into an agreement for the sale of assets, including the real estate on which its hospital was located. This real estate was owned by Hilltop Real Estate Investment Co. Partnership (“Hilltop”). Proceeds of that sale went into an escrow, from which the tax payments that are the subjects of the complaints were made. The Department of Revenue received $72,644.45 as payment for taxes owed by Leyden. Although neither the complaint nor the motions specifically allege it, these taxes were apparently “trust fund taxes” — that is, employee income taxes withheld from employees’ paychecks pursuant to 35 ILCS 5/705.3 The Department of Employment received a tax payment of $103,989.60; Orr, in his capacity as Cook County Clerk, received $498,393.60; and Rosewell, in his capacity as Cook County Collector, received $391,432.98. On April 4, 1991, Lakeside Community Hospital (the “Debtor” or “Lakeside”) filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. On August 5, 1993, the case was converted to a Chapter 7 proceeding and a trustee was appointed. On August 4, 1995, the Trustee filed the three separate complaints now before us, alleging that the tax payments were preferential or fraudulent transfers, and thus avoidable. The complaints also allege that the Departments of Revenue and Employment filed liens against Leyden for taxes, penalties, and interest.

In October 1995, the defendants filed their motions to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b) (made applicable to proceedings under the Bankruptcy Code by Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7012(b)). The motions of the Department of Employment and Orr and Rosewell are identical and assert only that the actions against them are time barred. (Motions, f 1). Both motions adopt the Department of Revenue’s arguments that the actions are time barred. (Motions, ¶ 3). The Department of Revenue further argues that the payment of trust fund taxes it received is not avoidable because the funds were not the Debtor’s property when the payments were made.

DISCUSSION

In order to prevail on a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b), it must appear from the pleadings that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts that would entitle him to relief. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). Allegations in the pleading are to be construed in favor of the nonmoving party and the motion should be granted “only if the moving party clearly established that no material issue of fact remains to be resolved and that he or she is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” National Fidelity Life Ins. v. Karaganis, 811 F.2d 357, 358 (7th Cir.1987). Furthermore, all uncontested allegations are taken as true. Id.

A. Is the action time-barred?

Section 546 limits the time for filing complaints to avoid preferential or fraudulent transfers. That section was amended in 1994, but the Seventh Circuit recently held that in bankruptcy cases commenced before the effective date of the 1994 Bankruptcy Reform Act, October 1, 1994, the old § 546 applies. Under the old § 546, a two year limitation on the power to avoid a preference begins to run if and when a trustee is appointed. Gleischman Sumner Co. v. King, Weiser, Edelman & Bazar, 69 F.3d 799, 800 (7th Cir.1995). Because this bankruptcy case began before the 1994 act went into effect, the limitations period began to run when the trustee was appointed. This action was begun less than two years after that appointment, but more than two years after the commencement of the case when the Debtor became a debtor in possession.

The Department of Revenue4 attempts to distinguish Gleischman Sumner by arguing [125]*125that the case did not involve a debtor in possession. This argument is without merit and is in direct conflict with the court’s opinion:

The parties agree that Gleischman Sumner is not a “trustee” within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Code and should be treated like a debtor in possession.

Gleischman Sumner at 800 (emphasis added).

Furthermore, the Department’s argument that it made a difference in Gleischman Sumner that the adversary proceeding had been filed within the time limits prescribed by the debtor’s confirmed Chapter 11 plan ignores the court’s reasoning entirely. The court reasoned that if § 546 were read in conjunction with § 1107, the result would be that the statute of limitations could potentially fade “in and out like the Cheshire Cat,” during the course of the bankruptcy case. Id. at 802. Even Judge Flaum in his concurring opinion states that “Section 1107 does not ... impose on debtors in possession those powers and limitations, such as § 546(a)(1), that clearly apply only to certain types of trustees.” Id. at 803 (Flaum, J., concurring). The Seventh Circuit unequivocally held the § 546 limitation period begins to run only if and when a trustee is appointed, and not before. The three actions here are thus not time barred.

B. Were the payments property of the estate?

The Department of Revenue further argues that the payments it received were in satisfaction of “trust fund” taxes. Thus, the payments were not property of the debtor. Since only transfers of property of the debtor are subject to §§ 547 and 548, the preferential and fraudulent transfer actions cannot stand. This Court agrees.

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Bluebook (online)
191 B.R. 122, 1996 Bankr. LEXIS 66, 28 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 591, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carmel-v-illinois-department-of-revenue-in-re-lakeside-community-ilnb-1996.