Cessna Finance Corp. v. Millard Aviation, Inc. (In re Turner)

13 B.R. 15, 32 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 1240, 1981 Bankr. LEXIS 3893
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Nebraska
DecidedApril 18, 1981
DocketBankruptcy Nos. BK78-0-854, BK78-0-1234
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 13 B.R. 15 (Cessna Finance Corp. v. Millard Aviation, Inc. (In re Turner)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Nebraska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cessna Finance Corp. v. Millard Aviation, Inc. (In re Turner), 13 B.R. 15, 32 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 1240, 1981 Bankr. LEXIS 3893 (Neb. 1981).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

DAVID L. CRAWFORD, Bankruptcy Judge.

This controversy involves title to proceeds from the sale of two airplanes financed by the plaintiff which were sold to the bankrupt prior to the filing of its petition in bankruptcy and subsequently sold by the bankrupt to third parties. The disposition of the proceeds from each airplane involves separate factual and legal issues which will be discussed separately for the sake of clarity. Each airplane will be referred to by its registration number.

FINDINGS OF FACT

General

Millard Aviation, Inc., (hereinafter Millard) was in the business of selling and servicing small aircraft. Charles Turner was president of the corporation and is also the bankrupt in a separate proceeding. Gerald Turner was the secretary and took primary responsibility for the operation of the business. Gerald Turner has not filed bankruptcy but was a managing officer of Millard after the filing of the Chapter XI.

In early 1978, Millard became a dealer for Cessna Aircraft Company and received a line of credit from plaintiff. In order to receive the credit, Millard executed a power of attorney authorizing plaintiff to execute all documents necessary to create a security interest in the airplanes financed and file the documents in the appropriate places. Charles Turner personally guaranteed the debts. During the period that Millard was a Cessna dealer, it financed seven aircraft with plaintiff. Five were sold pursuant to conditional sales contracts which were assigned to plaintiff, one was sold for cash, and one was returned to plaintiff after Millard was adjudicated a bankrupt.

Whenever Millard ordered an airplane from Cessna, plaintiff prepared and filed the appropriate documents to register the change in ownership and record the security interest. Among other provisions, the security agreement required Millard not to sell any aircraft without prior written approval of plaintiff, and, in the event of a sale, to hold that portion of the selling price required to pay the amount due on the note in trust and not commingle such funds. After the financing of an individual airplane was approved and the necessary paperwork completed, plaintiff advised an agent who was holding the plane on its behalf that the plane could be released to Millard. Millard then sent pilots to pick up the plane.

On July 17, 1978, an involuntary proceeding in bankruptcy was filed against Charles Turner. On September 20 Charles Turner converted the involuntary proceeding to a Chapter XI proceeding, but was adjudicated a bankrupt on November 6. At that time, Merle Nicola was appointed trustee for Charles Turner and receiver and standby trustee for Millard, which had filed its Chapter XI petition on October 3. On December 22, Millard was adjudicated a bankrupt and Merle Nicola appointed trustee. [19]*19Plaintiff was listed as an unsecured creditor on Charles Turner’s schedules and as a secured creditor on Millard’s.

In January, 1979, plaintiff filed an action against Millard, Gerald Turner, and the trustee alleging that Millard sold a secured airplane for cash while it was a debtor-in-possession without turning over proceeds to plaintiff. Plaintiff seeks delivery of any remaining funds, a judgment against Gerald Turner personally and against Merle Nicola in his capacity as receiver and trustee, an accounting, a claim for administrative expenses and a judgment of a nondis-chargeable debt against Millard. In a separate action, plaintiff seeks a judgment of a nondischargeable debt against Charles Turner based on the same transaction. The two proceedings were eventually consolidated. The registration number of the airplane involved in this transaction is N— 9852C.

The trustee counterclaims for the proceeds of an airplane which he alleges was unsecured due to the filing of the bankruptcy petition prior to the filing of the security agreement with the F.A.A. The ultimate purchaser of this airplane financed the purchase with plaintiff, and plaintiff applied the proceeds first to the amount outstanding on that airplane and then to other debt. The registration number of this airplane is N-1751R.

N-9852G

Around July 17, 1978, Millard obtained possession of this airplane by the procedure described above. In late August, Don Glaser agreed to purchase the plane for the basic price of $45,885.00 plus avionics equipment costing $10,090.00 for a total price of $55,975.00. Glaser made a cash deposit of $2,000.00 at that time and $9,000.00 a few days later. Plaintiff received none of those funds. After the filing of the Chapter XI and after Millard was authorized by this court to conduct its business as a debtor-in-possession, Don Glaser paid $40,000.00, Millard by Gerald Turner executed a bill of sale and Glaser took possession of the airplane. This differs from the agreed purchase price because not all of the avionics equipment was installed. Glaser’s check was deposited in the debtor-in-possession account on October 13, 1978. Gerald Turner conducted the entire transaction, knew that all proceeds should have been paid to plaintiff, and directed the deposit of the check in the debtor-in-possession account.

At the time of the deposit, the account was overdrawn. At Gerald Turner’s direction, a check for $38,000.00, which was less than the amount owed on the plane, was written to plaintiff but never sent and later voided. A few days later, Gerald Turner directed the bookkeeper to write a check for $34,000.00 to plaintiff. This check was sent to plaintiff but was never signed. Gerald Turner denies knowing why the check was unsigned. On the same day the unsigned check was written, several other checks including one to Gerald Turner were written which left less than $34,000.00 in the account. By the time the receiver was appointed, checks had been written which eventually reduced the account to $25,-379.94, exclusive of the check to plaintiff which was not honored, either because of the lack of signature or because of insufficient funds in the account. During this period, deposits totalling $6,633.48 were made into the account.

The trustee believed that the debtor-in-possession account was overdrawn as it was shown to be on the books and made no inquiries about the account. On December 5 or 6, the bank informed the trustee of the outstanding check to plaintiff, and the trustee then learned there was a balance in the account.2 He promptly transferred the funds to the trustee account, requested the complete records of the N-9852C transaction from the bookkeeper and turned those over to his attorney. The trustee questioned the bookkeeper about the transaction and believed the source of the funds to be “the purchase of some radio equipment and some payment towards an aircraft.” He believed the check to be deliberately unsigned as a “tactic to delay Cessna from doing anything.” There is no other evidence that the trustee had any actual notice of a potential secured claim to the fund. [20]*20The trustee did not report the funds as income in his reports to the court because the company books showed the transaction as completed in September.

Charles Turner had no actual knowledge of any of these events until after the trustee had transferred the funds to the trustee account. Charles Turner had never been actively involved in the day-to-day management of the company, although he was involved in most major decisions and did occasionally write checks on the company account.

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Bluebook (online)
13 B.R. 15, 32 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 1240, 1981 Bankr. LEXIS 3893, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cessna-finance-corp-v-millard-aviation-inc-in-re-turner-nebraskab-1981.