Community Financial Services Bank v. Little

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedOctober 9, 2025
Docket25-05002
StatusUnknown

This text of Community Financial Services Bank v. Little (Community Financial Services Bank v. Little) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Community Financial Services Bank v. Little, (Ky. 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY LOUISVILLE DIVISION

In re: ) ) Morsey Constructors, LLC ) Case No.: 24-50079 ) Chapter 7 Debtor )

Community Financial Services Bank, Inc. ) A.P. No. 25-5002 ) Plaintiff ) v. ) ) Mark R. Little as Chapter 7 Trustee ) ) and ) ) United States Fire Insurance Company ) ) Defendants ) ______________________________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM-OPINION I. Introduction This Memorandum Opinion constitutes the Court's findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Fed. R. Bankr. P. 7052. The matter before the Court is a core proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(A). Community Financial Services Bank, Inc. (“CFSB”) filed this adversary complaint (the “Complaint”) in the underlying bankruptcy case of Morsey Constructors, LLC (the “Debtor”) against Mark R. Little as Chapter 7 Trustee (the Trustee”) and the United States Fire Insurance Company, a Delaware corporation that provided Bond #612419178 for the above captioned Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. CFSB contracted with the Trustee to collect the Debtor’s accounts receivable. Not satisfied with the Trustee’s efforts, CFSB filed this action against the Trustee for his alleged inadequacies. On count one (“Count One”) of the Complaint, CFSB alleges a Breach of Fiduciary Duty by the Trustee. Count two (“Count Two”) alleges that the Trustee committed Negligence. In turn, the Trustee filed the Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Claim with Prejudice and Request for Fees (the “Motion to Dismiss”) which is currently before the Court.

This Court has been asked to decide whether under Civil Rule of Procedure 12(b)(6), as incorporated into the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure by operation of Fed. R. Bankr. P. 7012, this case should be dismissed for failure to state upon which relief can be granted. For the reasons stated herein, the Court is contemporaneously entering an order granting the Trustee's Motion to Dismiss.

II. Factual Background On February 20, 2024, the Debtor commenced a voluntary case under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. On February 21, 2024, Mark R. Little was appointed as Chapter 7 trustee to administer the Debtor’s bankruptcy estate.

Before the Petition Date, the Debtor’s business included acting as a mechanical contractor conducting installation and maintenance services. In order to fund its operations, the Debtor’s operating company executed several Commercial Security Agreements (the “Security Agreements”) with CFSB, secured by, among other things, a lien on the Debtor’s accounts receivable. CFSB is the Debtor’s largest creditor in the this Chapter 7 case, with a claim totaling some $3,805,200.72. In addition to other assets, including real property, the Debtor held accounts receivable totaling $3,826,445.31.

After his appointment in February 2024, the Trustee and CFSB began to negotiate an arrangement for the Trustee to collect the Debtor’s accounts receivable. On September 20, 2024 (over 200 days after the filing of the bankruptcy case), the Trustee and CFSB entered into an agreement that the Trustee would collect the Debtor’s accounts receivable. The arrangement provided that the Trustee would receive a 25% carve out for the estate of all funds recovered without litigation and a 40% carve out of funds recovered in the event of litigation (the

“Agreement”). Other than email exchanges, the Agreement was not memorialized or otherwise reduced to writing. As shown on the Court’s docket, during the course of the bankruptcy, the Trustee was very engaged in the administration of this bankruptcy estate. For example, the Trustee filed at least six motions for the Debtor to turnover estate property and records including: (1) bank funds held in CrossFirst Bank in the amount of $495,024.73 [Bankruptcy Case, Docket No. 90]; (2) statements and images for accounts in Independence Bank [Bankruptcy Case, Docket No. 91]; statements and

images for bank accounts in CFSB [Bankruptcy Case, Dockets No. 219, 282]; statements and images regarding transfers of money between accounts in CFSB [Bankruptcy Case, Docket No. 226]; and federal and state tax returns of the Debtor. [Bankruptcy Case, Docket No. 327.] Additionally, the Trustee also filed at least two motions to compel turnover. [Bankruptcy Case, Dockets No. 155, 157] and four motions to show cause to failure to turnover property to the Trustee. [Bankruptcy Case, Dockets No. 217, 218, 270, 326.]

In addition to these turnover efforts, the Trustee also successfully conducted two asset sales and collected at least $808,303.38 in sale proceeds. [Bankruptcy Case, Dockets Nos. 301, 323.] In November of 2024, the Trustee informed CFSB he was working on collection of the accounts receivable. According to the Complaint, in late January 2025, in direct contradiction of the November comments, the Trustee informed CFSB that he had not mailed any demand letters to collect the accounts receivable. Shortly thereafter, in February 2025, the Trustee agreed that CFSB could obtain stay relief to allow it to proceed with its own collection efforts.

On February 26, 2025, the parties filed a Stipulation and Joint Motion for An Agreed Order Granting Stay Relief, Abandonment, and Transfer of Debtor’s Accounts Receivable And Related Documentation And Records (the “Stipulation”). [Docket No. 351.] Paragraph 15 of this agreed document provided that: “[A]s time goes by, the Morsey [accounts receivable] may be more difficult to collect.” After noticing this agreed motion for objection, on March 13, 2025, the Court entered an order approving the Stipulation. [Docket No. 357] The Stipulation had the effect of divesting the Trustee of the control and responsibility of collecting the accounts receivable and returned control of that collection back to CFSB.

A few months later, CFSB sent out its own demand letters in an attempt to collect the accounts receivable. On or about April 21, 2025, 39 days after the Court approved the Stipulation, CFSB began sending demand letters and taking necessary steps to begin collection of the accounts receivable. As of the date of the Complaint, CFSB alleges that it has only received $552,610.94 in accounts receivable owed to the Debtor. CFSB alleges that as a result of the Trustee’s failure to collect the accounts receivable during the period of the Agreement, the Debtor’s obligations to CFSB are $3,273,844.37 in claims.

On July 18, 2005, CFSB filed this Complaint against the Defendants. As stated above, the Complaint contains two separate Counts. Count I accuses the Trustee of Breach of Fiduciary Duty. Count II of the Complaint alleges Negligence. CFSB seeks a monetary judgment and that it be allowed to collect such damages from the Trustee’s bond in this bankruptcy case. The Trustee responded with the Motion to Dismiss. On September 2, 2025, CFSB filed a Motion for Leave to Amend Complaint (the “Motion to Amend”). In the motion, CFSB seeks to add the United States as a nominal party for the use and benefit of CFSB as required under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 2010(b) and adds a count for proceeding on the Trustee’s bond. The proposed amended complaint did not seek to add any additional factual

allegations or causes of action against the Trustee. The Trustee opposed the Motion to Amend. The Motion to Amend is also under submission to the Court.

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Community Financial Services Bank v. Little, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/community-financial-services-bank-v-little-kywb-2025.