Crum v. Blixseth (In Re Big Springs Realty LLC)

430 B.R. 629, 2010 WL 2244682
United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Montana·Decided May 28, 2010·No. 19-60080·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM of DECISION

RALPH B. KIRSCHER, Bankruptcy Judge.

In this Adversary Proceeding, after due notice, a hearing was held May 11, 2010, in Butte on: (1) the Plaintiff Darcy M. Crum’s (“Crum”) Motion to Strike Defendant’s Jury Demand filed March 2, 2010, at docket entry no. 147; (2) Defendant Timothy L. Blixseth’s (“Blixseth”) Motion for Reconsideration filed March 28, 2010, at docket entry no. 157; and (3) Blixseth’s Motion for Leave to File a First Amended Answer filed April 1, 2010, at docket entry no. 160. Trent M. Gardner of Bozeman, Montana appeared at the hearing on behalf of Crum and Daniel D. Manson of Butte, Montana appeared on behalf of Blixseth. The Court heard argument from counsel, but no witness testimony was presented and no exhibits were offered into evidence.

1. Crum’s Motion to Strike Defendant’s Jury Demand.

In the Motion to Strike Defendant’s Jury Demand, Crum seeks an order striking Blixseth’s jury demand. Crum also requests that the trial in this matter be conducted as a judge trial before the Bankruptcy Court with the undersigned presiding. Crum contends that the nature of Blixseth’s affirmative defenses subjects him to the equitable jurisdiction of this Court because Blixseth is asserting a claim against the bankruptcy estate. Specifically, Crum cites to the following affirmative defenses contained in Blixseth’s Answer filed October 28, 2009, at docket entry no. 26:

SEVENTH AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE
Plaintiffs recovery, if any, on the Complaint and each and every cause of action therein is limited or barred by contractual provisions and indemnity provisions of the BSR Operating Agreement and Montana State Law.
NINTH AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE
Without conceding that any act of this defendant caused damage to plaintiff, or any other person in any respect, defendant alleges that he is entitled to setoff and recoup against any judgment that may be entered.
TENTH AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE
Defendant is entitled to equitable and contractual indemnification from BSR and its successor Manager for any alleged damages, which damages, if any, were caused solely by the independent acts of those parties.

Crum argues that the definition of setoff necessarily requires that Blixseth, in order to assert such affirmative defense, have a claim against the Debtor’s estate:

Except as otherwise provided in this section and in sections 362 and 363 of this title, this title does not affect any *632 right of a creditor to offset a mutual debt owing by such creditor to the debt- or that arose before the commencement of the case under this title against a claim of such creditor against the debtor that arose before the commencement of the case ...

11 U.S.C. § 553(a). Relying on In re Commercial Fin. Services Inc. v. Jones (In re Commercial Fin. Services, Inc.), 251 B.R. 397 (Bankr.N.D.Okla.2000), Crum argues that by asserting affirmative defenses 7, 9 and 10, Blixseth has subjected himself to the jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Court for all purposes and has waived his right to a jury trial.

Blixseth counters that Crum is stretching the plain intent of Blixseth’s affirmative defenses and that an examination of the actual substance of his affirmative defenses will show that Blixseth has not asserted a claim against the bankruptcy estate. Blixseth argues that he has not waived his right to a jury trial because he is not seeking an affirmative recovery from the Debtor’s estate through his contractual and equitable defenses. More specifically, Blixseth argues that this case is analogous to Gecker v. Marathon Fin. Ins. Co., Inc. (In re Auto. Professionals, Inc.), 389 B.R. 621, 630 (Bankr.N.D.Ill.2008), wherein the court concluded that the defendant did not waive its right to a jury trial by asserting a contractual defense, and in Riley v. Wolverine, Proctor & Schwartz, LLC (In re Wolverine, Proctor & Schwartz, LLC), 404 B.R. 1 (D.Mass.2009), wherein the court found that the defendants did not submit themselves to the equitable jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court by asserting an indemnification/recoupment defense.

Crum and Blixseth agree that a party who has not submitted a claim against a debtor’s bankruptcy estate has not submitted him or herself to the equitable jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Court and thus retains the right to a jury demand. Granfinanciera, S.A. v. Nordberg, 492 U.S. 33, 109 S.Ct. 2782, 106 L.Ed.2d 26 (1989). However, a party waives their right to a jury demand when they file a claim against a bankruptcy estate. See Langenkamp v. Culp, 498 U.S. 42, 44-45, 111 S.Ct. 330, 331-332, 112 L.Ed.2d 343 (1990).

As noted above, Crum relies almost exclusively on Commercial Fin. Services, in support of her motion to strike Blixseth’s jury demand. In Commercial Fin. Services, the debtor filed a complaint for turnover of property and other relief against the defendant seeking payment on a demand note. 251 B.R. at 400. The defendant moved to withdraw the reference arguing that because he had not filed a proof of claim, he had not submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court and was entitled to a jury trial before the district court. The court in Commercial Fin. Services disagreed because the defendant had also filed an answer to the debt- or’s complaint, which answer included an affirmative defense asserting that the defendant “may be owed money by CFS which may be set-off or recouped against any amount that he may owe to CFS.” Id.

The court in Commercial Fin. Services concluded that “the assertion of setoff, whether as a defense or as a counterclaim, clearly invokes the claims allowance process.” 251 B.R. at 406. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that by asserting setoff as a defense it was not actually seeking to recover from the estate but merely seeking to reduce the amount it would have to pay to the estate, explaining:

This Court fails to see a distinction between obtaining something of value from the estate by filing a claim and obtaining something of value from the estate, i.e., discharge of all or a portion of a debt to *633 [the debtor] by asserting setoff as a defense. In both cases, the estate may be diminished and [the creditor] may be enriched.

Id. at 407; see also Hedstrom Corp. v. Wal-mart Stores, Inc. (In re Hedstrom Corp.), 2006 WL 1120572, at *3 (N.D.Ill. Apr.24, 2006) (reasoning that “[w]hether [the debtor] writes [the creditor] a check or cancels [its] receivable, the end result is the same: the bankruptcy estate will be significantly diminished”); Stoebner v. Leonard, O’Brien, Wilford, Spencer & Gale, Ltd. (In re O’Neill), 1997 WL 615661, *3 (Bankr.D.Minn.

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Crum v. Blixseth (In Re Big Springs Realty LLC), 430 B.R. 629, 2010 WL 2244682 (Mont. 2010).

430 B.R. 629 (Crum v. Blixseth (In Re Big Springs Realty LLC)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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