Darby v. Atkinson

415 F. Supp. 33, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16375
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 2, 1976
Docket74-744, 74-743 and 74-765
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 415 F. Supp. 33 (Darby v. Atkinson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Darby v. Atkinson, 415 F. Supp. 33, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16375 (W.D. Okla. 1976).

Opinion

ORDER

DAUGHERTY, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal by W. P. Atkinson (Appellant) from an Order entered by the Bankruptcy Court in the captioned Bankruptcy case invalidating his termination of a lease held by the Bankrupts. Jurisdiction is based upon 11 U.S.C. § 67(c). The appeal is taken pursuant to Bankruptcy Rules 801-814.

Appellee, Trustee in Bankruptcy for Bankrupts Ferris Enterprises, Inc., Maurice Ferris, and Barbara Ferris, brought an action in the Bankruptcy Court for an Order allowing him to sell all or part of certain leasehold estates held by the Bankrupts. Among these leaseholds was a tract of land which the Bankrupts had leased from Atkinson and on which they had constructed a *36 twin theater and restaurant complex. Atkinson terminated this lease for non-payment of rent shortly before the Bankrupts’ petitions in bankruptcy were filed. Atkinson contended in the Bankruptcy Court that he was entitled to ownership of the subject lease and improvements thereon as the lease had been properly terminated prior to the bankruptcy. However, the Bankruptcy Court held that the Trustee was entitled to ownership of the lease subject only to Atkinson’s right of payment for past due rents. The Bankruptcy Court entered an Order allowing the Trustee to sell the lease and Atkinson appeals from that Order herein. Another Appellant, the First National Bank of Midwest City, Oklahoma has been satisfied and has withdrawn its appeal.

The facts of this case are essentially undisputed as it was submitted to the Bankruptcy Judge on a Stipulation of Fact and the testimony of one witness. Bankruptcy Rule 810 provides that the Court shall accept the Referee’s (Bankruptcy Judge) findings of fact unless clearly erroneous. The Appellant sets out-several objections to the Bankruptcy Judge’s findings of fact. These objections are largely matters of semantics and do not affect the operative facts of the case. Under the clear error rule the Court concludes that the Bankruptcy Judge’s findings of fact are correct. However, due to the nature of this case, the Court will refer to the parties’ Stipulation of Fact and the Bankruptcy Judge’s summary of evidence filed in connection with this appeal as such additional facts will clarify the issues.

On October 29, 1968 Ferris Enterprises leased the subject property from Atkinson. The lease provided for a 25 year term with a 25 year renewal option. Simultaneously Charles Ferris and Maurice Ferris personally guaranteed the lease.

The purpose of the lease was to allow Ferris Enterprises to improve the property and operate a theater thereon. In order to obtain financing for this project Ferris Enterprises, with Atkinson joining only to subordinate his land interest, executed a mortgage and note to Local Federal Savings and Loan Association of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the amount of $225,000.00. The Bankrupts then constructed a twin theater and restaurant on the lease. The cost to build the theater was $259,920.60 and the cost to build the restaurant was $139,795.80. An additional $104,000.00 was spent to equip the theater. This equipment was covered by a note and security agreement in favor of the First National Bank of Midwest City, Oklahoma. After completion of the improvements Bankrupts subleased the restaurant to Kips for $1,516.67 per month plus a percentage of the gross. Bankrupts operated the theater. The Bankrupts were obligated to make monthly payments, apparently $2,418.00, on the Local Federal mortgage. The Bankrupts’ lease with Atkinson provided for $875.00 monthly rent for the first ten years.

The Bankrupts successfully operated the complex for a number of years. During this time they made substantial expenditures on advertising. These expenditures had the effect of enhancing the value of the theaters ás a going business. The Bankrupts then experienced difficulty in their operation. They last made a monthly rent payment to Atkinson on February 22, 1974. This payment was for the October 1973 rent period. Atkinson accepted late rent payments on other occasions. By a letter dated March 25, 1974 Atkinson informed the Bankrupts that Ferris Enterprises was in default under the terms of the lease and that if default continued for a period of 30 days the landlord might, at his option, terminate the lease. Atkinson was then informed by Local Federal, in a letter dated April 24, 1974, that the Bankrupts were in default in their mortgage payments and that foreclosure proceedings would be instituted within the next 30 days if the loan was not brought current. On the same day Ferris Enterprises presented to Atkinson a check for the full amount of past due rent on the lease, $6,125.00. Atkinson accepted this check but when he presented it for payment there were insufficient funds to cover it in the account on which it was drawn. On April 25, 1974 Atkinson mailed Ferris Enterprises a letter purporting to terminate the lease. On May 1, 1974 bank *37 ruptcy was filed against Barbara Ferris and Maurice Ferris. On May 7, 1974 bankruptcy was filed against Ferris Enterprises. All were subsequently adjudged to be bankrupt.

On May 17, 1974 Atkinson leased the theater to Farris Shanbour for $2,761.88 per month. On May 29, 1974 Atkinson filed an action in State Court to quiet his title to the lease and obtained an Order directing Kips to make its rent payments to him. Atkinson now makes the monthly mortgage payments of $2,418.00 to Local Federal. His gross receipts are $4,278.55 and he makes a profit of $1,860.55 per month as compared to the $875.00 per month he was making when Ferris Enterprises was operating the complex. Atkinson made certain expenditures to renovate the theater before leasing it to Shanbour, but the Trustee contends that these expenditures were unnecessary and improper. This issue was reserved by the Bankruptcy Judge.

The Bankruptcy Court concluded that it would not enforce Atkinson’s termination of the lease. There were apparently three legal bases for this decision: (1) Atkinson’s acceptance of rents from Kips (Bankrupts’ lessee) constituted a waiver of his right to assert a termination or was an acquiescence or election to proceed with the lease; (2) Atkinson, by accepting past accruing rents waived any lease violations committed prior to the acceptance of rents and by reason of consistent acceptance of late rent payments before bankruptcy should be estopped from terminating for late payment, and (3) Atkinson’s termination of the lease constituted a fraudulent transfer within the meaning of 11 U.S.C. § 107(d)(2) and the termination is therefore void. The Bankruptcy Court also cites unjust enrichment as an equitable basis for its decision. Atkinson advances three basic contentions on this appeal: (1) the lease was properly terminated; (2) the termination does not constitute a fraudulent transfer; and (3) even if the Trustee would otherwise be entitled to recover, Shanbour as a bona fide purchaser cuts off the right.

TERMINATION

Oklahoma law governs the question of whether Atkinson properly terminated the Bankrupts’ lease. See In Re Pioneer Oil & Gas Co., 333 F.Supp. 1055 (E.D.La.1971). 41 Oklahoma Statutes § 6 provides:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
415 F. Supp. 33, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16375, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/darby-v-atkinson-okwd-1976.