Duggan v. Highland-First Avenue Corp.

25 B.R. 955, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 5183
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, C.D. California
DecidedDecember 23, 1982
DocketAdv. LA 82-428720-RO
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 25 B.R. 955 (Duggan v. Highland-First Avenue Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Duggan v. Highland-First Avenue Corp., 25 B.R. 955, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 5183 (Cal. 1982).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF OPINION ON REQUEST TO VACATE AUTOMATIC STAY

ROBERT L. ORDIN, Bankruptcy Judge.

On November 1, 1982, the debtor Highland-First Avenue Corporation, an Arizona corporation, filed its Ch. 11 petition in the bankruptcy court for the District of Arizona. The debtor corporation was formed approximately four days prior to filing the Ch. 11 case. Thereafter, on November 22, 1982, the plaintiffs filed a complaint in the bankruptcy court in the Central District of California, seeking to vacate the automatic stay which resulted from the debtor’s filing of the Ch. 11 case in Arizona.

On December 16, after a hearing before the bankruptcy judge in the “home court” in Arizona, the bankruptcy judge in Arizona ordered that proceedings on the plaintiffs’ complaint seeking to vacate the stay should be conducted in the bankruptcy court in the Central District of California, and that the trial of those issues should proceed before the bankruptcy judge in Los Angeles. 1 The trial was held December 21, 1982.

*957 The circumstances surrounding the formation of the Arizona debtor corporation are so interwoven with the affairs and conduct of another entity, Creative Investments, Inc., and another bankruptcy proceeding pending in the Central District of California, in which the debtor is Essay Investments, Inc., that a resume of certain facts relating to Highland, Creative, and Essay is essential to an understanding of the problems and issues before this Court.

Essay Investments, Inc. (Essay), became the debtor in a Ch. 11 case commenced on April 14, 1982, in the Central District of California. The assets of Essay’s estate included three parcels of real property located in Arizona referred to respectively as the Highland property, the Pasadena property, and the Mariposa property. The Pasadena and Highland parcels were subject to a senior encumbrance in favor of a group of individuals and entities which for convenience will be referred to hereafter as Dug-gan and Davies. The Highland and Pasadena parcels were also subject to junior encumbrances in favor of Creative Investments Associates, Inc., a California corporation, (Creative). Complaints for relief from the automatic stay were filed by Duggan and Davies, and as a result, judgments were entered by stipulation which dissolved the automatic stay and provided for stay of execution until October 15,1982, as to Dug-gan, and until November 1, 1982, as to Davies. These judgments were entered on July 8 and July 23, 1982.

Creative also sought relief from the automatic stay in the Essay Ch. 11 proceeding, and on September 2, 1982, a judgment by stipulation was entered relieving Creative from the automatic stay, upon condition that the judgment was stayed until October 15, 1982.

Creative is a California corporation engaged in the business of executing tax deferred exchanges on behalf of investors. Creative’s sole shareholders and officers are Sid Garrett and Jerry Gertz. Its offices are in the Central District of California. The day-to-day business affairs and activities of Creative are conducted by Garrett and Gertz. Since the default by Essay, Creative has been unable to pay its debts and has considered filing its own bankruptcy petition.

As a result of the judgments permitting Duggan and Davies to proceed with foreclosure on or after November 2, Creative was faced with the potential that sale on foreclosure by the senior encumbrancers would wipe out Creative’s interest as a junior lien- or, unless Creative paid the indebtedness to the senior lienors or made other financial arrangements agreeable to the senior lien-ors. Creative recognized this economic reality and that its position as a junior en-cumbrancer was at hazard and its interests would be destroyed if the senior liens were foreclosed. Garrett and Gertz responded vigorously. They undertook intensive negotiations with the senior encumbrancers. In addition, they pursued all available avenues to accomplish a sale of the property which would produce sufficient funds to eliminate the foreclosure problems. They were unsuccessful. They were unable to negotiate a settlement with the senior lienors and they were unable to arrange a sale of the property. The Duggan and Davies foreclosure sales were set for November 4 and November 2, 1982. As each day passed without a solution, the pressure mounted. The technique chosen by Creative to solve its problem is the source and subject matter of this opinion.

The Los Angeles firm of Latham & Watkins acted as attorneys for Creative in connection with the Pasadena and Highland parcels and the Essay bankruptcy. Paul Van Arsdell, Jr. was the attorney in that firm that handled the matter. Counsel for the debtor, Essay, was the Los Angeles firm of Robinson, Wolas & Diamant. The attorney in that firm handling the Essay bankruptcy was Edward M. Wolkowitz.

Van Arsdell and his clients concluded in mid-October that Creative’s only remaining alternatives to prevent the Duggan and Davies foreclosure sales were: (1) to institute injunction proceedings in Arizona, or (ii) to invoke the aid of the bankruptcy court in Arizona. Recognizing the inade *958 quacy of the financial resources available to Creative to support an injunction suit, and post the necessary bond incident to obtaining a restraining order, Van Arsdell, Garrett and Gertz pursued the second alternative: resort to the Arizona bankruptcy court. The filing of a Ch. 11 for Creative was discussed. Creative’s interest in the Highland and Pasadena parcels was a junior lien holder’s interest. Van Arsdell realized that the law was unclear as to whether the filing of a Ch. 11 by a junior lien holder would stay a foreclosure sale by a senior lien holder. There were other disadvantages to the filing of a Ch. 11 by Creative. The Mariposa parcel was not in distress. An escrow was pending for the sale of that property in a transaction which would provide an equity of approximately $80,000 for Creative and those of Creative’s investors who were involved in the Mariposa transaction. Creative was hesitant to expose the Mariposa parcel, and the $80,000 profit, to the bankruptcy court. As a result of these deliberations, Van Arsdell, Garrett and Gertz refined and redefined their objectives: (i) to stay the Duggan and Davies foreclosure sales by resort to a bankruptcy proceeding in Arizona; and (ii) to accomplish this without exposing the Mariposa parcel and related transaction to the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court.

At some point in time, not clear from the evidence, an Arizona lawyer, Allan D. New-Delman, of the firm of Sternberg, Stern-berg, Rubin & Schleier of Phoenix, Arizona became involved in the discussions with Van Arsdell, Garrett and Gertz. They discussed and evolved the following plan.

An Arizona corporation would be formed, Highland-First Avenue Corporation. The incorporators would be Garrett and Gertz. At the time the corporation was formed, they would be its sole directors; Gertz would be the secretary, and Garrett the president. The corporation would be formed for the purpose of receiving a transfer from Creative of Creative’s beneficial interest in the junior encumbrances on the Highland and Pasadena parcels. It was also intended that the new corporation acquire the underlying fee interest of Essay in the Highland and Pasadena properties.

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Bluebook (online)
25 B.R. 955, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 5183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/duggan-v-highland-first-avenue-corp-cacb-1982.