F & M Marquette National Bank v. Emmer Bros. (In Re Emmer Bros.)

52 B.R. 385
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedJuly 18, 1985
DocketBankruptcy No. 4-82-957, Adv. 4-84-213, Civ. No. 4-85-679
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 52 B.R. 385 (F & M Marquette National Bank v. Emmer Bros. (In Re Emmer Bros.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
F & M Marquette National Bank v. Emmer Bros. (In Re Emmer Bros.), 52 B.R. 385 (mnd 1985).

Opinion

McLAUGHLIN, District Judge.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

This matter is before the Court on plaintiff’s appeal from the March 29,1985 Order of the bankruptcy court granting defendant debtor’s motion to dismiss. The Order of the bankruptcy court will be reversed and the case will be remanded for further proceedings.

FACTS

The plaintiff-appellant in this case is F & M Marquette National Bank (Marquette). The defendant-appellee debtor is Emmer Brothers Company, a wholesale lumber company which has been in business for a number of years. Marquette has been the debtor’s primary source of financing during much of that time, and has loaned substantial sums to the debtor pursuant to loan and security agreements. On May 25, 1982, three of debtor’s trade creditors instituted an involuntary bankruptcy proceeding against the debtor. On June 14, 1982, the debtor converted this involuntary Chapter 7 filing into a voluntary Chapter 11 case.

Debtor owed Marquette $1.2 million at the time of the involuntary bankruptcy filing. It had outstanding debts to its trade creditors at that time of $1.7 million. The loans extended by Marquette were secured by a security interest in substantially all of debtor’s assets, including accounts receivable, inventory, equipment, contracts, general intangibles, and a mortgage on real property in Yellowstone County, Montana. Marquette had also obtained the personal guaranties of the debtor’s principal shareholders.

On August 27, 1983, Marquette and the debtor entered into a settlement agreement for the purpose of “resolving Brothers’ indebtedness to Bank expeditiously to avoid unnecessary delay in litigation and to maximize recovery of all other creditors’ claims under Brothers’ anticipated plan of reorganization _” Settlement Agreement at 3. The settlement agreement provided that the debtor would immediately transfer certain of its assets to Marquette in full satisfaction of its indebtedness, and that Marquette would in turn relinquish its security interest in all other of debtor’s assets, and limit its recourse against the debtor’s personal guarantors. Section 2(a) of the agreement states: “Subject to the conditions and contingencies set forth in Section 6 below, Bank [Marquette] agrees to accept the following assets of Brothers [Debtor] in full and complete settlement and satisfaction of all Obligations of Brothers to bank _” (Emphasis added.) Section 2(c) of the settlement agreement states that all the assets which the debtor transferred to Marquette shall be “free and clear of any liens and encumbrances save those running in favor of Bank.” Section 2(c) also states: “Bank shall release its security interests in all other Brothers collateral in Bank’s possession or subject to *388 any lien or other claim by Bank ... and shall release and withdraw all claims ... it has or may have against Brothers in its bankruptcy case, whether or not the case remains in Chapter 11 or is converted to Chapter 7.”

The bankruptcy court approved the above settlement agreement on September 15, 1982. The debtor filed its third amended Chapter 11 plan of reorganization on July 14, 1983, which provided for a resolution of the unsecured creditors’ claims. On September 12, 1983, the bankruptcy court approved this plan, which states, in part:

Upon confirmation of the Plan, all liens, encumbrances, and security interests upon or against the property of the Debtor ... shall be terminated, discharged, voided, and released_ Subject to the exception contained in this Plan, the Debtor shall thereafter own and be possessed of all of its property and assets, free and clear of any such liens, encumbrances, and security interests not excepted herein.

Article XII, subparagraph 2.

On November 19, 1984, Marquette commenced the instant adversary proceeding in the bankruptcy court, alleging causes of action in misrepresentation, mutual mistake, and unjust enrichment, and seeking damages or rescission of the settlement agreement which it had entered into with the debtor. 1 The gist of Marquette’s suit is that the debtor wrongfully withheld and concealed the existence of an asset from Marquette and the bankruptcy court, thereby obtaining the settlement agreement and the order approving it by false pretenses. 2 The asset in question is an interest in a class action plywood antitrust suit entitled In re Plywood Antitrust Litigation, M.D.L. No. 159 (E.D.La.). This suit was brought on behalf of lumber dealers against plywood manufacturers for recovery of excess freight charges, and relates to the time period from 1968 to 1973. The debtor is apparently a member of the plaintiff class, but did not include the existence of the suit in its bankruptcy schedules or otherwise disclose this information to Marquette or any of its other creditors. Neither the plan of reorganization nor the disclosure statement accompanying the plan made any mention of the litigation. Marquette alleges that it was not aware of the debtor’s interest in the suit until a few weeks prior to the date it commenced the instant action.

There is some dispute over the exact state of mind which the debtor had with respect to the above lawsuit. In 1977 or 1978, the class was certified and the debtor was notified by a form letter. The debtor claims that its records proving transactions with lumber suppliers during the period from 1968 to 1973 had been destroyed, and that it therefore discarded the letter and made no attempt to assert a claim or otherwise participate in the litigation. Marquette argues that since the debtor knew of the lawsuit’s existence at the time of the bankruptcy proceeding, it should have disclosed it as an asset. Debtor’s response is that it had simply forgotten about the litigation.

During the spring or summer of 1984, the federal district court supervising the Plywood Litigation decided to allow class members who had not previously asserted claims against the defendants, and who had no business records for the appropriate time period, to recover damages based upon a reconstruction of the defendants’ own records. Accordingly, the debtor learned in June of 1984 that it would receive a dividend from the litigation despite the fact that it had not filed a claim. The debtor’s recovery from this suit is expected to be from $300,000 to $500,000.

*389 On January 11, 1985, the defendant debt- or moved to dismiss Marquette’s complaint or for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12, as incorporated in Rule 7012 of the Bankruptcy Rules. The bankruptcy court entered an Order on March 29, 1985 dismissing Marquette’s complaint. 3 There were basically two grounds for the bankruptcy court’s decision to dismiss Marquette’s complaint. First, the court found that Marquette’s suit was an attempt to revoke the order confirming debtor’s plan of reorganization based on fraud, and that it was therefore barred by the 180 day limitation period set forth in 11 U.S.C. § 1144, since it was commenced more than one year after the confirmation.

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Bluebook (online)
52 B.R. 385, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/f-m-marquette-national-bank-v-emmer-bros-in-re-emmer-bros-mnd-1985.