Farm Credit Bank of St.Louis v. State Bank of Annawan (In re Blackert)

95 B.R. 972, 9 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1342, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 117
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 2, 1989
DocketBankruptcy No. 87-80665; Adv. No. 88-8035
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 95 B.R. 972 (Farm Credit Bank of St.Louis v. State Bank of Annawan (In re Blackert)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Farm Credit Bank of St.Louis v. State Bank of Annawan (In re Blackert), 95 B.R. 972, 9 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1342, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 117 (C.D. Ill. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

WILLIAM V. ALTENBERGER, Bankruptcy Judge.

Starting in March of 1986, the State Bank of Annawan (Bank) made a series of [973]*973loans to the Debtor. These loans can be summarized as follows:

DATE AMOUNT PURPOSE SECURITY
3/12/86 $40,069.24 Crop expense 1986 growing crops & crops in storage
4/30/86 $60,000.00 Crop expense 1986 growing crops and crops in storage. All payments from USDA, CCC, ASCS programs for 1986 and all subsequent years.
6/10/86 $ 9,600.00 Cash rent (Same as above)
6/10/86 $13,300.00 Crop expenses & operating capital (Same as above)
8/12/86 $ 7,600.00 (Same as above) (Same as above)

In November of 1986, the Debtor owed the Bank $378,849.39 plus interest of $22,-296.21, which the Debtor was not able to repay. So the Debtor and the Bank entered into a Loan Modification Agreement, which provided in part as follows:

1. The Debtor agreed to repay the notes by
A. Selling or sealing all his 1986 crops and livestock and promptly paying the proceeds to the Bank.1
B. Assigning to the Bank the final 1986 deficiency payment.
C. Conveying to the Bank all the Debtor’s interest in certain real estate.
D. Turning over to the Bank all his machinery and equipment, except for certain designated machinery and equipment.
E. Executing a note for $45,000.00 to be secured by the farm machinery and equipment being retained by the Debt- or.
2. In order for the Debtor to harvest the 1986 crop and to maintain the farm and livestock through the winter, the Bank agreed to remit from the proceeds sufficient money to pay expenses.
3. When all obligations under the Agreement had been fulfilled by both-parties, mutual releases were to be executed.
4.The Bank agreed to make a 1987 production loan in the amount of $25,-151.86.

At the time the Debtor signed the Loan Modification Agreement he also signed a Combined Note and Security Agreement for $45,000.00, the security being the farm machinery and equipment he was retaining. No new Uniform Commercial Code Financing Statement was filed, as one had been filed in December of 1982 and renewed in August of 1986. The Debtor also signed an ASCS assignment of payments form to have paid to the Bank the deficiency payments due the Debtor under the Agricultural Conservation Program.

On March 23, 1987, the Bank was owed the $45,000.00 and $51,090.91, the latter amount representing the value of collateral not yet liquidated, and on that date the Debtor filed a Chapter 12 proceeding in bankruptcy. The Debtor’s schedules listed the Bank as a secured creditor for $45,-000.00 and listed as security for the debt the 1986 deficiency payment. The rest of the debt to the Bank was not listed. On April 14, 1987, $8,090.87 of the 1986 deficiency payment was received and deposited into a special bank account at the Bank established pursuant to the Loan Modification Agreement. On May 8, 1987, the Debtor and the Bank filed a joint application to pay over to the Bank $41,866.27 in [974]*974deficiency payments and $9,224.64 in the special bank account. Notice was sent to all creditors. No objections were filed. On June 22, 1987, the Debtor filed his plan agreeing to repay the Bank $45,000.00. On July 6, 1987, the Farm Credit Bank of St. Louis (Land Bank), also a creditor, objected to the Debtor’s plan. On July 13,1987, the Debtor and the Bank filed yet another joint application to pay the deficiency payments and the funds in the special bank account to the Bank. This time no notice was sent to creditors and an order was entered on the second application approving the payment. On December 11,1987, the plan was confirmed subject to the Land Bank’s objection being ruled on by the Court. The Land Bank’s objection centered on the amount still due the Bank and the security for that indebtedness.

In order to clarify what was owed to the Bank and the nature of its security, the Land Bank sued the Bank, specifically asking that the 1986 deficiency payment be paid to the trustee and that the Court determine the extent of the lien the Bank has on the Debtor’s farm machinery and equipment. After an evidentiary hearing, this Court, on August 4, 1988, held that the Bank was entitled to retain the 1986 deficiency payment and that it had a perfected security interest in the farm machinery and equipment retained by the Debtor as security for the $45,000.00 still owed to the Bank. When this Court orally announced its decision, it reserved the right to file a written opinion. On August 12, 1988, the Land Bank filed a motion requesting this Court to file its written findings of fact and conclusions of law. That motion was allowed, and this Opinion is filed in response to this Court’s reservation and the Land Bank’s motion.

There are three basic issues which need to be decided.2 These three basic issues contain several sub issues. The first basic issue is whether during the whole period of time in question the Bank was a creditor claiming a security interest in the deficiency payments or if at some point it was to acquire outright ownership of them. The Court believes this to be the controlling issue. If the Bank acquired ownership, the other issues became moot. If the Bank is found to be a creditor, then the next two basic issues are whether the Bank’s security interest in the deficiency payments was properly perfected, and what effect should be given to the Court’s previous order approving the Debtor and Bank’s second joint application to have the deficiency payments paid to the Bank.

Returning to the first issue, the Court begins by noting that in order to determine whether the Loan Modification Agreement was an extension of the security arrangement between the Debtor and the Bank, or an absolute assignment to the Bank, the Court must search for the intent of the parties. This intent is discerned from the contents of the document, the testimony of the contracting parties, and the circumstances surrounding the transaction. Goldstein v. Madison Nat. Bank of Washington, D.C., 89 B.R. 274 (D.D.C.1988). This Court believes that the Loan Modification Agreement evidenced a workout transaction whereby the Bank, which considered itself to be a secured creditor, took assets, including the deficiency payments, in partial satisfaction of the debt due it; the Debtor retained certain machinery and [975]*975equipment which was security for the loans and executed a note for $45,000.00 which represented the value of the machinery and equipment which the Debtor wished to retain; and the Bank agreed to advance the costs necessary to harvest the 1986 crop and make a 1987 production loan.3 From the point in time when the Loan Modification Agreement was executed and the assignment given, the Bank, as to the 1986 deficiency payments, was not a creditor claiming security in them, but the outright owner of the right to those payments.

The Land Bank attacks the transfer of the deficiency payments on the grounds that the assignment failed to comply with the Federal statute and regulations.4

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Related

In Re Blackert
95 B.R. 972 (C.D. Illinois, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
95 B.R. 972, 9 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1342, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/farm-credit-bank-of-stlouis-v-state-bank-of-annawan-in-re-blackert-ilcd-1989.