Financial Pacific Leasing, LLC v. Kilaru (In re Kilaru)

552 B.R. 806, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 2133
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMay 25, 2016
DocketCase No. 13 B 23734 Adversary No. 14 A 00066
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 552 B.R. 806 (Financial Pacific Leasing, LLC v. Kilaru (In re Kilaru)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Financial Pacific Leasing, LLC v. Kilaru (In re Kilaru), 552 B.R. 806, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 2133 (Ill. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Bruce W. Black, United States Bankruptcy Judge

This matter is before the court on the complaint of Financial Pacific Leasing, LLC (“FPL”) filed against Dr. Rao Kilaru (the “Debtor”) to determine the discharge-ability under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(B)1 of the debt owed to FPL. Pursuant to Rule 15(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, made applicable by Rule 7015 of the .Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, FPL has moved to amend the complaint after trial to include a count alleging the debt nondischargeable under 11 U.S.C § 523(a)(2)(A). After a trial on the merits, for the reasons stated herein, judgment in favor of FPL will be entered.

I. JURISDICTION

The Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois has jurisdiction to decide this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334 and Internal Operating Procedure 15(a) of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. This proceeding is a core matter in which this court has constitutional authority to enter final orders under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(A), and (I).

II. BACKGROUND

The Debtor filed his chapter 7 bankruptcy petition on June 7, 2013. Prior to filing, the Debtor was involved in numerous business enterprises, three of which are relevant to this proceeding: PeopleFirst Bank (“PeopleFirst”); Prairie Emergency Services, S.C. (“Prairie”); and National Center for Integrated Medicine, LLC (“NCIM”). The Court will briefly explain each entity before addressing the transaction that led to the present adversary proceeding.

A. Debtor’s Business

The Debtor was a founder of People-First. In 2011, he was the chairman of the board of directors of PeopleFirst. The Debtor testified that in this capacity, -he, and the rest of the board, would review [809]*809loan applications that requested an excess of $500,000 after the application was approved by the bank’s loan committee. The Debtor explained that from 2006 to 2012, when the Debtor sat on the board, the board reviewed about 1 or 2 loan applica- ■ tions a month. The Debtor claimed to have reviewed between 75 and 100 loan application while on the board. As a director the Debtor was also required .to submit a yearly personal financial statement to the bank. The Debtor testified that he has done so for 15 to 20 years. In the spring of 2011, the Debtor, with the help of PeopleFirst President and Chief Executive Officer, David Stanton,- prepared a personal financial statement for PeopleFirst. See FPL Ex. 6 (hereinafter the “PFS”). The PFS is the subject of this adversary proceeding.

Prairie, which began in 1997, provided emergency medical services to Provena Saint Joseph Hospital in Joliet, Illinois (“Provena”), subject to Provena’s continued approval. The Debtor held a majority interest in Prairie. Provena and Prairie would renegotiate their agreement approximately every three years. In October of 2011, however, Provena decided not to renew the agreement. The Debtor testified that he was part of the committee at Provena that selected a new company and that the selection process occurred in either August or September of 2011. The Debtor further testified that he learned of the cancelation two or three months prior to the contract’s expiration in October. Dr. Ross Tannebaum, one of the Debtor’s colleagues at Prairie, however, stated that he learned of the termination six months to a year prior to the contract’s expiration. Dr. Tannebaum further stated that he learned of this from various sources, but could not remember whether it was from the Debtor or at a meeting between Prove-na’s Chief Executive Officer and the emergency physicians at the hospital that occurred in either spring or summer of 2011. Ultimately, the contract’s expiration led to Prairie filing for bankruptcy.

NCIM was the latest business that the Debtor attempted to establish. The Debt- or obtained numerous loans to help finance NCIM. Among these loans, and the subject of this adversary proceeding, was a lease made by Brickhouse Small Business Lending, LLC (“Brickhouse”). Brick-house provided financing in the amount of $75,000.00 to Prairie for the lease of medical equipment. At trial, however, the Debtor revealed that he merely used Prairie as a means to get the medical equipment for NCIM. The Debtor stated that no lending company would give credit to a new company with no credit history, so he used Prairie’s name when he applied. The Debtor claimed that Brickhouse, and by extension FPL to whom Brickhouse assigned the lease, knew that NCIM was the ultimate beneficiary of the financing for the lease. However, no documents supporting this claim were produced at trial, nor could the Debtor recall if any existed.

B. Lease Application

In the spring of 2011, the Debtor approached Brickhouse for financing for Prairie.2 Brickhouse was a broker for FPL. At trial, Alan Kissinger, FPL’s Vice-President and Senior Credit Officer and the FPL official who worked on this agreement, explained that Brickhouse originates agreements and then presents them to FPL for approval. If FPL approves the [810]*810deal then Brickhouse approves the agreement and assigns it to FPL.

As part of the application, Brick-house/FPL required the Debtor to sign a personal guaranty, and the Debtor was required to provide a personal financial statement to Brickhouse/FPL. The Debt- or submitted the PFS that he had prepared for PeopleFirst. The PFS indicated that the Debtor had $10,272,000.00 in assets and $4,111,000.00 in liabilities. Thus, the document indicated a net worth of about $6,161,000.00. The Debtor described these values as a good faith estimate of his.assets and liabilities. Based on the information provided, financing was approved on May 6, 2011.

On June 7, 2013, the Debtor filed his Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. The Debt- or’s schedules, however, were strikingly different from what the Debtor had listed in the PFS. As a result of the difference, FPL brought this adversary proceeding to find its debt nondischargeable under section 523(a)(2)(B). On December 14 and 15, 2015 the Court held a two-day trial on the merits.

III. DISCUSSION

During the trial FPL learned that the Debtor used Prairie as a means to get financing for NCIM. As a result, FPL has moved under Rule 15(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to amend their complaint to include a count under section 523(a)(2)(A).

A. Section 523(a)(2)(B)

Section 523(a) provides that a discharge under section 727 does not discharge an individual debtor from certain obligations.

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Bluebook (online)
552 B.R. 806, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 2133, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/financial-pacific-leasing-llc-v-kilaru-in-re-kilaru-ilnb-2016.