First Marblehead Corp. v. Education Resources Institute, Inc.

463 B.R. 151, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141076, 2011 WL 6141004
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedDecember 8, 2011
DocketCivil Action No. 11-10241-DPW
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 463 B.R. 151 (First Marblehead Corp. v. Education Resources Institute, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First Marblehead Corp. v. Education Resources Institute, Inc., 463 B.R. 151, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141076, 2011 WL 6141004 (D. Mass. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

DOUGLAS P. WOODLOCK, District Judge.

First Marblehead Corporation, First Marblehead Education Resources, Inc., and First Marblehead Data Services, Inc. (collectively “FMC”) appeal a Bankruptcy Court order interpreting an agreement between FMC and The Education Resources Institute, Inc. (“TERI”). FMC argues that the Bankruptcy Court did not have subject matter jurisdiction to decide the meaning and effect of the agreement, and that even if it did, its interpretation was [153]*153erroneous. Concluding that the Bankruptcy Court properly retained jurisdiction over the dispute and that its resolution on the merits was appropriate, I affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

A, Factual Background

TERI is a nonprofit organization that promotes access to education. Since its inception in 1985, TERI has been in the business of processing and guaranteeing education loans originated by private lenders. In 2001, TERI entered into a series of transactions with FMC. FMC offers “outsourcing services to national and regional financial institutions and educational institutions in the United States for designing and implementing private education loan programs.”

Pursuant to the agreements between the parties, TERI paid FMC a fee to undertake risk management, administrative, and support functions for TERI, and to provide origination services and securitization of loans guaranteed by TERI. The agreements between TERI and FMC included the Master Servicing Agreement, the Master Loan Guaranty Agreement, the Marketing Services Agreement, and the Database Sale and Supplemental Agreement (the “Database Agreement”).

Under the Database Agreement, the only agreement at issue in this appeal, TERI agreed to transfer a database of information it had collected regarding loans and default rates to FMC and to support FMC’s maintenance of the database. Database Agreement, art. Ill, June 20, 2001, Record 95, Ex. 2. In exchange, FMC agreed to tender up-front and monthly payments. Id. art. IV. The transferred information — the “Delivered Database” — is a subset of the “Loan Database,” which is defined in the agreement as consisting “of any and all data now or hereafter obtained, generated, recorded, or otherwise received by TERI in connection with its business as a loan guarantor....” Id. art. 1, §§ 3.01, 3.02.

The Database Agreement placed restrictions on FMC’s use of the Delivered Database and TERI’s use of both the Delivered Database and the Loan Database. Id. §§ 2.02, 2.03. Under § 2.03, TERI agreed that

during the term of this Agreement it will use the Loan Database, and/or its retained copy of the Delivered Database only for the Retained Uses. Specifically, but not by way of limitation, TERI will not sell, license or transfer, the Loan Database or any substantial portion thereof to any person nor will it disclose the same except in furtherance of the Retained Uses.

The “Retained Uses” are defined as “the right retained by TERI to utilize the original version of the Loan Database ... for its own use for purposes of designing, underwriting, implementing, evaluating and managing education loan guarantee programs.” Id. art. I. These provisions essentially allowed TERI to use the Loan Database in furtherance of its own loan guarantee activities but prohibited it from selling or licensing it to third parties.

Under § 10.01 of the Database Agreement, the restrictions in §§ 2.02 and 2.03, as well as § 2.01 and Articles VIII, IX and X, which are defined as the “Surviving Obligations,” “survive termination of [the Database] Agreement for a period of two years after the termination date.” Id. art. I, § 10.01. The Database Agreement was to last up to ten years, terminating June 20, 2011. Id. § 5.02.

After entering into the agreements with FMC, TERI continued to guarantee and securitize student loans and earn fees for those activities. However, by the spring of 2008, the financial crisis had dried up [154]*154the market for securities backed by student loans, and TERI’s revenue dropped significantly. On March 26, 2008, TERI’s issuer rating was downgraded, causing a lender to demand the segregation of reserves to its loans guaranteed by TERI. Id ¶ 17. TERI could not meet the reserve requirement without jeopardizing its ability to meet other obligations and decided to file a Chapter 11 petition on April 7, 2008.

B. Bankruptcy Proceedings and Transition Services Agreement

Two months after initiating the bankruptcy proceeding, TERI requested an order from the Bankruptcy Court authorizing it to reject the agreements with FMC and enter into a Transition Services Agreement (“TSA”). In its motion, TERI explained that it could no longer operate under the fee structure of its various agreements for outsourcing services to FMC. In order to allow TERI to transition away from reliance on FMC, the parties negotiated the TSA, pursuant to which FMC would supply certain essential services at a reduced cost for up to four months.

On June 23, 2008, the Bankruptcy Court issued an order (the “June 2008 Order”) granting the motion. The June 2008 Order provided:

ORDERED, that the Debtor the FMC Contracts [sic] are rejected effective of May 31, 2008; and it is further
ORDERED, that each of the FMC Entities may treat each of the FMC Contracts as terminated as of May 31, 2008, and it is further
ORDERED, that the Debtor is authorized to enter into the Transition Services Agreement, as amended, between the Debtor and the FMC Entities, which Transition Services Agreement will govern the relationship of the Parties from June 1, 2008 forward, and its further ...
ORDERED, that this Court will retain jurisdiction to construe and enforce the terms of this Order.

Id.

In addition to providing for FMC’s provision of certain transitional services, the TSA required that FMC transfer to TERI “the data comprising the Loan Database (as defined in the Loan Database),” Transition Services Agreement, § 2.1, which was still owned by TERI, but was being maintained by FMC.

The TSA authorized FMC to continue to possess and use the Delivered Database it had received pursuant to the Database Agreement and maintained the restrictions on FMC and TERI’s use of data as follows:

Notwithstanding the rejection or other termination of the Database Agreement, (I) FMER [an FMC entity First Mar-blehead Education Resources, Inc.] shall continue to possess all right, title and interest in and to the Delivered Database (as defined in the Database Agreement), including the right to use and possess the Delivered Database and the right to share the data with FMC, to disclose the data to others, to copy and manipulate the data and generally to exercise ownership of the Delivered Database and all modifications and enhancements thereof and (ii) the Loan Database transferred from FMER to TERI pursuant to Section 2.1 of this Agreement shall remain subject to sections 2.01 (Grant), 2.02 (FMER Restrictions) and 2.03 (TERI Restrictions) of such Database Agreement and any and all additional terms of the Database Agreement that pursuant to section 10.01 of the Database Agreement survive termination of such agreement and remain in full force and effect.

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Bluebook (online)
463 B.R. 151, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141076, 2011 WL 6141004, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-marblehead-corp-v-education-resources-institute-inc-mad-2011.