Hemdale Home Video, Inc. v. Oak Productions, Inc. (In re NSB Film Corp.)

160 B.R. 151, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 1573, 24 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1398
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, C.D. California
DecidedOctober 28, 1993
DocketBankruptcy No. LA 92-44365 KL; Adv. No. LA 93-02352 KL
StatusPublished

This text of 160 B.R. 151 (Hemdale Home Video, Inc. v. Oak Productions, Inc. (In re NSB Film 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
Hemdale Home Video, Inc. v. Oak Productions, Inc. (In re NSB Film Corp.), 160 B.R. 151, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 1573, 24 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1398 (Cal. 1993).

Opinion

CORRECTED MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER.

KATHLEEN T. LAX, Bankruptcy Judge.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This adversary proceeding was commenced by an action in interpleader brought by Hemdale Home Video, Inc. (“HHV”) against NSB Film Corporation (“NSB” or “Debtor”) and Oak,,Productions Inc., Pacific Western Productions, Inc., American Gothic Productions, Inc. and Stan Winston, Inc. (the “Participants”) to determine entitlement to certain funds (the “Profit participation Funds”) arising out of exploitation of the motion picture “The Terminator.” Both NSB and the Participants have asserted claims to the Profit Participation Funds.

NSB filed a cross-complaint against the Participants asserting that any interest of the Participants in the Profit Participation Funds is avoidable as a preferential transfer. The Participants seek dismissal pursuant to F.R.C.P. 12(b)(6), applicable to this adversary proceeding in accordance with F.R.B.P. 7012, on the grounds that the cross-complaint and its attached exhibits establish as a matter of law that the interest transferred was not property of the Debtor.

UNDERLYING AGREEMENTS

1. NSB (then known as Hemdale Film Corporation) and Hemdale Home Video (HHV) entered into a Video Output Agreement dated as of May 31, 1991 (the “NSB-HHV Video Output Agreement”) whereby HHV became the distributor of NSB-owned film titles, including that motion picture bearing the title “The Terminator.”

2. The NSB-HHV Video Output Agreement was amended by a document dated as of February 18, 1992.

3. On May 4, 1992, NSB and the Participants entered into a Settlement and Release Agreement in settlement of an action filed in [153]*153Los Angeles Superior Court entitled Pacific Western Productions, Inc., et. al. v. Hemdale Film Corporation, et. al., No. BC012873 (the “Settlement Agreement”).

4. On May 6,1992, NSB, the Participants and HHV executed a document entitled Exhibit “A” relating to the Settlement and Release Agreement in which, among other things, HHV agreed to pay to the Participants monies due to NSB pursuant to the NSB-HHV Video Output Agreement and to account for said sums to the Participants (the “HHV Acknowledgment”).

5. On September 4, 1992, NSB filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.

DISCUSSION

The transfer alleged to be preferential was the transfer to the Participants of the Debt- or’s rights to receive payment of the Profit Participation Funds from HHV under the HHV-NSB Video Output Agreement.

The Participants make two arguments:

First, that the Debtor’s right to receive payments from HHV does not give the Debt- or a property interest in the actual funds transferred or to be transferred.

Second, that the payment to the Participants by HHV are additionally not avoidable as preferential because HHV had an independent obligation to pay the Participants pursuant to the HHV Acknowledgement of the Settlement Agreement between NSB and the Participants. The HHV Acknowledgement was signed by NSB, HHV and the Participants.

1. In support of its argument, the Participants rely primarily on the case of In re Marketing Resources International Corp. 41 B.R. 575 (Bankr.E.D.Penn.1984).

In Marketing Resources, at p. 578, the court held that the payment from non-debtor IBM to non-debtor PTC was not avoidable as a preference because IBM used its “own funds [to pay PTC], and, as such, the debtor had no property interest in the money.” The Marketing Resources court further stated that “[d]ue to the liquidity and fungibility of money, only in limited circumstances does an entity have a property interest in specific money held by another legal entity. The mere obligation to pay on a debt does not give the creditor [meaning the bankruptcy debtor] property rights in any of the funds of the debtor [meaning the account debtor or payor of the funds]. Consequently, the debt- or did not have a property interest in the money which was transferred to PTC.” Id., 41 B.R. at 578.

The instant case is distinguishable from the Marketing Resources case. In Marketing Resources, IBM’s obligation ran directly to PTC in settlement of a lawsuit between IBM and PTC. The payment was in satisfaction of its own obligation, not the debtor’s or any antecedent debt owed by the debtor. The debtor merely had a claim against PTC for any funds that PTC got from IBM. In essence/ the debtor was trying to use its avoidance power to levy on funds that PTC received from IBM. This is clear from the court’s recognition that the avoidance of IBM’s transfer would not return money to the bankruptcy estate, but only require PTC to return its money to IBM.

The Marketing Resources court correctly noted that just because an entity may owe money to someone who in turn owes money to the debtor, the debtor doesn’t have a property interest in the funds transferred between the non-debtors. Id. at 578.

In the case before this court, the Settlement Agreement and the HHV Acknowl-edgement indicate that payments from HHV to the Participants discharge obligations of the Debtor to the Participants. The transfer sought to be avoided by the Debtor is not the actual payment of funds from HHV to the Participants, but the avoidance of the right of HHV to pay the Participants directly in satisfaction of the Debtor’s obligations to the Participants. In other words, NSB seeks to avoid the right, given by NSB to the Participants, to receive payments due to the Debt- or.

As the Marketing Resources court noted in its second opinion on a motion to amend its initial judgment, “if an insolvent debtor arranges to pay a favored creditor through the disposition of [an account receivable], to the [154]*154depletion of his estate, it must be regarded as equally a preference whether he procures the payment to be made on his behalf by the debtor in the account — the same to constitute a payment in whole or part of the latter’s debt — or he collects the amount and pays it over to his creditor directly. This implies that, in the former case, the debtor in the account for the purpose of the preferential payment, is acting as the representative of the insolvent and is simply complying with the directions of the latter in paying the money to his creditor.” Id. at 582 n. 5.

The Settlement Agreement between NSB and the Participants requires NSB to “cause” HHV to pay directly certain participation profits to the Participants and provides that such payments shall be “credited” to sums due from NSB to the Participants. In fact, until payments are made, NSB remains obligated to the Participants and guarantees HHV’s performance to the Participants.

The Participant’s argument that the Cross-Complaint is insufficient because it establishes that the NSB relinquished control over future payments from HHV to the Participants begs the question. The transfer of this control is the transfer in issue.

Therefore, the Marketing Resources

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160 B.R. 151, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 1573, 24 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1398, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hemdale-home-video-inc-v-oak-productions-inc-in-re-nsb-film-corp-cacb-1993.