HH(US) Inc. v. Ferroligas (In re HH(US) Inc.)

175 B.R. 188, 1994 Bankr. LEXIS 1903
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 9, 1994
DocketBankruptcy No. 90-20815-JKF; Motion Nos. 90-9700M, 91-1386M and 91-1385M
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 175 B.R. 188 (HH(US) Inc. v. Ferroligas (In re HH(US) Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
HH(US) Inc. v. Ferroligas (In re HH(US) Inc.), 175 B.R. 188, 1994 Bankr. LEXIS 1903 (W.D. Pa. 1994).

Opinion

[190]*190 MEMORANDUM OPINION

BERNARD MARKOVITZ, Bankruptcy Judge.

We are called upon in this proceeding to determine which of two competing claimants shall recover from debtor’s estate for shipments of calcium silicon (hereinafter “CaSi”) that Bozel Mineracao e Ferroligas (hereinafter “Bozel”) produced and debtor HH(US) ultimately sold to its own customers.

Bozel and Richard Kempe, Receiver for Hofflinghouse & Company Limited (hereinafter “Limited”), have filed competing claims with respect to the same shipments of CaSi. Bozel’s claim is in the amount of $4,527,-636.50. According to Bozel, debtor was acting as its agent when it sold the CaSi in question. The Receiver’s total claim is in the amount $48,073,918.21, of which $5,844,392.12 represents amounts due for the identical shipments of CaSi subject to Bozel’s claim. According to the Receiver, debtor purchased the CaSi from Limited and then sold it to its customers on its own behalf.

Debtor has objected to Bozel’s claim. Debtor does not dispute that it owes someone for the CaSi but denies that it was acting as Bozel’s agent when it sold the CaSi to its own customers. According to debtor, Bozel sold the CaSi to certain intermediaries from whom debtor then purchased it before selling it on its own behalf.

Bozel has objected to the Receiver’s claim. Bozel denies that it sold the CaSi to these intermediaries and insists that debtor functioned as its agent when debtor sold the CaSi to its own customers.

For reasons set forth below, debtor’s objection to Bozel’s proof of claim will be sustained. Bozel’s claim will be disallowed in its entirety. In addition, Bozel’s objection to the Receiver’s proof of claim will be overruled. That portion of the Receiver’s claim pertaining to the CaSi at issue in this proceeding will be allowed.

JURISDICTION

This action is a core proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(A), (B) and (0). The facts relative to jurisdiction and/or venue are not in dispute.

I

FACTS

CaSi is a ferro alloy metal produced by a relative handful of companies throughout the world and is used in the steelmaking process. It is not traded by metals traders as a commodity but instead is marketed and sold to customers in the steel industry by the producers themselves or by their designated independent contractors.

Bozel is a Brazilian producer of CaSi. Its production facility is located in Sao Joao Del Ray, Minas Gerais, Brazil. From its inception in 1975 until December of 1983, Bozel was owned by Bozel Nobel, a French corporation. Bozel Nobel handled all of Bozel’s export activities except for a handful of countries in South America.

Limited is located in Bermuda and was formed in 1982. It was engaged in sourcing, financing, transporting, and marketing ferro alloys, including CaSi, in North America, Asia, and Europe. Limited is a member of a group of companies known collectively as the Hofflinghouse Group.

Debtor HH(US) is located in Pittsburgh and also was incorporated in 1982. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Limited.

Dieter Beckmann, a German national residing in London, founded and dominated the Hofflinghouse group at all relevant times. Atlantic Metals Limited and Century Marketing Limited also were part of the Hof-flinghouse Group.

Cia Paulista Ferroligas is a Brazilian corporation that manufactures various ferro alloys and other metals. Although Paulista is a publicly-owned corporation, Joaquim Salles Leite Filho, its Director President, dominated and controlled it at all relevant times.

Palmac Administraco e Participacoes S.A., a joint venture of Paulista and another Beck-mann-controlled company known as Com-merzhouse, acquired Bozel in January of 1984.

Paulista owned fifty-one percent (51%) of Palmac. Commerzhouse owned the remainder. Although Paulista was the majority [191]*191owner of Palmae, Paulista and Commerz-house had equal say in Palmac’s management pursuant to an agreement.

Bozel was governed by an administrative council consisting of two Paulista representatives and two representatives of the Hoffling-house Group. Salles Leite was chairman of Bozel’s administrative council at all relevant times.

Because it had no experience marketing its CaSi overseas, Bozel had to designate some other entity to sell its product overseas after its acquisition by Palmae. Salles Leite and Beckmann agreed between themselves that Bozel should appoint Limited and its subsidiaries as Bozel’s exclusive “agent” for overseas sales of its CaSi.

Nelson R. Spadini, Bozel’s director of finance and administration, signed and sent the following letter to Limited on January 11, 1984:

“Dear Sirs:
He [sic] hereby wish to declare that as from January 1st 1984, we have appointed yourgoodselves, messrs HOFFLING-HOUSE & CO. LTD. and your subsidiaries as exclusive export agency for the material produced by us in our works in Sao Joao Del Ray, Minas Gerais-Brazil-.”

The letter was drafted and transmitted to Spadini by an unidentified employee of Hof-flinghouse in Brazil.

Before he signed the letter, Spadini contacted Salles Leite and Beckmann to verify its accuracy. Neither Spadini nor any other employee of Bozel knew of the agreement between Salles Leite and Beckmann before January 11, 1984.

Bozel was not the only Brazilian company with whom Hofflinghouse dealt. It also was “exclusive sales agent” for silicon carbide produced by Cash S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Paulista, and for various silicon metals produced by Camargo Correa Metáis S.A.

Once it produced the CaSi, Bozel delivered it alongside a ship docked in the port of Rio de Janeiro for export to overseas markets. The documentation indicated legal title to the CaSi passed from Bozel to Atlantic or Century as soon as it was loaded onto the vessel in Rio de Janeiro.

The shipper delivered a bill of lading to Bozel that it forwarded to the designated “consignee”, who then used the bill of lading to claim the CaSi at its final destination.

Between August 26, 1989, and November 7, 1989, Bozel invoiced Atlantic or Century for four shipments of CaSi that are the subject of the competing claims at issue in this proceeding. Each bill of lading stated that the shipper was “Bozel Mineracao e Ferroli-gas on behalf of Hofflinghouse & Co., Ltd.”.

Bozel applied for an export license for each of these shipments. Atlantic or Century was listed on the license application as “importer” while Bozel was listed as “exporter”.

The Hofflinghouse representative who participated in setting the price Hofflinghouse paid Bozel for its CaSi between June of 1984 and June of 1989 was Arnfinn Holaas, vice president of the ferro alloy division of the Hofflinghouse Group.

The CaSi Bozel produced was shipped directly to Limited’s subsidiaries in the United States, Japan, and Europe. Atlantic, Century, and Limited never had actual possession of the goods. CaSi Bozel shipped to debtor HH(US) ordinarily was delivered to the port of New Orleans, Louisiana, where HH(US) took possession.

Documents evidencing several different sales were generated for each shipment of CaSi at issue in this proceeding.

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175 B.R. 188, 1994 Bankr. LEXIS 1903, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hhus-inc-v-ferroligas-in-re-hhus-inc-pawd-1994.