In Re AH Robins Co., Inc.

251 B.R. 312, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 903, 2000 WL 1091768
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedJuly 28, 2000
Docket19-30846
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 251 B.R. 312 (In Re AH Robins Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re AH Robins Co., Inc., 251 B.R. 312, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 903, 2000 WL 1091768 (Va. 2000).

Opinions

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BLACKWELL N. SHELLEY, Bankruptcy Judge.

A.H. Robins Company, Inc. (“Robins II”) initiated this proceeding by filing a Motion to Interpret Plan (the “Motion”). The Motion does not articulate the provision of the Bankruptcy Code or the Bankruptcy Rules on which it is based, but, in substance, it asks for a determination whether Robins II is entitled to claim a net operating loss (“NOL” on its income tax returns for the States of Ohio and New Jersey the “States”). The States have moved to dismiss the Motion for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On August 21, 1985, A.H. Robins Company, Incorporated, (“Robins I”) filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of 11 U.S.C. § 1101, et seq. At the time, Robins I was facing several thousand product liability actions throughout the United States and expected even more to be filed. Almost three years later, on July 26, 1988, the Sixth Amended and Restated Plan of Reorganization (the “Plan”) was confirmed. New Jersey and Ohio were creditors of Robins I and received notice of the Plan, of the right to object to its terms, and of the hearing at which the Court considered confirmation of the Plan which resulted in the Confirmation Order by which the Plan was confirmed and put into effect. Neither State voiced any objection to the Plan nor appealed the decision confirming it.

The Plan was the culmination of extensive negotiations involving Robins I, the official committees representing its creditors, the plaintiffs in the product liability actions and the equity security holders of Robins I, as well as prospective purchasers of Robins I. The purposes of the Plan were to provide funds by which Robins I could fund a trust, known as the “Claimants’ Trust,” to pay the product liability claimants, and to permit Robins I to be acquired by Robins II so that Robins II could continue to engage in business as the successor to all the business and assets of Robins I. See Plan at ¶ 1.79.

The Plan reflects that Robins II was formed for the express purpose of effectuating the acquisition of Robins I by American Home Products Corporation (“AHP”). In that respect, the formation of a merger subsidiary, ie., Robins II, was essential to limit the liability of AHP; and, without that limitation of liability, the reorganization of Robins I would have been impossible and there would have been no funding for the Claimants’ Trust. The merger qualified as a tax-free reorganization under Section 368(a)(1)(G) and Section 368(a)(2)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code. The merger was consummated on December 15, 1989 with the payment by AHP of $2,475 billion.

The Confirmation Order which approved the Plan and consummated the reorganization provides, inter alia, that:

The transfers of 'property by Robins to the Successor Corporation (i) are or will be legal, valid and effective transfers of property; (ii) vest or will vest the Successor Corporation with good title to such property free and clear of all liens, charges, claims, encumbrances, or interests, except as expressly provided in the Plan; (iii) do not and will not constitute fraudulent transfers or conveyances under the Code or under the laws of the United States, any State, territory, possession or the District of Columbia; and (iv) do not and will not subject the Successor Corporation or its Affiliates to any liability by reason of such transfer under the laws of the United States, any State, territory or possession thereof, or [315]*315the District of Columbia based, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, on any theory of lato, including, without limitation, any theory of successor or transfer-' ee liability.

Confirm. Ord. at ¶ 13 (emphasis added).

Quite clearly, Robins II succeeded to, and was entitled to the benefits of, the property of the estate of Robins I. See Plan at ¶¶ 1.79; 6.03. Among the property of the estate of Robins I to which Robins II succeeded was the net operating loss (“NOL”) of Robins I and such rights to use and benefit from the NOL as Robins I would have had. The NOL (in the amount of $1,732,718,240) was attributable principally to the funding of the Claimants’ Trust.

The amount of NOL claimed by Robins II on its federal tax return for the taxable year ended December 1989 was $1,732,-718.240.1 After the confirmation of the Plan, Robins II and certain of its affiliates timely filed corporate income tax and franchise tax returns with the State of Ohio and the State of New Jersey. In both instances, the tax returns were audited, with each State disallowing some or all of the NOL deduction and thereupon issuing tax assessments against Robins II. Thereafter, Robins II paid the assessments, which totaled $19,800,000, and applied for income and franchise tax refunds in that amount.

Subsequently, the New Jersey Director of Taxation determined that Robins II was not entitled to use the NOL of Robins I because Robins II was not the actual corporation that sustained the losses reflected in the NOL, and the Director thereupon denied the request for refund which had been filed with the State of New Jersey by Robins II. That decision is on appeal to the Tax Court of the State of New Jersey.

In like fashion, the Ohio Tax Commissioner denied the claim of Robins II for a refund, concluding that Robins II. was not entitled to the NOL of Robins I because Robins I was not a taxpayer during the relevant taxable year. The decision of the Ohio Tax Commissioner is on appeal in the State court.

Confronted with what it perceived as the abridgement of the fundamental principles by which Robins II had paid $2.475 billion to permit the funding of the Claimants Trust and an affront to the order of this Court approving the Plan, Robins filed a declaratory judgment action in this Court. Robins II sought “an order in furtherance of the confirmed Plan declaring that Robins II is entitled to the full use and benefit of the NOL of Robins I and granting such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.” Compl. at 6.

The declaratory judgment action was dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the Eleventh Amendment and relevant decisional law interpreting it in our circuit (foreclosed suits in which officials of the States are named as defendants in their official capacities) and are served with process summonsing them into federal court in their official capacities. See A.H. Robins Co., Inc. v. Dieleuterio (In re A.H. Robins Co., Inc.), 235 B.R. 406 (Bankr.E.D.Va.1999). In the Memorandum Opinion, the Court observed that:

[i]f it is otherwise permissible under the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code, this court has retained jurisdiction over the bankruptcy proceedings and can consider any proper motion brought before it in which the officials of a State are not served with process or compelled to appear and submit to the jurisdiction of the federal court.

235 B.R. at 413, n. 3 (emphasis added). Apparently relying on that language, Robins II filed this Motion, in which it asks for essentially the same relief requested in the Complaint for Declaratory Relief. In support of its argument that this Court has [316]*316jurisdiction to entertain the Motion and interpret the Plan, Robins II cites this Court’s language in

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Related

AH Robins Co. v. Director, Div. of Taxation
839 A.2d 914 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 2004)
American Home Products Corp. v. Tracy
787 N.E.2d 658 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2003)
In re Lijoi
288 B.R. 511 (E.D. Tennessee, 2002)
A.H. Robins Co. v. Director, Division of Taxation
20 N.J. Tax 338 (New Jersey Tax Court, 2002)
In Re AH Robins Co., Inc.
251 B.R. 312 (E.D. Virginia, 2000)

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Bluebook (online)
251 B.R. 312, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 903, 2000 WL 1091768, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-ah-robins-co-inc-vaeb-2000.