In Re Bloomingdale Partners

160 B.R. 93, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 1539, 1993 WL 435955
United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided October 21, 1993·No. 19-00955·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

AMENDED MEMORANDUM OPINION

RONALD BARLIANT, Bankruptcy Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

On June 7, 1993, this Court issued an opinion denying John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company’s motion to withdraw its § 1111(b) 1 election and denied confirmation of the Debtor’s modified second amended plan. Subsequently, the Debtor filed a third plan in opposition to Hancock’s motion for relief from the stay. After this Court denied Hancock’s § 362 motion, the parties filed additional motions raising the following issues with respect to the pending third plan: (1) whether Hancock has a new option to make the § 1111(b) election; (2) whether post-petition net rents paid to Hancock should be allocated to post-petition accrued interest; (3) whether the Debtor should be permitted to place post-petition rents into an escrow for contingent environmental remedial work; and (4) whether two Chicago law firms *95 should be deemed “insiders” given their pre- and post-petition relationship with the Debt- or and its general partners.

For the reasons discussed below, this Court concludes that (a) the § 1111(b) election issue is moot because post-petition net rents have increased Hancock’s allowed secured claim, which is measured as of confirmation, so that there is no longer an under-secured portion; (b) Hancock is allowed post-petition interest to the extent that net rents, when added to the value of the balance of Hancock’s collateral, exceed the amount of Hancock’s allowed claim; (c) post-petition net rents received by Hancock shall be deemed to be prepayments of its allowed secured claim plus allowed interest; (d) funds may be placed into an interest-bearing escrow account for contingent liabilities in the nature of conditional § 506(c) charges, with a reversionary right in favor of Hancock for any unused escrow balance; and (e) the two Chicago law firms are not insiders of the Debtor.

II. BACKGROUND

The extensive background of this case is more fully set forth in In re Bloomingdale Partners, 155 B.R. 961, 965-68 (Bankr.N.D.Ill.1993) (hereinafter, “Bloomingdale I”). In May, 1991, when the Debtor filed a voluntary chapter 11 petition, Hancock held a claim in the amount of approximately $11,-160,000. This Court later determined the value of Hancock’s security interest in the Debtor’s apartment building to be $10,000,-000 for purposes of confirmation. Ignoring for the moment accrued post-petition rents, this left Hancock with a secured claim in the amount of $10,000,000 and an unsecured claim in the amount of $1,160,000. See § 506(a).

A significant issue in Bloomingdale I was Hancock’s § 1111(b) election, converting its entire allowed claim ($11,160,000) into a “secured claim” and waiving its “unsecured claim.” When it became aware that the Debtor’s general partners had purchased unsecured claims, Hancock realized that it would be able to control the vote of the unsecured class if it could rescind its § 1111(b) election. See § 1129(a)(10) (votes cast by insiders not counted for determining acceptance by class). This Court denied Hancock’s request to undo its election “with respect to the plan.” See Fed.R.Bankr.P. 3014. Subsequently, the Debtor filed its third plan of reorganization. Now Hancock has renewed its efforts to assert an unsecured claim because, in order to confirm its plan, the Debtor needs the assenting vote of the class of unsecured creditors, excluding the votes of insiders. Other than claims now held by the Debtor’s general partners, two minor unsecured claims are held by two Chicago law firms. If the law firms are deemed insiders whose assenting votes are not counted, or if Hancock is deemed the holder of an unsecured claim, the Debtor will be unable to confirm its current plan for lack of an assenting impaired class.

Hancock, however, has a substantial hurdle to overcome before it can assert any unsecured claim: the Debtor has paid Hancock post-petition net rents in an amount exceeding $1,160,000, the amount of its petition-date unsecured claim. Hancock further has to contend with this Court’s prediction that “after the Debtor accounts to Hancock for all security interests, ... it may not be too long (if not already) before Hancock’s security exceeds its claim [and] the entire § 1111(b) issue would be moot.” Bloomingdale I, 155 B.R. at 976 n. 11. This Court made that observation in connection with the Debtor’s attempt to “cram-down” Hancock’s claim. As part of that attempt, the Debtor’s modified second amended plan proposed crediting post-petition payments of net rents against Hancock’s petition-date secured claim. This Court concluded that post-petition net rents would constitute additional collateral, thereby reducing the extent to which Hancock’s claim was not secured by the value of its collateral. This did not reduce, however, any “unsecured claim” of Hancock because Hancock no longer held the “unsecured claim” created by § 1111(b)(1)(A) after having made its § 1111(b)(2) election. Rather, this Court credited the payments made by the Debtor against the then increased total “allowed secured claim” payable under § 1129(b). See id. at 976. Hancock apparently feels that the issue of how to characterize the post-petition *96 payments has been reopened now that there are a new plan and § 1111(b) option.

Hancock’s former § 1111(b) election, however, did not affect this Court’s analysis of the proper allocation of post-petition rents. As explained in greater detail in Bloomingdale I, the § 1111(b) election has to do with the treatment and payment of the underse-cured portion of the claim, not the secured portion. Regardless of the § 1111(b) election, Hancock had a right under § 1129(b) to receive the present value of the secured portion of its claim. That value equals the value of Hancock’s collateral, including the rents. Thus, this Court’s conclusions in Bloomingdale I that (1) post-petition net rents increased Hancock’s secured claim (that is, the secured portion of its total claim); and (2) Hancock’s receipt of such rents would be credited against Hancock’s then larger allowed secured claim, had nothing to do with Hancock’s election. 2

Nevertheless, Hancock prefers to limit this Court’s statements in Bloomingdale I to those that merely recognize Hancock’s additional security interest in post-petition net rents. By ignoring the consequent analysis employed in Bloomingdale I that the “secured claim” grew and concomitantly reduced the undersecured portion, Hancock finds another use for its post-petition security interest in the net rents: post-petition interest. According to Hancock, its allowed claim of $11,160,000 is bifurcated as of the petition date into a secured claim of $10,000,-000 (the value of the building) and an unsecured claim of $1,160,000. Then, as additional collateral accrues in the form of net rents, the secured claim ($10,000,000) becomes ov-erseeured, entitling Hancock to post-petition interest under § 506(b). See generally David G. Carlson,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

In Re Bloomingdale Partners, 160 B.R. 93, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 1539, 1993 WL 435955 (Ill. 1993).

160 B.R. 93 (In Re Bloomingdale Partners) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Beal Bank, SSB v. Waters Edge Limited Partnership
248 B.R. 668 (D. Massachusetts, 2000)
In Re Stanley
185 B.R. 417 (D. Connecticut, 1995)
Matter of Plunkett
191 B.R. 768 (E.D. Wisconsin, 1995)
In Re Bloomingdale Partners
160 B.R. 101 (N.D. Illinois, 1993)