In re Blue Coal Corp.

47 B.R. 754, 1985 Bankr. LEXIS 6473, 56 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5048
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 21, 1985
DocketBankruptcy Nos. 76-1311, 78-604
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 47 B.R. 754 (In re Blue Coal Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Blue Coal Corp., 47 B.R. 754, 1985 Bankr. LEXIS 6473, 56 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5048 (M.D. Pa. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

THOMAS C. GIBBONS, Bankruptcy Judge:

The United States of America moved this court for summary judgment pursuant to Bankruptcy Rule 7056 to allow the trustee’s Application to Pay Administrative Taxes and to deny an objection filed by McClellan Realty Corporation (McClellan). For the reasons set forth herein, we grant the United States’ Motion.

The facts are as follows. On February 14, 1984, the trustee filed an Application to Authorize Payment of Administrative State and Federal Income Taxes due for the fiscal period commencing from the time of the filing of the Petition initiating this proceeding in 1976 to and including the ending of the debtors’ fiscal period on June 30, 1983. On September 17, 1984, the trustee filed another application, this time requesting authorization to pay administrative taxes for the fiscal period ending June 30, 1984 and for all future periods in which the trustee determines income taxes are due and owing to the United States or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The trustee filed estimated tax returns for the fiscal period June 30, 1984 and had previously made estimated payments to the Federal Government for taxes totaling approximately $77,000. Deductions were also claimed by the Trustee for accrued interest purportedly due and owing to McClellan as assignee of the debtors’ alleged indebtedness to Institutional Investors Trust (ITT). The United States disallowed these deductions because the purported interest obligations were actually contested liabilities and under the IRS Regulations no tax deduction was properly allowable until the obligations were fixed and determined to be actually due and owing. The trustee maintains in his Application to Pay Administrative Taxes that the debtors owe the additional sum of $91,000 in Federal corporate income taxes for the fiscal period ending June 30, 1984. Income taxes are also due and owing to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the same period.

[755]*755DISCUSSION

Pursuant to Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which is made applicable to this proceeding through Bankruptcy Rule 7056, summary judgment may be entered only “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Hollinger v. Wagner Mining Equipment Co., 667 F.2d 402, 405 (3rd Cir.1981); Franklin Federal Savings and Loan Association of Wilkes-Barre v. Ripianzi (In re Ripianzi), 27 B.R. 15 (M.D.Pa.1982). Additionally, “the moving party has the burden of demonstrating the absence of any material factual issue genuinely in dispute.” In re Euro-Swiss Int’l Corp., 33 B.R. 872, 11 B.C.D. 113 (S.D.N.Y.1983). The plaintiff must “do more than whet the curiosity of the court, he must support vague accusations and surmise with concrete particulars.” See In re Euro-Swiss Int’l Corp., citing Applegate v. Top Associates, 425 F.2d 92, 96 (2d Cir.1970). The Third Circuit has made it clear “that courts are to resolve any doubts as to the existence of genuine issues of fact against moving parties.” Hollinger, supra; Ness v. Marshall, 660 F.2d 517, 519 (3rd Cir.1981). In addition, “[inferences to be drawn from the underlying facts contained in evidential sources submitted to the trial court must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion.” Goodman v. Mead Johnson & Co., 534 F.2d 566, 573 (3rd Cir.1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1038, 97 S.Ct. 732, 50 L.Ed.2d 748 (1977). We find the United States has met its burden of demonstrating that there are no genuine issues as to any material facts requiring this court to grant a summary judgment in its favor. We reach this decision because the United States’ Motion for Summary Judgment, pre-hearing Memorandum and Memorandum of Law in Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment convinces us that no genuine issues exist to be tried.

The United States supports its Motion for Summary Judgment asserting the debtors’ accrued interest deductions on indebtedness owed to McClellan as an assignee of ITT were not properly allowable because the underlying basis of the indebtedness itself was contested and, therefore, pursuant to the applicable IRS Regulations, all events needed to determine the fact and the amount of liability had not occurred for those taxable years (the all events test). The trustee of Blue Coal maintains that the debtors have consistently contested both the mortgage lien and the underlying debt allegedly owed to McClellan. In addition, the trustee joins in the Government’s argument that since all events have not occurred to establish the liability to McClellan, the trustee is forced to conclude that he cannot sustain an interest expense deduction. McClellan responds by asserting that contesting a mortgage is not the same as contesting the underlying obligation leading to the mortgage. Therefore, since there is no contest as contemplated by the IRS Regulations, the deductions were properly taken by the debtors. McClellan further argues that if a debtor has a valid obligation regardless of whether it is secured or not, it can accrue interest on that obligation and set forth that interest obligation as a deduction on its tax returns. To support its position, McClellan relies primarily on the case of Fahs v. Martin, 224 F.2d 387 (5th Cir.1955). The Government responds to this contention by claiming that even assuming that the trustee attacked only the validity of the mortgage lien and not the underlying debt the effect of that challenge, as a matter of law, rendered the debtors’ purported liability for interest a contested liability. The United States argues that if the mortgage is declared invalid the underlying debt would be rendered unsecured. The United States further argues at page 9 of its Memorandum in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment that:

“At the very least, the prospect of unsecured creditors recovering post-petition interest on their claims is so uncertain that the purported interest obligations of the debtor on such claims could [756]*756not possibly be accrued as current obligations under Section 461 of the Internal Revenue Code. All events which would determine the fact and amount of such purported liabilities have not occurred.” We begin our analysis by noting that

none of the parties in this proceeding have questioned the trustee’s authority to pay accrued administrative taxes. Instead, the objections are directed toward the trustee’s decision to make application to pay administrative taxes even though certain interest deductions claimed by the trustee were disallowed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The trustee initially believed deductions of accrued mortgage interest were proper because of the supposed validity of a mortgage securing indebtedness to McClellan.

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Related

In re Blue Coal Corp.
206 B.R. 730 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 1997)

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Bluebook (online)
47 B.R. 754, 1985 Bankr. LEXIS 6473, 56 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5048, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-blue-coal-corp-pamd-1985.