In Re Bora Bora, Inc.

424 B.R. 17, 2010 Bankr. LEXIS 220, 2010 WL 282415
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedJanuary 20, 2010
Docket19-00207
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 424 B.R. 17 (In Re Bora Bora, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Bora Bora, Inc., 424 B.R. 17, 2010 Bankr. LEXIS 220, 2010 WL 282415 (prb 2010).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

ENRIQUE S. LAMOUTTE, Bankruptcy Judge.

This case is before the court on Bora Bora Inc.’s (the “Debtor”) motion requesting that the protection of the automatic stay be extended to its president, Mr. Oscar Juelle, filed on June 10, 2009 (the “Motion to Extend Stay”)(Docket No. 33), and the opposition to the same filed by Quicksilver on July 1, 2009 (Docket No. 80). The Debtor filed a reply on July 8, 2009 (Docket No. 88) supplemented on August 10, 2009 (Docket No. 106) and Quicksilver filed a response to Debtor’s supplement on August 14, 2009 (Docket No. 112). The Debtor filed a reply to Quicksilver’s response on August 17, 2009 (Docket No. 119) and a second supplement on August *20 28, 2009 (Docket No. 143). On October 13, 2009 the Debtor filed a request for determination (Docket No. 162) and Quicksilver filed a response to that request on October 23, 2009 (Docket No. 167). At a hearing held on August 10, 2009 the Debtor informed that the issue had been fully briefed and the court took the matter under advisement (Docket No. 109). In essence, the Debtor argues that Mr. Juelle and the Debtor are “so inextricably bound and so closely identified with one another” that a collection action against Mr. Juelle for a pre-petition debt equals to a collection action for a pre-petition debt against the Debtor and that Quicksilver’s collection efforts against Mr. Juelle are just a tactic to pressure the Debtor to make payments on its pre-petition debt. For the reasons stated below the Motion to Extend Stay is hereby denied.

Background

On May 6, 2009 the Debtor filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code and since that date it has been acting as “debtor in possession”. In its Motion to Extend Stay the Debtor represents that Mr. Juelle is its founder, president and one of its primary lenders, managing the day-to-day operations and responsible for devising and implementing a reorganization plan under Chapter 11. The Debtor states that Mr. Juelle has executed personal guarantees in favor of various of its creditors including Quicksilver 1 . The Debtor alleges that Mr. Juelle’s personal guaranty in favor of Quicksilver was for the sole benefit of the Debtor and that he consented to the guaranty provided his liability would not exceed that of the Debtor. On June 3, 2009 Quicksilver filed a complaint for breach of guaranty agreement against Mr. Juelle before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California which prays for an amount equal to that of the pre-petition claim Quicksilver holds against the Debtor, that is, $1.5 million approximately.

The Debtor argues that this case presents the unusual circumstances required for the application of the automatic stay to a third party non-debtor, in this case, Mr. Juelle. The Debtor argues that Mr. Juelle’s identity is so intertwined with that of the Debtor that the Debtor may be said to be the real party defendant, and because Mr. Juelle is so essential to the Debtor’s reorganization, the stay must be extended to him in order to protect the Debtor’s efforts to reorganize. The Debt- or further argues that Mr. Juelle has no independent obligation to Quicksilver and given the close relationship between the Debtor and its president, Quicksilver’s efforts to collect against Mr. Juelle is nothing more than an effort to collect from the Debtor circumventing the automatic stay provisions of the Bankruptcy Code. Lastly, the Debtor states that if Quicksilver’s action is allowed to proceed Mr. Juelle will be irremediably distracted and will not be able to dedicate his full attention to the reorganization of the Debtor’s case. According to the Debtor Mr. Juelle is uniquely suited to guide the Debtor through its reorganization due to his knowledge of the local marketplace, rental agreements, consumer buying patterns and other related information. The Debtor posits that the loss of Mr. Juelle’s efforts will impair if not destroy the ability of the Debtor to reorganize and furthermore any judgment against him will limit the funds available to be lent to the Debtor in order to fund its *21 plan of reorganization as Mr. Juelle is a potential financier of the Debtor’s reorganization.

In its response Quicksilver argues that the Debtor’s failure to file an adversary-proceeding bars this court from granting the injunctive relief requested, as an injunction requires an adversary proceeding. Furthermore, the Debtor does not carry its burden of persuasion as to all requirements warranting the extraordinary and drastic remedy of an injunction. Quicksilver cites this court in In re Codfish, 97 B.R. 132, 135 (Bankr.D.P.R.1988) by stating that “if a creditor is to be enjoined and stayed from prosecuting an action against a codebtor pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 105(a) the movant must establish through clear and convincing evidence that the estate would be substantially and adversely affected by the continuance of such action.” Quicksilver maintains that the Debtor provides no evidence whatsoever to support its motion, let alone carry the heavy burden warranting the extraordinary relief it seeks. And even if the Debtor’s assertions were supported by evidence they would not justify the application of the automatic stay to Mr. Juelle. Quicksilver posits that a stay extension request is deemed a request for a preliminary injunction and thus the Debtor must establish the four standard factors to obtain the injunctive relief, to wit, 1) irreparable injury to the Debtor if the injunction is not granted, 2) that such injury outweighs any harm which granting injunctive relief would inflict on a defendant, 3) likelihood of success on the merits and 4) that the public interest will not be adversely affected by the granting of the injunction. Quicksilver argues that the Debtor cannot make the required showing of irreparable harm and has not shown the likelihood of success on the merits as the Debtor must prove the probability of a successful plan of reorganization and it has failed to do so.

In response to the Quicksilver’s arguments the Debtor argues that caselaw establishes that the determination of whether a third party non-debtor is protected by the automatic stay may be issued within an adversary proceeding or within a contested matter. In response to Quicksilver’s argument that the Debtor does not carry its burden of persuasion as to all requirements warranting the extraordinary and drastic remedy of an injunction, the Debt- or argues that it has been uncontested that Mr. Juelle is the Debtor’s president and is the person responsible for the Debtor’s operations including the formulation of the reorganization plan, and thus the Debtor does not need to prove that. The Debtor again concludes that Quicksilver’s collection action against the Debtor’s president is part of its efforts to coerce the Debtor into paying its pre-petition debt. Later in the supplement to the Motion to Extend Stay the Debtor states that Quicksilver admitted that it equates Mr. Juelle with the Debtor when in an answer to an interrogatory they stated that they chose to terminate its business relationship with the company Mr. Juelle controls because it no longer wished to be associated with Mr. Juelle’s character. From this statement the Debtor concludes that Quicksilver’s suit against Mr.

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

Related

Bankart v. Ho
60 F. Supp. 3d 242 (D. Massachusetts, 2014)
Villafañe-Colon v. B Open Enterprises, Inc.
932 F. Supp. 2d 274 (D. Puerto Rico, 2013)
Rivera-Olivera v. Antares Oil Services
482 B.R. 44 (D. Puerto Rico, 2012)
Slabicki v. Gleason
466 B.R. 572 (First Circuit, 2012)
In Re R & G Financial Corp.
441 B.R. 401 (D. Puerto Rico, 2010)
Saleh v. Bank of America, N.A. (In Re Saleh)
427 B.R. 415 (S.D. Ohio, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
424 B.R. 17, 2010 Bankr. LEXIS 220, 2010 WL 282415, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-bora-bora-inc-prb-2010.