In Re Bryan

104 B.R. 554, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 2476, 1989 WL 107554
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedAugust 30, 1989
Docket19-40356
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 104 B.R. 554 (In Re Bryan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Bryan, 104 B.R. 554, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 2476, 1989 WL 107554 (Mass. 1989).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

JAMES N. GABRIEL, Chief Judge.

INTRODUCTION

The matters before the Court are motions to dismiss filed by Mortgage Investors Corporation (“MIC”) and Boston Bank of Commerce (the “Bank”). MIC filed a “Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, for Relief from Automatic Stay or for Adequate Protection, and Request for Expedited Determination” on May 26, 1989. The Bank previously had filed, on May 23,1989, two motions each entitled “Motion for Relief from Automatic Stay and for Authority to Foreclose, or in the Alternative for Dismissal or for Adequate Protection.” The Bank’s two motions are identical except that one relates to real estate identified as Unit 1,105 Cedar Street in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and the other relates to real estate identified as Unit 1-B, 58 Bartlett Street and Units 1-A through 3-A, 60 Bartlett Street in Roxbury. MIC’s motion pertain to the same real property. The Court allowed MIC and the Bank relief from the automatic stay at an evidentiary hearing held on July 20, 1989 and took under advisement the alternative motions to dismiss. The Debtor did not contest the allowance of the relief from stay motions, admitting a lack of equity in the subject properties and an inability to make adequate protection payments.

BACKGROUND

The Debtor, Stephanie Bryan (the “Debt- or”), filed a Chapter 11 petition on May 10, 1989, approximately one week before foreclosure sales that were scheduled by the Bank and MIC. The Debtor, in her petition, claims ownership of beneficial interests in four trusts: the E. Woolley Trust, the Imani Trust, the L & O Trust and the Locksley Jr. Trust. According to the Debt- or’s Schedules, the E. Woolley Trust owns property at 58-60 Bartlett Street and 105 Cedar Street in Roxbury; the Imani Trust owns property at 4 Thwing Street in Rox-bury, the L & O Trust owns property at 404-406 Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan, and at 131 Cedar Street and 81 Highland Avenue in Roxbury; and the Locksley Jr. Trust owns 25 acres of land in Bethlehem, New Hampshire.

At the July 20, 1989 hearing, the Debtor stipulated as to the admissibility of certain *555 facts, 54 exhibits, including her bankruptcy petition, and extended excerpts from transcripts of her deposition, as well as that of her husband, Locksley Bryan, and a Chapter 13 debtor before this Court, Odessa Bryant, who claims an ownership interest in property located at 33 Mariposa Street, Mattapan, Massachusetts, that was conveyed to the Debtor’s husband and Odessa Bryant as tenants by the entirety in November of 1977.

Because the Bank and MIC have first and second mortgage positions, respectively, on the 105 Cedar Street and 58-60 Bartlett Street properties, the parties focused on those properties in their pleadings. The properties are owned by Locksley Bryan, Trustee of the E. Woolley Trust. Locksley Bryan, individually, conveyed the properties to the E. Woolley Trust in June of 1986 for nominal consideration. The first mortgages on the properties were given to the Bank to secure promissory notes in the principal amounts of $300,000 and $200,-000. The notes were dated March 17, 1986 and October 10, 1986, respectively, and were given by Locksley Bryan, once in an individual capacity and once in his capacity as trustee. Both notes have been in default for an extended period, and, as of July 20, 1989, the Bank’s principal, accrued interest, late charges, appraisal fees, legal fees and auctioneers’ fees totalled approximately $500,000.

Locksley Bryan also entered into a lending relationship with MIC. In June of 1987, he executed a Collateral Pool Line of Credit and Security Agreement pursuant to which MIC agreed to lend Locksley Bryan up to $750,000. Accordingly, Locksley Bryan executed five promissory notes in the principal amounts of $100,000, $33,000, $119,900, $42,000 and $195,000 secured by cross-collateralized and cross-defaulted second mortgages on the Bartlett Street and 105 Cedar Street properties, a conditional assignment of rents and a guaranty. The guaranty was signed by Stephanie Bryan and by Locksley Bryan, individually, and as the trustee of both the E. Woolley Trust and the Hugh Trust. At the time of the evidentiary hearing, the MIC notes were in default, and MIC was owed approximately $400,000 with respect to both properties.

Under section 362(d) of the Bankruptcy Code a moving party can prevail if it establishes “cause,” which may include a lack of adequate protection, or if it establishes that the debtor has no equity in the property and such property is not necessary to an effective reorganization. Since the Debtor admitted an inability to make a meaningful offer of adequate protection at the July 20, 1989 hearing, MIC and the Bank were clearly entitled to relief from stay under section 362(d)(1).

At the July 20, 1989 evidentiary hearing, Debtor’s counsel alluded to the possibility of a $1 million refinancing. However, the prospect of obtaining such a loan in view of the value of the properties held by the four trusts listed in the Debtor’s petition and present market conditions was so bleak that Debtor’s counsel conceded that the secured debt exceeded the value of the Bartlett and Cedar Street properties. Coupled with this admission, a review of the entire record reveals that the Debtor failed to argue that the property was necessary to an effective reorganization for the simple reason that without a significant refinancing commitment to Locksley Bryan, a non-debtor, there was no hope of reorganization at all. As only one of several purported beneficiaries of the trusts in question, the Debtor utterly failed to present any indication of how she could orchestrate the refinancing of the real estate involved in this case. Therefore, the Bank and MIC also were entitled to relief from stay under section 362(d)(2).

Although MIC and the Bank prevailed with respect to obtaining authority to proceed with their foreclosure sales, they continued to press their dismissal motions. MIC, in particular, argued on behalf of dismissal because the Debtor guaranteed payment of her husband’s obligations.

MIC, in its pleadings, set forth a number of reasons why it believes the Debtor’s petition should be dismissed. In the first instance, it argued that the E. Woolley Trust, the Imani Trust and the L & 0 Trust, all of which have similar provisions, *556 are illusory because 1) no schedules of beneficiaries were executed at the time the trusts were created or were produced by the Debtor or her husband; 2) Locksley Bryan as trustee retains absolute discretion and power with respect to the corpus and principal of the trusts; and 3) Locksley Bryan as trustee has full power to amend, invade, terminate or sell the whole or any part of the trusts’ property at any time.

For example, the E. Woolley Trust, the Imani Trust and the L & 0 Trust contain the following relevant provisions:

Article III. “The Trustee shall have absolute discretion as to how, when and in what manner the corpus or principal of this trust shall be invested and reinvested with full power and discretion as if the Trustee was the absolute owner thereof; and generally may do all things in relation to the trust fund which he would do as if he owned the property outright and free and clear of all trusts.” Article IV. “...

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
104 B.R. 554, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 2476, 1989 WL 107554, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-bryan-mab-1989.