In re Edwards

501 B.R. 666, 2013 WL 6044697, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 4909
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedNovember 14, 2013
DocketNo. 13-32984-BJH
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 501 B.R. 666 (In re Edwards) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Edwards, 501 B.R. 666, 2013 WL 6044697, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 4909 (Tex. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

BARBARA J. HOUSER, Bankruptcy Judge.

This involuntary Chapter 7 case is before the Court upon a petition filed on June 7, 20131 by Katherine Edwards Dow (“Dow”), Kelly R. Carrabba (“Carrabba”), and Marcus P. Rogers (“Rogers”) as the dependent administrator for the probate estate of Mildred Elizabeth Edwards (the “M. Edwards Estate” and, collectively with Dow and Carrabba, the “Petitioners”), seeking the entry of an order for relief against William Rowland Edwards, Jr. (“Edwards”) pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 303.

On July 9, 2013, Edwards filed a Motion to Dismiss, and Alternatively, Motion for Abstention and Answer [Dkt. 9],2 contesting the Involuntary Petition on multiple grounds including that: (1) there are an insufficient number of petitioning creditors to support the filing of the Involuntary Petition, (2) the Petitioners’ debts are the subject of a bona fide dispute, (3) Edwards is generally paying his debts as they come due, and (4) the Involuntary Petition was filed in bad faith as a litigation tactic.3 In the event that the Court directs entry of an order for relief, Edwards alternatively requested that the Court suspend all proceedings in the case pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 305.4

A trial on the Involuntary Petition was held on October 18, 2013 (the “Trial”).5 [671]*671At the conclusion of the Trial, the Court requested additional briefing on two issues: (1) whether the Petitioners constitute entities holding three separate claims against Edwards, and (2) whether the record contains sufficient evidence to support a finding that the Petitioners’ claims aggregate at least $15,325 more than the value of any lien on property of Edwards securing such claims. By agreement of the parties, the last of the briefs was filed October 24, 2013.

On October 25, 2013, Rogers, as court-appointed receiver for Cisco Springs Management, LLC (“Cisco Management”), the general partner of Cisco Springs LP (“Cisco Springs”), filed a Joinder in Involuntary Petition (the “Joinder”) [Dkt. 62], alleging that Cisco Springs is a creditor of Edwards holding an unsecured, non-contingent claim of at least $229,708.95. Id. at ¶ 5. Edwards did not file an objection or otherwise respond to the Joinder.

This contested matter under Bankruptcy Rule 9014 constitutes a core proceeding under 28 U.S.C. §§ 157(b)(2)(A) and (b)(2)(0) and is now ripe for ruling. This Memorandum Opinion and Order contains the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On or about February 27, 1999, William Rowland Edwards, Sr. passed away. In accordance with his will, Edwards, Sr.’s estate was divided into separate trusts: the William Rowland Edwards, Jr. trust, the Harriett Edwards Carrabba trust,6 and the Katherine Edwards Dow trust (individually, a “Trust” and, collectively, the “Trusts”). Mildred Edwards, the widow of Edwards, Sr., was the primary income beneficiary of the Trusts during her lifetime and also served as the initial trustee of the Trusts. Mildred Edwards resigned as trustee and, in June 2001, Edwards was appointed as trustee of each Trust.

In June 2009, Dow and Carrabba sued Edwards for breach of fiduciary duty and for an accounting in the case styled Katherine Dow, et al. v. William Rowland Edwards, et al., Case No. 09-01881-1, in Probate Court No. 1 of Dallas County, Texas. That litigation was subsequently transferred and consolidated with the probate proceeding of Mildred Edwards, which is pending in Bexar County Probate Court No. 1 (the “Probate Court”), Case No. 20110-PC-0827. The Probate Court granted summary judgment in Dow’s and Carrabba’s favor on July 25, 2012. The M. Edwards Estate, via Rogers, subsequently filed its own summary judgment motion in connection with its claims against Edwards, which was also granted. The Probate Court entered a Final Judgment in the Petitioners’ favor dated March 15, 2013 (the “Final Judgment”). Final Judgment [Pet. Ex. 3] at 6. Pursuant to the Final Judgment:

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED, that Plaintiffs Katherine Edwards Dow and Kelly Carrabba shall have Final Judgment against and recover from William Rowland Edwards, Jr. the sum of $1,669,924.39.
Pre-judgment interest in the amount of $288,008.84, calculated as simple interest at the rate of 5% on the above award of [672]*672$1,669,924.39 in actual damages from July 31, 2009 until January 11, 2013. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that Plaintiffs Katherine Edwards Dow and Kelly Carrabba shall also have Final Judgment against and recover from Defendant Williams Rowland Edwards, Jr. for their attorneys’ fees of $307,014.46.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that Plaintiffs Katherine Edwards Dow and Kelly Carrabba shall also have Final Judgment against and recover from Defendant Williams Rowland Edwards, Jr. attorney’s fees in the amount of $50,000 in attorneys’ fees in the event Defendants pursue an unsuccessful appeal to the Court of Appeals, an additional $25,000 through the petition for review stage at the Texas Supreme Court, and an additional $25,000 through an appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that all of Plaintiff Katherine Edwards Dow and Kelly Carrabba’s costs of court in the amount of $18,260.60 in costs expended or incurred in this cause are hereby adjudged against Defendant William Rowland Edwards, Jr.

Id. at 4-5. The Final Judgment also awards the M. Edwards Estate $1,201,832, plus pre-judgment interest of $123,311.25, attorneys’ fees of $10,000, and amounts payable in the event that Edwards files an unsuccessful appeal of the Final Judgment. Id. at 5-6. Further, the Final Judgment expressly states that “[t]his is a final judgment disposing of all parties and all claims in this action and is appealable.” Id. at 6.7

As previously noted, on June 7, 2013, the Petitioners commenced this bankruptcy case by filing an Involuntary Petition against Edwards, which was amended by an Involuntary Petition [Dkt. 6] filed on June 12, 2013. An Agreed Scheduling Order [Dkt. 15] was entered on August 11, 2013, which established various Trial-related filing deadlines, including the deadlines to file and serve witness and exhibit lists, pre-Trial briefs, proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, and a joint preTrial order. The Agreed Scheduling Order also scheduled Trial docket call for October 8, 2013.

Edwards, acting through his attorney, wholly ignored the Agreed Scheduling Order, missing each and every deadline and failing to appear at Trial docket call. Due to Edwards’s failure to appear, the Court rescheduled Trial docket call to October 15, 2013 and directed Edwards’s counsel to appear. At the reset Trial docket call, the Court once again directed Edwards’s counsel to file a pre-Trial brief and proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law by a date certain. Once again, Edwards’s counsel missed the new deadline.

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Bluebook (online)
501 B.R. 666, 2013 WL 6044697, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 4909, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-edwards-txnb-2013.