In re Global International Airways

35 B.R. 881, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 4848
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedDecember 14, 1983
DocketBankruptcy No. 83-02765-2-11
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 35 B.R. 881 (In re Global International Airways) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Global International Airways, 35 B.R. 881, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 4848 (W.D. Mo. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JOEL PELOFSKY, Bankruptcy Judge.

After two days of hearings the Court took under advisement the Motion by the Debtor to Assume a purported Lease with Air Canada and asking the Court, in addi[883]*883tion to other relief, to direct Air Canada to surrender the aircraft to it for its use commencing December 18,1983. The Court has considered arguments of counsel, the briefs that have been filed, the posture of the lessor, Air Canada, appearing specially, and enters the following ORDER:

The evidence shows that on June 1st, 1983, the Debtor and Air Canada entered into a one-year lease agreement for a Boeing 747-133, Canadian registration CFTOA, manufacturers number 20013.

In general terms the lease provided that the Debtor would pay to Air Canada the sum of $205,000 a month, net of taxes, and that Debtor would provide a letter of credit up to One-Half Million Dollars for faithful performance. The Debtor also was obligated to provide insurance. Among other things the lease provided was that the Debtor would be entitled to fly the aircraft any place where U.S. air carriers may lawfully operate. Paragraph 5.11.

In Paragraph 8.1 of the lease the lessor stated that the lease constitutes a “legal, valid, and binding obligation of lessor in accordance with the terms hereof” and made reference to the fact that there was no legal hinderance to the lessor entering into this lease, except for certain consents it would obtain on or prior to delivery. There is no reference in the lease that it is conditioned upon approval by the Ministry of Transport of the Canadian government.

Paragraph 17.1 provides that the lease may be terminated upon ninety (90) days notice. In Paragraph 19.1 the lease provides New York law governs. In Paragraph 22.1 the lease provides it may be amended only in writing.

On the same day the parties entered into a technical service agreement which was to be governed by Ontario law providing that the Debtor would pay to Air Canada the sum of $1,250 per flight hour for maintenance. There was guaranteed a minimum of 2,400 flight hours of maintenance per year. There is a provision in the technical service agreement that the parties agree to renegotiate the rate. The technical service agreement requires a letter of credit of $500,000 and provides if the letter of credit is drawn upon, it must be replenished.

The evidence further shows that on August the 29th, the Debtor sent to Air Canada, Mr. O’Keefe, to be precise, a telegram, called in the evidence a SITA, which declared it intended to return the airplane because it was not economical to use, and asked for ten different adjustments to the lease, including adjustments to both the lease rate and the technical service rate.

On August 30th, Air Canada made a reply. On September the 6th Air Canada made a second reply correcting the first reply and proposed a lease rate of $185,000 a month plus a technical services rate of $1,100 a month and a guaranteed minimum of 2,000 maintenance hours.

The second telegram also requested face-to-face meetings to detail certain aspects of the amendments and stated at the end of the telex that Air Canada contemplated making amendments to the lease which would incorporate these various changes.

There was a message on September the 14th to the effect that the parties would meet on September the 19th in Kansas City. That meeting occurred. On September 22, 1983, Air Canada advised the Debtor that it had heard about airplanes being seized or the possibility of seizure in Europe and expressed concern about the vulnerability of the 747, which at that time was in the possession of the Debtor.

There is no evidence that in the meeting of September the 19th through the 21st that all of the terms of any amendment were resolved. There was negotiation on the various aspects of the problems detailed in the earlier telegrams.

On September the 27th there was a writing executed by the Debtor and Air Canada in which the parties agreed that the lease would be suspended from October the 1st until December the 15th and various terms and conditions were set out. Some of those were that there was to be a payment of $307,000 on September 29th and that on October 3rd the aircraft would be returned. The letter agreement also contained a pro[884]*884vision that by November the 14th the parties would either agree to the handling of the amounts then in default or the Debtor would pay all of the arrearages. On October the 5th the 747 was returned to Air Canada.

There was a meeting on or about October the 15th in which the Debtor advised Air Canada that it intended to file bankruptcy in the next few days. The testimony of the Debtor, although vigorously disputed in argument by counsel on behalf of Air Canada, was to the effect that in that meeting agreement was reached on the rate reductions and all the other aspects of concern to the debtor. The results of the October 17th meeting were not reduced to writing.

On November the 15th the Debtor advised Air Canada that it wanted to use the 747 for certain flights chartered by the United States Military Academy from New York State to California. The airplane was not delivered by Air Canada to the Debtor.

At the close of the evidence, Air Canada raised several points urging the Court to deny the assumption. Many of these points had been raised throughout the proceedings and were simply reiterated at that time. There are several questions which the Court must resolve in order to rule this issue.

The first two are concerned with jurisdiction. The Court will deal first with the matter of subject matter jurisdiction. Under Section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code the trustee may assume, subject to the Court’s approval, an executory agreement.

There are conditions. The Debtor must cure or provide adequate assurance of prompt cure. The Debtor must compensate or provide adequate assurance to third parties for actual loss and must provide assurance of future performance.

Under Rule 6006 of the Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, a motion to assume an executory agreement is a contested matter under Rule 9014. Rule 9014 provides that the other party to the agreement must have reasonable notice and opportunity to be heard. The rule also provides no response is required unless the Court so orders and provides further that the motion must be served in the manner provided in the service of the complaint by Rule 7004.

The law is very clear that a proceeding to assume an executory agreement is a core matter in bankruptcy. The interim rule makes no reference to such a proceeding because the interim rule deals with the distribution of jurisdiction between related and unrelated matters. The interim rule refers to the fact that a related matter is a matter that could have been brought in a State Court or a District Court of the United States absent bankruptcy. An action to assume an executory agreement cannot be brought in any court except bankruptcy. Relief of this nature can only be sought in a bankruptcy proceeding. Matter of Minges, 602 F.2d 38 (2nd Cir.1979); Matter of McLouth Steel Corp., 20 B.R. 688 (Bkrtcy.E.D.Mich.1982). This Circuit has held that the Interim Rule is constitutional. In re Hansen,

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Bluebook (online)
35 B.R. 881, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 4848, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-global-international-airways-mowd-1983.