In Re Lyons Transportation Lines, Inc.

123 B.R. 526, 24 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1438, 1991 Bankr. LEXIS 103, 1991 WL 8862
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 30, 1991
Docket19-20873
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 123 B.R. 526 (In Re Lyons Transportation Lines, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.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 Lyons Transportation Lines, Inc., 123 B.R. 526, 24 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1438, 1991 Bankr. LEXIS 103, 1991 WL 8862 (Pa. 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

WARREN W. BENTZ, Bankruptcy Judge.

ISSUE

The common issue in the above cases is whether they should remain in Chapter 11 or be converted to Chapter 7 where in David Weiss there was never any hope, plan, nor intent other than to liquidate the debtor’s assets, and in Lyons the business had been shut down with no real hope of revival.

DAVID WEISS

Petitioning Creditors filed an involuntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 against David Weiss Wholesale Jewelers, Inc. Et Al. (“David Weiss”) on November 13, 1990. On November 15, 1990, David Weiss filed, as a separate case, a petition seeking relief under Chapter 11. We treated Weiss’s Chapter 11 petition as a response consenting to the involuntary petition; we forthwith entered an order consolidating the two cases and allowing it to proceed under the original Chapter 11 case.

David Weiss was indebted to Pittsburgh National Bank and Westinghouse Credit Corporation in the approximate amount of $26 million, secured by a lien upon invento *528 ry. David Weiss had some 28 retail stores, warehousing facilities and general offices. Westinghouse and Pittsburgh National Bank had notified David Weiss in the spring of 1990 that it would not renew its financing at the expiration of the financing agreement in early 1991. David Weiss, in the fall of 1990, negotiated an agreement with Schottenstein Stores, Inc. (“SSI”) for the sale of all inventory to SSI at a fixed price, with permission to SSI at its expense to utilize David Weiss’s employees to liquidate the inventory through David Weiss’s retail outlets until January 31, 1991, with David Weiss paying the rental on such retail outlets. By November 13, 1990, the agreement was substantially finalized but disenchanted creditors filed the involuntary petition on that date. An informal creditors’ committee which had met with David Weiss’s management prior to November 13, 1990 was replaced by an Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors appointed by the U.S. Trustee and was composed of substantially the same membership.

The David Weiss agreement with SSI was renegotiated and at a hearing held on November 20, 1990, with an increase in purchase price by SSI and a reduction in the amount claimed by the secured creditors, the Creditors’ Committee consented to the agreement as being the surest and best means of liquidating the David Weiss inventory for the benefit of creditors. The redrafted agreement was approved November 29, 1990. The cash generated paid off the secured creditors and leaves a balance of some $8 million for eventual distribution to administrative expenses and hopefully, 25% for unsecured creditors after liquidation of remaining assets.

David Weiss has yet to sell a quantity of inventory which was not included in the sale to SSI, collect various funds due to David Weiss, and sell David Weiss’s interests in a number of the leases which have advantageous terms for David Weiss, as tenant, and which may be assumed and assigned.

From a time prior to the filing of the case, there was never an intent to attempt to rehabilitate the Debtor or its business.

The Debtor and the Creditors’ Committee seek to remain in Chapter 11, file a plan of liquidation and distribution, and wind up the case in Chapter 11.

LYONS

Lyons Transportation Lines, Inc. (“Lyons”) filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 on October 19, 1990 having suffered operating losses to the point where its principal lender, holding a lien upon all accounts receivable as security, declined to continue the financing. Lyons shut down and consented to motions for relief from stay filed by creditors holding liens upon a large part of the truck fleet. The Debtor, for a six day period at the end of October, attempted to regain its lost business on a much-reduced scale, but after six days, concluded that the business could not be regained and ceased all operations. Lyons owns outright substantial value in rolling stock, equipment, and real estate and its remaining skeleton crew of employees is assembling these assets at four different locations to facilitate sale. Accounts receivable of some $2.2 million are being collected, although it appears that half are over a year old. Public Utilities Commission trucking rights remain to be sold and litigation to collect freight undercharges and to recover for an alleged fraudulent conveyance is expected. There is no hope of rehabilitating the business, nor was there a reasonable prospect of rehabilitation when the petition was filed.

The Creditors’ Committee and the Debtor prefer to remain in Chapter 11 asserting their right to do so, that liquidation in Chapter 11 will be more economical and speedier than in Chapter 7 and that the Debtor has a right to file a plan of “reorganization” entailing a complete liquidation and distribution according to the priorities of the Bankruptcy Code.

J.R.C. ACQUISITION CORPORATION

J.R.C. Acquisition Corporation (“JRC”) filed a Chapter 11 petition on October 19, 1990. JRC is the parent corporation of Lyons and its only function in these proceedings is as the holder of all the stock of Lyons and it is obligated for the purchase price to the prior owners.

*529 PROCEDURE

On December 19, 1990, the Court issued an Order for a hearing in both of the above cases to determine whether the cases should proceed under Chapter 11 or be converted to Chapter 7. On December 31, 1990, the U.S. Trustee filed motions in each case to convert to Chapter 7. Hearings were held January 3 and 15, 1991.

DISCUSSION

The Creditors’ Committee in David Weiss asserts that it represents over 20% of the unsecured debt of David Weiss and that it has the authority and the fiduciary obligation to represent all creditors even though there has been no notice to them and no meeting of creditors. It asserts that its members are knowledgeable in retail trade and the disposition of the type of assets held by David Weiss, that their expertise is needed to advise the Debtor, and that while the Committee has no confidence in the management of David Weiss, it has secured the agreement of such management to have it supervised by a “responsible officer” whose position and power would be endorsed and enforced by order of court. The Creditors’ Committee in Lyons asserts also that its expertise is needed by the parties in the liquidation of the Debtor’s assets and that a Chapter 7 trustee would be ineffective in conducting such liquidation and in conducting litigation to collect on certain choses in action on behalf of Debtor’s estate.

The Debtors and Creditors’ Committees argue that the Debtors have a right to file a “liquidating” plan during the exclusivity period under § 1121 and if no such plan is filed, the Committee then can file a “liquidating” plan, that a “liquidating” plan in the above instances will provide a higher return and more expeditious recovery to unsecured creditors than they would receive under Chapter 7. Further, pending the filing of a plan, all of the assets may be liquidated and the plan which would follow can provide for distribution on the same terms as in a Chapter 7. They also argue that there is no statutory or case law authority preventing the liquidation prior to filing a plan and subsequently filing a “liquidation” plan.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
123 B.R. 526, 24 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1438, 1991 Bankr. LEXIS 103, 1991 WL 8862, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-lyons-transportation-lines-inc-pawb-1991.