In Re M & S Associates, Ltd.

138 B.R. 845, 6 Tex.Bankr.Ct.Rep. 231, 1992 Bankr. LEXIS 557, 1992 WL 78047
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedApril 17, 1992
Docket18-11691
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 138 B.R. 845 (In Re M & S Associates, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.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 M & S Associates, Ltd., 138 B.R. 845, 6 Tex.Bankr.Ct.Rep. 231, 1992 Bankr. LEXIS 557, 1992 WL 78047 (Tex. 1992).

Opinion

AMENDED OPINION

RONALD B. KING, Bankruptcy Judge.

This Chapter 11 case was filed by M & S Associates, Ltd. (the “Debtor”) on December 27, 1989, in the Southern District of Texas. The case was subsequently transferred to the Western District of Texas. Upon rehearing, the Debtor’s First Amended Plan of Reorganization (the “Plan”) raises the issues of whether the principal secured creditor is unimpaired and whether the Plan is feasible. Because the principal secured creditor is impaired and the Plan is not feasible, confirmation of the Plan will be denied.

Í.

FACTS

The Debtor’s only assets are three Texas apartment complexes: Hunterwood Apartments, located in Houston; Stoneleigh Apartments, located in San Antonio; and Willow Glen Apartments, located in Fort Worth (collectively, the “Apartments”). The Apartments were acquired on May 31, 1986, with financing provided by Gill Savings Association (“Gill”). The Resolution Trust Corporation, as Receiver for Gill Savings Association (the “RTC”), is now the owner and holder of the three promissory notes (collectively, the “Notes”) secured by the Apartments, and it is the sole secured creditor of the Debtor. The Debtor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to avoid foreclosure. The RTC is the only creditor which has objected to confirmation of the Plan.

In 1986, Gill provided to the Debtor one hundred percent purchase money financing for the Apartments in order to facilitate a sale of the Apartments from other borrowers of Gill, and to keep the loans as performing assets on Gill’s books. The total purchase price for the Apartments, $20,-175,000, was considerably above their market value at the time of the Debtor’s purchase. At the confirmation hearing, O.W. Mattison, the General Partner of the Debt- or (“Mattison”), testified that at the time of the purchase, he and Gill believed that the market value of the Apartments was approximately $12,000,000 to $14,000,000. Mattison also testified that at the time of the Debtor’s purchase, the occupancy level was not sufficient to generate enough cash flow to pay operating expenses, exclusive of debt service, on two of the three apart *847 ments. 1

The Notes were each secured by a Deed of Trust, Security Agreement and Financing Statement, and an Escrow Agreement for Interest Reserve. The Notes were non-recourse, but certain payments under the Escrow Agreements for Interest Reserve were guaranteed by the Debtor and its principals. The Debtor also executed a Contingent Interest Agreement Secured By Deed of Trust and an Assignment of Rents and/or Leases as additional security for each of the three loans. The three virtually identical sets of loan documents were admitted into evidence at the confirmation hearing.

The Notes were dated May 31, 1986, and were to mature on June 1, 1996, with large balloon payments due upon maturity. Payments under the Notes were “interest only” for the first five years, requiring a fixed dollar “minimum interest payment” as defined in the Notes. Principal reductions were to begin in year six. During the entire loan term, the Notes required the payment to Gill of one hundred percent of net cash flow generated by the Apartments, until all accrued and unpaid interest at the contract rate of ten percent was paid. 2 Beginning in year six, the minimum interest payment increased to two percent per annum on the outstanding principal balance, and monthly payments of principal were required from that time until maturity based on an amortization of the outstanding principal balance over thirty years at ten percent interest per annum. Beginning in year seven, the minimum interest rate increased to five percent for Hunter-wood only. For years eight through ten, the minimum interest rate was five percent per annum for all three apartment projects.

The Notes provided for the capitalization of the accrued and unpaid interest, being the difference between the ten percent contract rate and the pay rate, up to a specified amount, as follows:

Original Principal Amount Maximum Accrued Resultant and Capitalized Outstanding Amount Principal Balance

Hunterwood $7,000,000 $500,000 $ 7,500,000

Stoneleigh 7,575,000 675,000 8,250,000

Willow Glen 5,600,000 800,000 6,400,000

Total: $22,150,000

According to the financial information in evidence, the accrued and unpaid interest has reached the maximum under each of the Notes. Assuming all future payments are made in accordance with the Notes, the approximate total balloon payments due at *848 maturity on June 1, 1996, would be as follows:

Hunterwood $ 7,245,000

Stoneleigh 7,972,000

Willow Glen 6.186.700

Total: $21,402.700

Under the terms of the Escrow Agreement for Interest Reserve for each of the loans, the Debtor was also required to place the amount of the minimum interest payment in an escrow account with Gill, at the beginning of each of the first five years of the loans, in the amount of $110,000 per annum for Hunterwood, $151,500 per an-num for Stoneleigh, and $112,000 per an-num for Willow Glen, for a total of $373,-500 per annum. A $373,500 escrow payment was required at the inception of the loans on May 31, 1986, and subsequent payments were due on the first through the fourth anniversary dates of the loans. The second and third escrow payments (due on the first and second anniversaries, respectively) were provided for by letters of credit at the closing, and were paid into the escrow accounts on the appropriate dates.

In May, 1989, however, the Debtor failed to tender the fourth $373,500 escrow payment. Under the terms of the loan documents, including each of the three Escrow Agreements, the Debtor was in default. After the pendency of this case, the fifth escrow payment was also not paid by the Debtor. It appears that net cash flow through the pendency of the case has been paid, although belatedly, to the RTC after the RTC’s perfection of its interest in the rents. No provision was made in the Plan, however, to pay the fourth or fifth escrow payments.

The Debtor’s Plan purports to treat the RTC’s claim as “unimpaired,” as that term is defined in section 1124 of the Bankruptcy Code. The Debtor’s Plan purports to keep the contract and minimum interest pay rate structure under the Notes in effect, and to cure any past defaults at confirmation so that the RTC is conclusively presumed to have accepted the Plan under section 1126(f) of the Bankruptcy Code. The Disclosure Statement expressly provides that the RTC is unimpaired and, as such, has no right to vote either for or against the Plan because its class is deemed to accept the Plan. The RTC objects to confirmation, asserting that it is impaired, that it rejects the Plan, and that the Plan does not meet the confirmation standards of section 1129 of the Bankruptcy Code.

The first issue which will be discussed is whether the Debtor has established that its Plan satisfied the feasibility requirement of section 1129(a)(ll) of the Bankruptcy Code. The second issue is whether the RTC is impaired under the Plan.

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Bluebook (online)
138 B.R. 845, 6 Tex.Bankr.Ct.Rep. 231, 1992 Bankr. LEXIS 557, 1992 WL 78047, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-m-s-associates-ltd-txwb-1992.