In re Mandalay Shores Cooperative Housing

178 B.R. 879, 8 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 414, 1995 Bankr. LEXIS 325
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 10, 1995
DocketBankruptcy No. 86-1183-8P1
StatusPublished

This text of 178 B.R. 879 (In re Mandalay Shores Cooperative Housing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Mandalay Shores Cooperative Housing, 178 B.R. 879, 8 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 414, 1995 Bankr. LEXIS 325 (Fla. 1995).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT UPON REMAND

ALEXANDER L. PASKAY, Chief Judge.

THIS WAS the third Chapter 11 case filed by Mandalay Shores Cooperative Housing. Although the case has been dismissed, this Court retained jurisdiction for the limited purpose of determining the administrative expense claims that have been asserted pursuant to § 503 of the Bankruptcy Code.

The matters under consideration are an Application for Payment of Compensation and Reimbursement of Expenses and the Supplement to the Application filed by Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. (Chase). Chase in its Applications seeks allowance as reimbursement for the costs it incurred as attorneys fees for the services rendered to it by the law firm of Mershon, Sawyer, Johnston, Dunwo-dy & Cole (Mershon Sawyer) and by the law firm of Hunton & Williams. After considering the Application, this Court entered an Order on July 23, 1990, denying the application and Supplement. Chase, having been aggrieved by the Order, timely filed a notice of appeal. In due course, the District Court considered the appeal and entered an order affirming this Court’s Order which had been entered on the Applications on July 23,1990. Chase which was then aggrieved by the Order of the District Court, filed an appeal with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

On May 23, 1994, the Court of Appeals entered its Memorandum Opinion and Order and remanded the matter with directions for this Court to make specific fact findings and enter conclusions of law which formed the basis of this Court’s Order of July 23, 1990, denying the original Application and the supplemental Application of Chase.

The facts relevant to the resolution of the matter under consideration are undisputed and appear from the record as follows:

The Debtor was formed on August 7, 1979 as a not-for-profit corporation by the tenants of an apartment complex located in Clear-water Beach, Florida known as Mandalay Shores. The corporation was formed for the purpose of acquiring ownership of Mandalay Shores and thereafter operating it as a cooperative housing facility for the benefit of the members of the association. In order to achieve this goal, the organizers launched a drive and within 48 hours were able to collect a grand total of approximately $938,000 from the participating tenants who each contributed from $2,328 to $5,013. The funds collected were deposited into an interest bearing account in the Chicago facility of Chase in 1979. When it became evident that the Debtor would not be able to purchase Mandalay Shores, certain tenants became' disenchanted with the project and demanded the return of their contributions, which they claim were made only for the specific purpose of purchasing Mandalay Shores and could not be spent for any other purpose. Although some tenants received their contributions, other tenants did not receive any refund, and these tenants filed a suit in the Circuit Court of Pinellas County recover their funds for the appointment of a receiver. Their motion was granted and the Circuit Court did appoint a receiver even though the Debtor had no assets whatsoever with the exception of the funds deposited with Chase in Chicago.

On April 3, 1981, the Debtor filed its first Petition for Relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in this Court. After several unsuccessful attempts to obtain confirmation, this Court entered an Order on October 25, 1985 and dismissed the Chapter 11 case. The plaintiffs in the Circuit Court quickly resumed their state court action, but before they could proceed any further, the Debtor responded by filing its second Chapter 11 [881]*881Petition on October 4, 1985, although this second Petition was filed in the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. The disgruntled creditors wasted no time in attacking this second filing and were successful in obtaining an order entered on December 19, 1985, which dismissed the second Chapter 11 case. The Debtor filed a notice of appeal in Chicago challenging the Order of Dismissal, but the District Court, on appeal, having reviewed extensively this Court’s previous findings and the findings of the Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, dismissed the appeal. See In re Mandalay Shores Coop. Housing Ass’n, Inc., 63 B.R. 842 (N.D.Ill.1986).

On March 31, 1986, the Debtor, who had also unsuccessfully attempted to purchase several different apartment complexes, filed its third Chapter 11 case, this time in the Middle District of Florida and this third ease remained pending for almost four years. While the case was pending, this Court appointed Mr. Langfred W. White (Trustee) as the Chapter 11 Trustee pursuant to § 1104 of the Bankruptcy Code. During the pen-dency of this Chapter 11 case there were two separate proceedings commenced, both related to the funds which were still held by Chase in Chicago. The first proceeding, which was filed by Ralph Meyer (Meyer) and Elizabeth Cannon (Cannon) on June 16,1989, was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. This suit was not only filed on behalf of Meyer and Cannon on their own behalf, but also on behalf of a purported class of plaintiffs which, according to Meyer and Cannon were similarly situated. Meyer and Cannon, were tenants of Mandalay Shores and also contributed to the fund deposited with Chase in Chicago. The plaintiffs in that action sought a declaratory judgment with respect to the funds held by Chase and asserted that the funds were not property of the Chapter 11 estate, but instead represented the corpus of a charitable trust established by the tenants of Mandalay Shores and members of the newly formed association.

The plaintiffs contended that the Debtor was in fact a trustee for a charitable trust, and that the members or contributing tenants were the beneficiaries of that trust. The plaintiffs requested that the District Court determine their rights as trust beneficiaries to the funds involved.

The suit initially named only Chase as a Defendant in the action. Langfred White, as Trustee of the Chapter 11 estate (Trustee), intervened in the District Court action. On August 25, 1989, the Plaintiffs filed an Amended Complaint which added the Trustee as a Defendant. The Trustee and Chase both filed Motions to Dismiss the District of Columbia action. On December 12,1989, the District Court dismissed the action, without prejudice, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction of the suit filed by Cannon & Meyer.

The second suit concerning the funds held by Chase was filed by the Trustee against Chase in the Bankruptcy Court for turnover of the funds pursuant to Section 542 of the Bankruptcy Code. On July 28, 1989, Chase filed its Answer, Affirmative Defenses, Counterclaim, and Third Party Complaint. The Counterclaim essentially consisted of an in-terpleader action whereby Chase asserted that it was faced with conflicting claims to the funds and the Third Party Claim was asserted against Meyer and Cannon. On September 12, 1990, the Trustee filed a Motion for Summary Judgment in the turnover action. On September 20, 1990, Chase filed its own Motion for Summary Judgment and sought an order authorizing it to deposit the funds in the registry of the Court and dismissing it from the suit filed by the Trustee. On December 10,1990, the Court entered its Order on the Motions for Summary Judgment and Final Judgment. In this Order, the Court granted the Trustee’s Motion and ordered Chase to turn the funds over to the Trustee within 15 days from the date of the Order. The Court also granted Chase’s Motion for Summary Judgment for a discharge in interpleader once the funds were delivered to the Trustee.

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Related

In Re Mandalay Shores Co-Op. Housing Ass'n, Inc.
63 B.R. 842 (N.D. Illinois, 1986)
Central Bank of Tampa v. United States
838 F. Supp. 564 (M.D. Florida, 1993)
Hughes Supply, Inc. v. A.A. Electric Corp.
145 F.R.D. 590 (M.D. Florida, 1993)

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Bluebook (online)
178 B.R. 879, 8 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 414, 1995 Bankr. LEXIS 325, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-mandalay-shores-cooperative-housing-flmb-1995.