In Re O'Quinn

98 B.R. 86, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 422, 1989 WL 28612
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedMarch 23, 1989
DocketBankruptcy 88-3119-BKC-3P1
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 98 B.R. 86 (In Re O'Quinn) 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 O'Quinn, 98 B.R. 86, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 422, 1989 WL 28612 (Fla. 1989).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GEORGE L. PROCTOR, Bankruptcy Judge.

This case is before the Court upon motion filed by Branch Properties, Inc., and Sun Bank of Ocala (“Movants”) seeking relief from the automatic stay or adequate protection. A hearing was held on February 9, 1989, and upon the evidence presented, the Court enters the following Memorandum Opinion:

FACTS

The debtors own and operate a cattle and horse farm near Ocala, Florida. They have real property consisting of five parcels of real estate, including the Grosse Pointe Stud Farm, 220 acres on State Road 40,164 acres abutting County Road 225-A, 20 acres South of State Road 40, and 80 acres in South Marion County. The debtors also own 160 horses, 200 herd of cattle and are the holders of a note and mortgage receivable from H & S Real Estate Company, Ltd. (the “H & S Mortgage Receivable”).

The real property is encumbered by a debt owing to movant, Branch Properties, Inc. (“Branch”) in the amount of $1,723,-742.73. This debt is secured by a mortgage executed by the debtors in favor of Branch in January of 1988, as well as an assignment of the H & S mortgage receivable. This collateral was subsequently assigned by Branch to Sun Bank of Ocala (“Sun Bank”).

The debtors defaulted under the terms of the note and mortgage by failing to make the payment due May 1, 1988, and all payments thereafter. Consequently, Branch and Sun Bank filed suit in state court to foreclose on the debtors’ property (the “foreclosure action”). On December 9, 1989, movants filed a motion for summary judgment in the foreclosure action which was scheduled to be heard on January 4, 1989. The trial of the foreclosure action was also scheduled for January 20, 1989.

In December, 1988, movants released the lien of the mortgage as to debtors’ real property located in Decatur County, Georgia. In consideration for the release, the debtors paid movants $75,000.00 and stipulated to the entry of a Final Judgment in the foreclosure action.

On December 16, 1988, the debtors filed under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. 11 U.S.C. § 1101, et seq. By virtue of § 362(a), the state court foreclosure action was stayed.

In addition to the obligation owed to the movants, the debtors show on Schedule A-l an unsecured priority debt to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $700,000.00 and approximately $385,000.00 in obligations to various judgment creditors. The schedules also list approximately $110,000.00 in unsecured debt owing to twenty-four other creditors.

The motion of January 12, 1989, seeking relief from the automatic stay argues that this reorganization proceeding is filed in bad faith for the sole purpose of frustrating and delaying the contractual rights of creditors. If proven, such a finding would support a lifting of the automatic stay for “cause.”

The Court notes that this is the debtors’ second bankruptcy filing. On August 12, 1985, they filed a Chapter 11 petition with this Court which was dismissed on January 14, 1988, when the debtors defaulted in payment under the confirmed plan of reorganization. (Finding that debtors were “farmers” precluded a conversion to Chapter 7.)

DISCUSSION

A. “BAD FAITH”

Movants seek relief from the automatic stay pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(d)(1). That section provides:

(d) On request of a party in interest and after notice and hearing, the court shall grant relief from the stay provided under subsection (a) of this section, such *88 as by terminating, annulling, modifying, or conditioning such stay—
(1) for cause, including the lack of adequate protection of an interest in property of such party in interest....

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has mandated that filing a petition in bad faith is “cause” for lifting the automatic stay. In re Little Creek Development Company, 779 F.2d 1068 (11th Cir.1986).

The Eleventh Circuit advises that there is no particular test for determining whether a debtor has filed a petition in bad faith. Instead, the courts are advised to consider any factors which evidence “an intent to abuse the judicial process and the purposes of the reorganization provisions” or, in particular, factors which evidence that the petition was filed “to delay or frustrate the legitimate efforts of secured creditors to enforce their rights.” In re Natural Land Corp., 825 F.2d 296, 298 (11th Cir.1987); See also, In re Brandywine Associates, Ltd., 85 B.R. 626 (Bkrtcy.M.D.Fla.1988).

The litany of factors which case law suggests is evidence of bad faith are:

(i) The debtor has one asset, such as a tract of undeveloped or developed real property;
(ii) The debtor has few unsecured creditors whose claims are small in relation to the claims of the secured creditors;
(iii) The debtor’s financial problems involve essentially a dispute between the debtor and the secured creditors which can be resolved in the pending state court action;
(iv) The property is the subject of a foreclosure action as a result of arrearage on the debt;
(v) The timing of the debtor’s filing evidences an intent to delay or frustrate the legitimate efforts of the debtor’s secured creditors to enforce their rights.
(vi) There is a lack of a realistic possibility of an effective reorganization;
(vii) The debtor has few employees;
(viii) The debtor is seeking to use the bankruptcy provisions to create and organize a new business, not to reorganize or rehabilitate an existing enterprise or to preserve going concern value of a viable or existing business; and
(ix) The debtor appears to be merely a shell corporation.

See, In re Little Creek Development Corp., supra; In re Albany Partners, Ltd., 749 F.2d 670 (11th Cir.1984); In re Phoenix Piccadilly, Ltd., 849 F.2d 1393 (11th Cir.1988); In re RAD Properties, Inc., 84 B.R. 827 (Bkrtcy.M.D.Fla.1988); In re Brandywine Associates, Ltd., 85 B.R. 626 (Bkrtcy.M.D.Fla.1988); In re Bell Partners, Ltd., 82 B.R. 593 (Bkrtcy.M.D. Fla.1988); In re Sar-Manco, Inc., 70 B.R. 132, 141 (Bkrtcy.M.D.Fla.1986).

Contrary to movants’ contention, the evidence shows that the debtors own and operate a viable horse and cattle farming operation which has a realistic possibility of reorganization.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
98 B.R. 86, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 422, 1989 WL 28612, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-oquinn-flmb-1989.