In Re Quality Beverage Co., Inc.

181 B.R. 887, 33 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1049, 1995 Bankr. LEXIS 664, 1995 WL 307791
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedMarch 31, 1995
Docket19-80048
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 181 B.R. 887 (In Re Quality Beverage Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, S.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 Quality Beverage Co., Inc., 181 B.R. 887, 33 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1049, 1995 Bankr. LEXIS 664, 1995 WL 307791 (Tex. 1995).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

LETITIA Z. CLARK, Bankruptcy Judge.

The court has considered the Joint Motion of NationsBank of Texas, N.A., and the Chapter 11 Trustee for (i) Reconsideration of Order Denying First Claims Allowance Motion Without Prejudice and (ii) Approval of Revised Sharing Agreement as Compromise and Settlement Agreement under Rule 9019 (Docket No. 677) (“Compromise Motion”), and the Motion to Convert Case to Chapter 7 (Docket No. 691) filed by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and Texas Employment Commission. The following are the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law of the court. A separate conforming Judgment will be entered. To the extent any of the Findings of Fact may be considered Conclusions of Law, they are adopted as such. To the extent any of the Conclusions of Law may be considered Findings of Fact, they are adopted as such.

Findings of Fact

A. Background

1. Quality Beverage Company, Inc. (“Debtor”) filed its voluntary Chapter 11 petition on October 28,1993. Debtor continued as a debtor in possession from the petition date until appointment of a Chapter 11 Trustee on November 15, 1995, on motion of NationsBank of Texas, N.A. (“NationsBank”) and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (“Committee”).

2. Hearings were held on November 10, 1994 and November 15, 1994 on a motion seeking approval of an earlier “sharing agreement” which is substantially similar to the instant agreement. Transcripts of those hearings were admitted into evidence at the hearing on the Compromise Motion. Authorization of the prior agreement was denied without prejudice. (Tr. 11/15/94, Docket No. 667, at p. 4).

3. At the earlier hearing, John W. Hunt, the Chief Financial Officer of the Debtor at the time of the petition, testified that Debtor had decided, early in the history of the bankruptcy case, that it would liquidate rather than reorganize. This decision, Hunt testified, was made as a result of a determination by several of Debtor’s prepetition suppliers not to accept return of merchandise sold to Debtor, as well as of the impact of Debtor’s largest supplier’s hiring away Debtor’s sales team. This decision was announced in open court on November 12, 1993, in connection with a hearing on Debtor’s request to obtain postpetition financing and to use Nations-Bank’s cash collateral.

4. Jeffrey A. Shadwick, (“Trustee”) and NationsBank are now requesting the court to determine that the orders arising from the November 12, 1993 hearing, together with subsequent funding of the Debtor by Nati-onsBank, operate to establish NationsBank’s superpriority claim. Trustee and Nations-Bank have sought approval of their joint “Revised Sharing Agreement”, which provides a mechanism for distribution to creditors based on allowance of NationsBank’s superpriority claim. The Committee joins in the motion. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (“TABC”), Texas Employment Commission (“TEC”), and other parties in interest have objected to the motion.

5. TABC and TEC have sought conversion to Chapter 7, for the reason that Debtor has long since ceased any attempt to reorganize, and that no liquidating plan is contemplated.

B. The Agreement

6. The proposed Revised Sharing Agreement provides for the compromise of several controversies raised by the Committee. Those controversies include the Committee’s request for compensation of its counsel and *891 request that such compensation be allowed as a surcharge against NationsBank’s collateral, the Committee’s request that this court determine the secured status of NationsBank’s claim, and the Committee’s request that it be permitted to prosecute on behalf of the estate a fraudulent transfer action against Michael Saragusa.

7. Under the proposed Revised Sharing Agreement, the parties agree as to the value of NationsBank’s collateral, and the amount of and secured and superpriority status of NationsBank’s claims. The agreement calls for NationsBank to assign the first $650,-000.00 of any proceeds NationsBank receives from preference avoidance actions and recovery of in-ldnd transfers into an escrow account for a pro-rata distribution to a group of listed unsecured creditors holding scheduled claims, as well as the Committee’s professionals. The agreement also calls upon Nati-onsBank to create an escrow for pro-rata distribution to a second group of listed unsecured creditors holding contingent claims as a result of the avoidance actions. The agreement makes no provision for allowance or disallowance of claims, but instead calls for pro-rata disbursements based on the scheduled amounts of the claims.

8. The agreement provides that the case will be converted to Chapter 7, and that Jeffrey Shadwick will be appointed as Chapter 7 Trustee. Shadwick is the present Chapter 11 Trustee. Upon such conversion, NationsBank agrees to provide Shadwick an advance of $100,000.00 on an as-needed basis to cover the expense of prosecuting avoidance actions.

9. The agreement provides for each creditor to assign its claim to the Trustee and/or to NationsBank as a condition of receiving distribution of any of the escrowed funds, and to remit any funds received from Debt- or’s estate to NationsBank.

10. The agreement calls for a waiver of any claim on which a distribution is made, and on which the check tendered for payment is not negotiated within ninety days.

C. Objections to Approval of the Agreement

11. A number of parties oppose the motion. Objections were filed by TABC and TEC (Docket No. 691), Michael Saragusa (Docket No. 700), Kendall Jackson Winery, Ltd., d/b/a Cambria Vineyards, Majestic Marketing Group, Ltd., and Round Hill Estates (“Kendall”) (Docket No. 693), City of Houston (Docket No. 692), and Houston I.S.D., San Antonio I.S.D., Bexar County, City of San Antonio, City of Grand Prairie, Tarrant County, and Jefferson County (“Tax Authorities”) (Docket No. 689). Ector County I.S.D., Odessa Junior College District, City of Odessa, and Ector County Hospital District join in the objection of Houston I.S.D., etal. (Docket No. 704). TABC, TEC and Kendall believe the agreement is an attempt to circumvent the plan confirmation process and priorities established in the Bankruptcy Code. The Tax Authorities assert that the agreement fails to take into account possible credits to the estate if Nati-onsBank collects from Michael Saragusa, who made personal guarantys of the Nations-Bank debt. Michael Saragusa asserts that NationsBank is not entitled to a superpriority claim.

D. Postpetition Course of Dealings

12. NationsBank contends that its claim was $14.18 million as of September 30, 1994, and that it has a superpriority claim for at least $4.845 million. NationsBank claims a superpriority debt as a result of “(i) post-petition financing provided by NationsBank to the Debtor under the Financing Order; (ii) the Debtor’s use of NationsBank’s Cash Collateral as authorized by the First and Second Cash Collateral Orders; and (iii) a post-petition decline in the value of the Debt- or’s inventory arising from post-petition events.” (Compromise Motion, Docket No. 677, at 4).

13.

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181 B.R. 887, 33 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1049, 1995 Bankr. LEXIS 664, 1995 WL 307791, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-quality-beverage-co-inc-txsb-1995.