In Re Richard Six, Debtor. Ob/gyn Solutions, L.C. v. Richard Six

80 F.3d 452, 35 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1231, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 7889, 28 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1185, 1996 WL 143405
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedApril 15, 1996
Docket94-3569
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 80 F.3d 452 (In Re Richard Six, Debtor. Ob/gyn Solutions, L.C. v. Richard Six) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Richard Six, Debtor. Ob/gyn Solutions, L.C. v. Richard Six, 80 F.3d 452, 35 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1231, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 7889, 28 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1185, 1996 WL 143405 (11th Cir. 1996).

Opinions

WEIS, Senior Circuit Judge:

In this case, the holder of a note secured by a mortgage filed a claim in bankruptcy giving credit for the amount bid at a judicial sale in the state foreclosure proceeding. Because the claim put the amount of the credit at issue, we conclude that the creditor cannot invoke res judicata to bar the debtor-guarantor from showing that the value of the property was more than the bid price. Therefore, we affirm the district court’s order sustaining the bankruptcy judge’s finding that the property value exceeded the amount of the claim, which he accordingly denied.

Debtor, Dr. Richard R. Six, was a guarantor on a note secured by a mortgage on realty located in Brandon, Florida. After default, the mortgagee, Fort Brooke Savings Bank, began foreclosure proceedings in the Florida circuit court. On December 14,1990, the state court entered a final judgment of foreclosure determining that the amount of the lien was $1,838,196.02. The bank bid in the property for $1,200,000 at a judicial sale on January 17,1991.

In the same case, the bank obtained a judgment on February 12, 1991 for $1,838,-196.02 on the note. The money judgment did not reflect an offset for the judicial sale price or any estimate of the fair market value of the real estate. On July 12, 1991, the state court issued a certificate of title conveying the real property to the bank. On May 22, 1992, the bank assigned the money judgment of February 12, 1991 to Ob/Gyn Solutions, L.C., and on that same date conveyed the real estate to Ob/Gyn for $1,540,000.

At the direction of Ob/Gyn, on June 18, 1992 the sheriff levied on shares of stock in “Drs. Sheer, Ahearn & Associates, P.A.” owned by Dr. Six. Four days later, Dr. Six filed a motion in state court to satisfy, or obtain relief from, the February 1991 judgment. He alleged, inter alia, that no deficiency decree had been obtained after the foreclosure and that the value of the real estate exceeded the amount of the judgment. The state court stayed the execution on Dr. Six’s stock and directed the sheriff to hold the certificates pending further order. In March 1993, Ob/Gyn filed a motion in the state court for summary judgment.

Dr. Six filed a petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code on April 28, 1998, thus staying the state court proceeding. Ob/Gyn submitted a Proof of Claim in the bankruptcy court for the amount of the February 1991 judgment plus interest, crediting against that, however, the bid price of $1,200,000, leaving a net claim of $869,653.53. Ob/Gyn asserted that $250,000 of its claim was secured by the lien on Dr. Six’s stock.

In ruling on an objection to the claim, the bankruptcy judge concluded that Dr. Six should have raised his argument for an offset in the state court proceeding leading to the entry.of the February 1991 judgment. Having failed to do so, he was subject to the defense of res judicata. However, the bankruptcy judge determined that under Florida law, res judicata is not rigidly enforced if its application would result in manifest injustice. He decided to invoke the exception because, otherwise, Ob/Gyn would obtain a windfall.

The bankruptcy judge then ruled that the Ob/Gyn claim should credit Dr. Six with the fair market value of the real estate at the time of the judicial sale rather than the bid price. After a hearing, the value was found to be more than $1,900,000, a sum in excess of the February 1991 judgment. Consequently, the bankruptcy judge disallowed Ob/ Gyn’s claim in its entirety.

On appeal, the district court affirmed, agreeing that under Florida law, res judicata would not be applicable because it would be inequitable under the circumstances. Citing Pepper v. Litton, 308 U.S. 295, 305, 60 S.Ct. 238, 244-45, 84 L.Ed. 281 (1939), the court [455]*455also affirmed on the ground that a bankruptcy judge has broad equitable power to inquire into the validity of any claim, even one that had been reduced to judgment. Ob/Gyn has appealed.

I.

APPELLATE JURISDICTION

We first address the question of jurisdiction. District courts may review interlocutory orders of a bankruptcy judge, but Courts of Appeals have jurisdiction only of final orders. In re Delta Resources, Inc., 54 F.3d 722, 726 (11th Cir.1995). The matter before us presents a combination of the two.

In the bankruptcy proceedings, the bankruptcy judge sustained Dr. Six’s challenge to Ob/Gyn’s claim and disallowed it. That was a final order and was properly appealed to the district court.

Dr. Six also filed an adversary proceeding, seeking a determination that Ob/Gyn had no lien on the stock because it did not have a valid claim. Aso included in the complaint was a count requesting avoidance of potential liens on the stock that might be asserted by third parties holding other judgments against Dr. Six.

On May 2, 1994, the bankruptcy judge entered an order denying Ob/Gyn’s motion for summary judgment in the adversary proceeding. On August 2, 1994, also in the adversary proceeding, the bankruptcy judge granted Dr. Six’s motion for partial summary judgment, finding that Ob/Gyn had no lien on the stock and ordering that it be returned to Dr. Six. The order denying Ob/Gyn’s motion for summary judgment is interlocutory and not final. Similarly, the grant of summary judgment to Dr. Six did not dispose of all counts of his complaint, although the remaining count, which addressed the possibility of liens by other judgment creditors, was also dependent on the validity of the Ob/Gyn claim. When Ob/Gyn’s claim was repudiated, those creditors then had potential opportunities to become secured creditors.

The district court granted permission to appeal these interlocutory orders and then consolidated them for all purposes with the appeal from the final order in the underlying bankruptcy proceeding disallowing Ob/Gyn’s claim. The various orders overlap because the principal and dispositive issue in each is the same — the validity of the claim asserted by Ob/Gyn. The difficulty here is that the district court consolidated the one final order with the two interlocutory ones, and the parties have failed to properly distinguish these three separate appeals to the district court.

In re F.D.R. Hickory House, Inc., 60 F.3d 724 (11th Cir.1995), discussed the more flexible standard of finality in appeals of bankruptcy orders. There, we pointed out that we would review “even an order of marginal finality ... if the question presented is fundamental to further conduct of the case.” Id. at 727 (quoting Atlantic Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n v. Blythe Eastman Paine Webber, Inc., 890 F.2d 371, 376 (11th Cir.1989)).

The interlocutory order denying Ob/Gyn’s motion for summary judgment may be reviewed along with the final order because it is merely duplicative and, for all practical purposes, simply a restatement of the same issue. The order unquestionably is fundamental to further conduct of the case because of the size of the claim in relation to the others asserted in the bankruptcy proceeding.

The interlocutory order granting summary judgment to Dr. Six is similarly a repeat of the dispositive issue.

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Bluebook (online)
80 F.3d 452, 35 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1231, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 7889, 28 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1185, 1996 WL 143405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-richard-six-debtor-obgyn-solutions-lc-v-richard-six-ca11-1996.