In re Serrano

545 B.R. 447, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 325, 2016 WL 424876
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedFebruary 3, 2016
DocketCASE NO. 13-07734 (ESL)
StatusPublished

This text of 545 B.R. 447 (In re Serrano) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Serrano, 545 B.R. 447, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 325, 2016 WL 424876 (prb 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

Enrique S. Lamoutte, United States Bankruptcy Judge

This case is before the court upon the Debtor’s Objection to Claim Number (12) by Creditor Treasury Department (Hacienda de P.R.) and Notice of Opportunity for a Hearing (the “Objection”) (Docket No. 39) and the reply (Docket No. 63) filed by the Treasury Department of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (thereafter referred to as “Treasury”). The Debtor filed a Sur-Reply to Puerto Rico Treasury [448]*448Department’s Reply to Debtor’s Objection to Claim Number 12 (Docket No. 70).' Also before the court is the Debtor’s Motion for Summary Judgment on Objection to Claim #12 filed at Docket entry # 39 (Docket No. 125) and Treasury’s Response in Opposition to Debtor’s Motion for Summary Judgment on Objection to POC 12 and Memorandum, of Law Thereof (Docket No. 132). The Debtor argues that section 507(a)(8)(C) is not applicable because the tax debts on proof of claim # 12 were incurred by Jet Center, Inc., which is a juridical person separate and distinct from the Debtor. Debtor also argues that 13 L.P.R.A. §§ 33331-33332 do not apply to the Debtor because these sections were enacted in the year 2011, subsequent to Jet Center, Inc.’s tax debts. Moreover, section 6180 of the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 1994, 13 L.P.R.A. § 8180 did not impose personal liability for withholding of taxes on the officers of a corporation. Treasury contends that the Debt- or, as President of Jet Center, Inc. was responsible for the tax withholdings of such entity and for the corporate tax obligations pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(8)(C) and section 6180 of the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code, 13 L.P.R.A. § 8180, as amended by section 6080.01 of the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code, 13 L.P.R.A. § 33331. Treasury argues that both codes impose personal liability for taxes withheld.

For the reasons stated below, the Debt- or’s Motion for Summary Judgment on Objection to Claim #12’s is denied and Treasury’s cross motion for summary judgment is granted in part and denied in part.

Jurisdiction

The court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 157(a) and 1334(b). This is a core proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(B).

Procedural Background

The Debtor filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition on September 19, 2013. In her Statement of Financial Affairs (“SOFA”) the Debtor disclosed in line item # 18 that she had a business named Jet Center from the years 1999-2010 and the nature of such business was charter sales (Docket No. 4, pg. 48). On February 20, 2014, the Debtor’s Chapter 13 plan was confirmed (Docket No. 31). On March 18, 2014, the Treasury filed proof of claim # 12-1 in the amount of $62,633.38 of which $42,094,70 was listed as a priority claim under 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(8), and the remaining $20,538.68 was listed as a general unsecured claim. These taxes are owed by Jet Center, Inc.

On May 28, 2014, the Debtor filed her Objection to Treasury’s proof of claim # 12 arguing that the Debtor is not liable for the tax debts of Jet Center, Inc. and that the same has been inactive since April 16, 2014 (Docket No. 39). On June 2, 2014, the Debtor filed an Informative Motion by which she informed that the amendment to the SOFA consisted in changing the date of cancellation of Jet Center, Inc. to April 16, 2014 instead of the year 2010 (Docket No. 41). On June 25, 2014, Treasury filed a motion (Docket No. 48) requesting an extension of thirty (30) days to reply to Debtor’s objection to claim #12 and the same was granted on June 26, 2014 (Docket No. 49).

On August 13, 2014, Treasury filed its Reply to Debtor’s Objection to the Department of Treasury’s POC No. 12 arguing that pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(8)(C) and section 6080.01 of the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code, 13 L.P.R.A. § 8180, the Debtor as the owner of Jet Center, Inc. has the contributive obligation to pay all the tax debts of said corporation and is personally liable for the same (Docket No. 63). On August 18, 2014, the [449]*449Debtor filed a Motion for Leave to Reply (Docket No. 66) requesting an extension of thirty (30) 'days to file its reply to Treasury’s motion and the same was granted on August 20, 2014 (Docket No. 67). On September 11, 2014, the Debtor filed an Informative Motion Amending Statement of Financial Affairs #18 which consisted in clarifying the corporate status of the business identified as Jet Center, Inc. (Docket No. 69). On September 12, 2014, the Debtor filed her Sur-Reply to Puerto Rico Treasury Department’s Reply to Debtor’s Objection to Claim Number 12 arguing as follows: (i) Treasury has failed to establish any statutory or case law basis for the Debtor’s liability for the debt allegedly incurred by Jet Center, Inc.; (ii) Treasury has not established that the Debtor was the person responsible for collecting and withholding taxes at Jet Center, Inc. from any other person and remitting the same to Treasury; and (iii) the amended Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 2011 added a new section that specifies that corporate stakeholders are responsible for withholding or collecting corporate taxes, but this section is inapplicable in this case because the alleged tax debts are for the years 2000-2010 which fall under the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 1994 (Docket No. 70).

On September 24, 2014, the court docketed an Order and Notice Preliminary Pretrial Conference ordering the Debtor and Treasury to file a joint pre-trial report seven (7) days prior to the hearing date which was scheduled for 01/14/2015 (Docket No. 73). On January 9, 2015, the Debt- or filed a Motion Requesting Pretrial Hearing be Continued or Converted to Status Conference (Docket No. 84) and the same was granted on January 14, 2015. The pretrial hearing was continued and rescheduled for May 6, 2015 (Docket No. 85). On February 19, 2015, the Debtor filed an Informative Motion informing the court that she had served Treasury through its legal counsel with a first of interrogatories, request for admissions and request for production of documents (Docket No. 89). On March 26, 2015, Treasury filed a Motion Requesting Extension of Time of thirty (30) days to answer Debtor’s first set of interrogatories, request for admissions and request for production of documents (Docket No. 99). Treasury’s motion requesting an extension of time was granted on March 27, 2015 (Docket No. 100). On May 4, 2015, the Debtor filed a Motion for Continuance of Pretrial Hearing (Docket No. 105) and the same was granted on said date (Docket No. 106). The pretrial hearing was continued to September 2,2015.

On September 1, 2015, the Debtor filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on Objection to Claim # 12 filed at Docket Entry # 39

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
545 B.R. 447, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 325, 2016 WL 424876, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-serrano-prb-2016.