In re: Shumate Spokane, LLC

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 25, 2015
DocketEW-14-1302-TaPaJu
StatusUnpublished

This text of In re: Shumate Spokane, LLC (In re: Shumate Spokane, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re: Shumate Spokane, LLC, (bap9 2015).

Opinion

FILED AUG 25 2015 1 NOT FOR PUBLICATION SUSAN M. SPRAUL, CLERK 2 U.S. BKCY. APP. PANEL OF THE NINTH CIRCUIT

3 UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY APPELLATE PANEL 4 OF THE NINTH CIRCUIT 5 In re: ) BAP No. EW-14-1302-TaPaJu ) 6 SHUMATE SPOKANE, LLC, ) Bk. No. 09-05081-FLK11 ) 7 Debtor. ) Adv. No. 11-80035-FLK ______________________________) 8 ) GEORGE F. LATUS; MICHAEL ) 9 WILHITE; MATT THOMASSON; ) ARIC MUSE, ) 10 ) Appellants, ) 11 ) v. ) MEMORANDUM* 12 ) SHUMATE SPOKANE, LLC; JOHN ) 13 MICHAEL SHUMATE; JENNIFER D. ) SHUMATE; HARLEY-DAVIDSON ) 14 CREDIT CORPORATION; GE CAPITAL) FRANCHISE FINANCE CORPORATION,) 15 ) Appellees. ) 16 ______________________________) 17 Submitted Without Oral Argument** on July 23, 2015 at Pasadena, California 18 Filed – August 25, 2015 19 Appeal from the United States Bankruptcy Court 20 for the Eastern District of Washington 21 Honorable Frank L. Kurtz, Bankruptcy Judge, Presiding 22 * 23 This disposition is not appropriate for publication. Although it may be cited for whatever persuasive value it may 24 have (see Fed. R. App. P. 32.1), it has no precedential value. See 9th Cir. BAP Rule 8024-1(c)(2). 25 ** After examination of the briefs and record, in an order 26 entered December 15, 2014, the Panel unanimously determined that oral argument was not needed for this appeal and granted 27 appellants’ motion for submission on the briefs and appellate record. See Fed. R. Bankr. P. 8019(b); 9th Cir. BAP Rule 8019- 28 1. 1 2 Appearances: Timothy J. Carlson of Carlson Boyd, PLLC on brief for Appellants Aric Muse, Matt Thomasson 3 and Michael Wilhite; Dianna J. Caley of Wong Fleming, PC on brief for Appellee Harley- 4 Davidson Credit Corporation; Jeffrey T. Wegner and Lisa M. Peters of Kutak Rock LLP on brief 5 for Appellee GE Capital Franchise Finance Corporation 6 7 Before: TAYLOR, PAPPAS, and JURY, Bankruptcy Judges. 8 9 INTRODUCTION1 10 This is the second time we consider this appeal, which 11 arises from the bankruptcy court’s judgment against appellants 12 Michael Wilhite, Matt Thomasson, and Aric Muse in their 13 adversary proceeding for the recovery of wages and employee 14 benefits. Previously, we determined that the order subject to 15 appeal was not final and dismissed the appeal for lack of 16 jurisdiction. See BAP No. EW-12-1249-TaPaJu, ECF No. 57. The 17 judgment is now final, and we now AFFIRM. 18 FACTS2 19 The Debtor filed its chapter 11 bankruptcy case on 20 September 9, 2009. Before filing, the Debtor operated 21 22 1 Unless otherwise indicated, all chapter and section 23 references are to the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. §§ 101-1532. All “Rule” references are to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy 24 Procedure and all “Civil Rule” references are to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 25 2 We exercise our discretion to independently review 26 documents filed in the adversary proceeding and the underlying bankruptcy case. See O’Rourke v. Seaboard Sur. Co. (In re E.R. 27 Fegert, Inc.), 887 F.2d 955, 957-58 (9th Cir. 1989); Atwood v. Chase Manhattan Mortg. Co. (In re Atwood), 293 B.R. 227, 233 n.9 28 (9th Cir. BAP 2003).

2 1 motorcycle sales and repair shops licensed and franchised 2 through an entity related to Harley-Davidson Motor Company. On 3 June 10, 2010, the bankruptcy court entered an order approving 4 the sale of substantially all of the Debtor’s assets (“Sale 5 Order”). The Sale Order provided for payment in full of the 6 secured claim of Harley-Davidson Credit Corporation (“Harley- 7 Davidson”), less a $33,333 carve-out and surcharge, and payment 8 of $400,000 to GE Capital Franchise Finance Corporation 9 (“GEFF”) on account of its secured claim, again less a $33,333 10 carve-out and surcharge.3 11 According to the Affidavit of Daniel Small, the GEFF Vice- 12 President directly responsible for GEFF’s claims against the 13 Debtor, the business appeared to be inoperative at least six 14 months before the sale. Monthly Operating Reports filed by the 15 Debtor are consistent with this assertion as they routinely 16 reported that the Debtor had no employees, $0 in sales revenue, 17 and $0 in repair revenues. 18 On March 2, 2011, the Appellants commenced an adversary 19 proceeding naming five defendants: the Debtor, John Michial 20 Shumate, Jennifer Shumate, GEFF, and Harley-Davidson. They 21 3 22 In addition, the buyer agreed to pay into escrow an additional $33,333, to be combined with the surcharge amounts 23 from GEFF and Harley-Davidson and to pay the “reasonable and necessary costs and expenses of disposing of the collateral that 24 benefitted the two secured creditors through the sale process” pursuant to § 506(c). The Appellants assert on appeal that they 25 received no payment from the sale proceeds. On September 20, 2011, however, the bankruptcy court entered a Stipulated Order 26 on Motion for Disbursement of “Carve Out” Contribution Funds, which includes payments as follows from the surcharge proceeds: 27 $8,024.30 to Mike Wilhite, $8,136.25 to Matt Thomasson, and $15,476.33 to Aric Muse, with such payments to be credited 28 against their post-petition compensation.

3 1 amended their complaint almost immediately. The First Amended 2 Complaint (“FAC”) alleged that the Debtor continued to employ 3 them postpetition in managerial positions and stated “that 4 their help was necessary to keep the business operating so that 5 it could be sold as a going concern which would significantly 6 enhance the purchase price . . . .” First Am. Compl. ¶¶ 26-27. 7 It also alleged that the Appellants were not paid any wages, 8 overtime, retirement, or other benefits for postpetition work 9 that provided benefit to GEFF and Harley-Davidson. 10 The FAC alleged claims for relief including recovery 11 under: (1) § 506(c); (2) quantum meruit or unjust enrichment 12 theories; and (3) the Fair Labor Standards Act. The 13 Appellants’ prayer for relief, as relevant to this appeal, 14 sought to collect the judgment directly from GEFF and Harley- 15 Davidson. 16 Both GEFF and Harley-Davidson filed motions to dismiss 17 under Civil Rule 12(b)(6) as to all claims asserted in the FAC. 18 GEFF generally argued that, other than identifying GEFF as a 19 corporation doing business in Washington, the FAC did not refer 20 to GEFF in a factual allegation and, in particular, failed to 21 allege that GEFF employed or had any contact with the 22 Appellants. As to the first claim, GEFF also argued that the 23 Appellants lacked standing to seek a § 506(c) surcharge and 24 that the bankruptcy court lacked subject matter jurisdiction as 25 a result of the standing deficiency and because the collateral 26 allegedly subject to § 506(c) surcharge was no longer property 27 of the estate. 28 Harley-Davidson raised similar arguments and further

4 1 asserted that the Appellants were collaterally estopped from 2 seeking a surcharge based on the final Sale Order, which 3 allocated sale proceeds. It also argued that the FAC did not 4 adequately plead a valid quantum meruit or unjust enrichment 5 claim as Harley-Davidson was a fully secured creditor entitled 6 to payoff of its secured claim. 7 The Appellants next moved for leave to amend the FAC. 8 Following hearings and supplemental briefing on the collective 9 motions, the bankruptcy court dismissed the first claim under 10 § 506(c) with prejudice.

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In re: Shumate Spokane, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-shumate-spokane-llc-bap9-2015.