In re TM Vill., Ltd.

598 B.R. 851
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedFebruary 27, 2019
DocketCASE NO. 18-32770-BJH
StatusPublished

This text of 598 B.R. 851 (In re TM Vill., Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.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 TM Vill., Ltd., 598 B.R. 851 (Tex. 2019).

Opinion

Douglas D. Dodd, United States Bankruptcy Judge

TM Village, Ltd. (the "Debtor ") moved to assume prepetition sales contracts (the "Contracts ") covering forty-three of fifty condominium units it owns. Its motion drew responses from: (1) the majority of counterparties to the Contracts, who refer to themselves as the "Condo Owners ;"1 (2) senior lienholders Tamamoi, LLC and FDRE, Inc. (together, "Tamamoi ");2 (3) Richard Yao, as successor of interest to Yaling Pei, Di Zhang and Young Chen ("Yao ");3 and (4) second lienholder SKR

*853Partners, LLC ("SKR ").4 After an evidentiary hearing the court requested additional briefing and later took the motion under advisement. This Memorandum Opinion comprises the court's findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Fed. R. Bankr. P. 7052, made applicable by Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9014(c).

I. Jurisdiction

The court has jurisdiction over the Motion to Assume under 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b) ; this is a core proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(A).

II. Factual and Procedural History

A. The Debtor's Corporate Structure and Real Estate

The Debtor, a Texas limited partnership,5 has a sister company, TMV Condo Office Park, Ltd. ("TMV Condo "), another Texas limited partnership. John Chong is the managing member of TMV GP, LLC, the general partner of both entities.6

The Debtor owns contiguous parcels of real estate: 1146 W. Trinity Mills Road, Carrollton, Texas ("TM Village ") and 1220 W. Trinity Mills Road, Carrollton, Texas ("TM Place ").7 TM Village is raw land on which the Debtor planned to construct an apartment building.8 TM Place is the site of a single building divided into commercial office suites (the "Office Suites ") and residential condominiums (the "Condominiums ").9 So, as relevant here:

*854B. Construction of the TM Place Office Suites and Condominiums

The record reflects that the Debtor's record keeping was disorganized: indeed, Mr. Chong often was unaware the specific entity that owned a given asset. According to Ms. Benham,10 although the Debtor purchased both parcels of real estate, Mr. Chong intended that (1) TMV Condo own the TM Place land (where the Office Suites and Condominiums were built), and (2) the Debtor own the TM Village land (where the apartment building was to be built). However, the Debtor never transferred the TM Place land to TMV Condo.11

Mr. Chong and his entities, oblivious to the Debtor's failure to transfer the land, constructed the building assuming that TMV Condo owned the property.12 As a result, TMV Condo, and not the Debtor, entered into the Contracts13 that are the subject of the motion. Mr. Chong was not the only inattentive player: Ms. Benham, whom Chong had tasked with administering the various projects, also did not realize the mistake until nearly all the Contracts had been signed.14 Chong had planned to correct the mistake at the closing of each Condominium sale, by having TMV Condo assign each Contract to the Debtor and then having the Debtor proceed to closing.15 He instead opted to make the assignment sooner given the prospect of the Debtor's bankruptcy filing.16 Thus, *855on August 3, 2018, TMV Condo and the Debtor executed an Assignment of Contract of Sale,17 assigning the forty-three Contracts to the Debtor. The Debtor filed chapter 11 on August 22, 2018, before it and the Condo Owners could close on the respective Condominium sales.

Assumption of the forty-three Contracts would yield approximately $ 550,000 in sale proceeds for the Debtor.18 After deducting unpaid real estate taxes, broker commissions, title insurance and other closing costs, the senior lienholders would receive about $ 183,000.19

III. Legal Analysis

The objections to the Motion to Assume are that:

(1) TMV Condo is the party to the Contracts and no evidence supports a finding that the Contracts were validly assigned to the Debtor;

(2) creditors cannot make an informed decision on the Motion to Assume without copies of the Contracts or evidence of TMV Condo's use of the sale proceeds;

(3) the Motion to Assume impermissibly seeks to assume forty-three Contracts without complying with Bankruptcy Rule 6006(f)'s omnibus procedures;

(4) the Contracts are not executory and so cannot be rejected because the Debtor has no remaining material obligations; and

(5) assumption of the Contracts is not an exercise of sound business judgment because the Debtor could reject the Contracts and resell the Condominiums at higher prices.20

These objections are addressed in turn.

A. TMV Condo Assigned the Contracts to the Debtor Through the August 3, 2018 Assignment of Contract of Sale.

The Assignment of Contract of Sale entered into evidence at the hearing21 plainly shows that TMV Condo assigned the forty-three Contracts to the Debtor effective August 3, 2018. Although several objectors complained that the Debtor received nothing in exchange for assuming the Contracts (arguably making the assignment a fraud on its creditors), the evidence established that TMV Condo used nearly $ 7.75 million it received as the Condo Owners' prepaid purchase price to build the Office Suites and Condominiums on the Debtor's land.22 The objectors also argue that the entry into the assignment shortly before the bankruptcy filing is a fraudulent conveyance; however, no party in interest has filed a complaint asserting a chapter 5 cause of action. Too, absent the assignment *856the Debtor would have paid nothing for the building that now sits on its land.23 Accordingly, this objection is overruled.

B.

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Bluebook (online)
598 B.R. 851, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-tm-vill-ltd-txnb-2019.