In re Tollenaar Holsteins

538 B.R. 830, 2015 WL 5813677
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. California
DecidedOctober 5, 2015
DocketCase No. 15-20840-B-11 Jointly Administered with Case; Nos. 15-20842-B-11 and 15-20844-B-11
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 538 B.R. 830 (In re Tollenaar Holsteins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Tollenaar Holsteins, 538 B.R. 830, 2015 WL 5813677 (Cal. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION GRANTING TRUSTEE’S MOTION TO SURCHARGE COLLATERAL

CHRISTOPHER D. JAIME, UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE

INTRODUCTION

Presently before the court is a Motion to Surcharge Collateral filed by Russell K. Burbank, the trustee appointed in the above-captioned jointly-administered chapter 11 cases. The trustee seeks to surcharge the collateral of secured creditors Bank of the West and Hartford Accident and Life Insurance Company under 11 U.S.C. § 506(c) for expenses incurred in the administration of the Tollenaar Holsteins, Friendly Pastures, and T Bar M Ranch chapter 11 cases. Section 506(c) permits a trustee to surcharge a secured creditor’s collateral for the reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in preserving or disposing of collateral for the benefit of a secured creditor.1 The surcharge initially requested was $278,794.43. That amount appears to have been revised by the trustee to $269,354.82, and is allocated $153,393.46 to Bank and $115,961.36 to Hartford.

The trustee’s surcharge motion was initially heard on August 11, 2015. Proper notice was given to all required parties and parties in interest. Appearances were noted on the record.

During the initial hearing on August 11, 2015, the court expressed skepticism as to whether the trustee sufficiently identified and quantified any benefit to Bank and Hartford related to the expenses for which the trustee seeks to surcharge these secured creditors’ collateral. The court also noted there appeared to be an absence of any express consent to a surcharge by Bank and/or Hartford. Nevertheless, the court requested additional briefing on the consent issue. The initial hearing was continued to September 6, 2015, then to September 15, 2015, and finally to October [833]*8336, 2015. The October 6, 2015, was rendered unnecessary by this decision.

The court has reviewed and considered the entire docket in this matter including, but not limited to, the trustee’s motion, Bank’s and Hartford’s oppositions, the trustee’s reply, and the exhibits and declarations (including all supplemental declarations) submitted in support of the motion, oppositions, and reply. The court has also considered the trustee’s, Bank’s, and Hartford’s supplemental points and authorities on the consent issue. And the court heard and has fully considered the statements and arguments of counsel made on the record in open court on August 11, 2015.

The court is persuaded that the trustee has demonstrated that some reasonable and necessary expenses benefited Bank and Hartford directly and those benefits have been sufficiently quantified. The court is also persuaded that § 506(c) incorporates the pre-Code practice that allowed a bankruptcy court to surcharge a secured creditor’s collateral based on express or implied consent, or when the secured creditor caused the expenses to be surcharged. And the court is persuaded that by their active involvement in these cases that was more than mere cooperation with the trustee, Bank and Hartford consented to a surcharge. Therefore, for the reasons explained below, the trustee’s motion will be GRANTED.

This memorandum decision constitutes the court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a) made applicable by Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7052 and 9014.

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

Federal subject-matter jurisdiction is founded on 28 U.S.C. § 1834. This matter is a core proceeding that a bankruptcy judge may hear and determine. 28 U.S.C. §§ 157(b)(2)(A), (B) and (0). To the extent it may ever be determined to be a matter that a bankruptcy judge may not hear and determine without consent, the parties nevertheless consent to such determination by a bankruptcy judge. 28 U.S.C. § 157(c)(2). Venue is proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1409.

BACKGROUND

Each of the three debtors in these jointly-administered cases filed voluntary chapter 11 petitions on February 4, 2015. At the commencement of these chapter 11 cases, each of the debtors served as debtors in possession and continued to operate their California and Oklahoma dairies.

After several hearings, numerous filings, and argument by the parties, a trustee was ordered appointed on March 17, 2015. Russell K. Burbank was appointed as the trustee in these jointly-administered chapter 11 cases on March 24, 2015.

The court ordered the appointment of a trustee after Bank refused to consent to the debtors’ use of its cash collateral without adequate protection, which the debtors were unable to provide. In the absence of adequate protection, Bank would only consent to the use of its cash collateral by a trustee. Ultimately, Bank and Hartford persuaded the court that the appointment of a trustee was in the interest of creditors and the estate.

Bank and Hartford are the debtors’ primary secured creditors. They hold liens on substantially all of the debtors’ assets. Bank is owed approximately $4,400,000.00. It is secured by the debtors’ California and Oklahoma dairy herds, feed, milk and milk proceeds, machinery, and other personal property of the debtors. Hartford is owed approximately $8,400,000.00. It is secured by first deeds of trust on California and Oklahoma dairy facilities and equipment, and a security interest in the debtors’ dairy products and proceeds.

[834]*834The trustee maintains that a surcharge of Bank’s and Hartford’s collateral for expenses incurred in the administration of these estates is warranted. In addition to expenses that produced a direct and quantifiable benefit to Bank and Hartford, the trustee maintains that Bank and Hartford each consented to a surcharge for the fees and expenses incurred by the trustee and the trustee’s professionals.

Their collateral now having been either liquidated or recovered, and thus both secured creditors having milked the proverbial cow dry, Bank and Hartford oppose the trustee’s surcharge motion. Both secured creditors maintain the trustee has not satisfied § 506(c) and they did not consent to any surcharge. Bank alternatively maintains that even if a surcharge is warranted, any surcharge must be allocated between it and Hartford.

DISCUSSION

Surcharges have traditionally been authorized under one of two tests: (1) an objective test which requires the surcharge claimant to satisfy the § 506(c) elements by demonstrating reasonable and necessary expenses that provided a quantifiable benefit to the secured creditor or (2) a subjective test under which the surcharge claimant may establish the secured creditor “consented to” or “caused” the expenses to be surcharged. See Compton Impressions. Ltd. v. Queen City Bank, N.A. (In re Compton Impressions),

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
538 B.R. 830, 2015 WL 5813677, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-tollenaar-holsteins-caeb-2015.