In Re United Press International, Inc.

60 B.R. 265, 14 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 425, 1986 Bankr. LEXIS 6205
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedApril 22, 1986
DocketBankruptcy 85-00257
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 60 B.R. 265 (In Re United Press International, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re United Press International, Inc., 60 B.R. 265, 14 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 425, 1986 Bankr. LEXIS 6205 (D.D.C. 1986).

Opinion

OPINION

GEORGE FRANCIS BASON, Jr., Bankruptcy Judge.

This opinion explains why this Court, having twice extended the period of the Debtor’s exclusive right to file a plan, has now, by Order dated March 31, 1986, again extended the exclusivity period for filing a plan, and also extended the exclusivity period for obtaining acceptances, from March 31 to June 30, 1986. Part III of this opinion also explains why this Court is today signing an Order, nunc pro tunc as of April 8, 1986 (the date of the Court’s oral ruling from the bench), (i) granting the Debtor’s application for leave to file a plan and (ii) overruling Media News Corporation’s objection to the Debtor’s filing of a plan. This Opinion constitutes the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law in support of today’s Order.

Media News Corporation (“MNC”) has opposed the Debtor’s motion for the further extension of the exclusivity period to *267 June 30 and has advanced three principal arguments in support of its position.

I. Further extension of the Debtor’s exclusivity period is not barred by 11 U.S.C. § 1121(c)(3).

First, MNC has argued that the Debtor’s exclusive right to file a plan has already expired automatically by operation of law because of the expiration of the 180-day period of 11 U.S.C. § 1121(c)(3). 1 Two eases support MNC’s argument, In re Trainer’s, Inc., 17 B.R. 246 (Bankr.E.D.Pa.1982), and In re Barker Estates, Inc., 14 B.R. 683 (Bankr.W.D.N.Y.1981). In both cases, the courts pointed out that the three alternatives set out in subsection 1121(c) are disjunctive. That is, the exclusivity period ends automatically if any one of the three conditions is met: (1) if a trustee is appointed; 2 or (2) if “the debtor has not filed a plan before 120 days after the ... [voluntary Chapter 11 petition was filed]”; 3 or (3) if “the debtor has not filed a plan that has been accepted, before 180 days after the [same] date ..., by each class of claims or interests that is impaired under the plan.” 4 Moreover, § 1121(d) is also in the disjunctive: “... the court may ... increase the 120-day period or the 180-day period ...” (Emphasis added.) The Trainer’s court concluded (17 B.R. 247-248):

... that the language of the Code is clear: the debtors must meet both the 120-day and the 180-day deadlines (or obtain extensions of both of those deadlines) in order to prevent anyone else from being permitted to file plans. Furthermore, an extension of one of the deadlines does not automatically extend the other.

In Barker, the debtor had argued that the intent of Congress was to provide for a 60-day grace period after filing a plan within which to obtain acceptances. The court acknowledged that such a grace period “may be implied” but held that “a fixed 60-day grace period is only a possible conclusion not a necessary one.” 14 B.R. at 684. The court then turned to legislative history and declared (14 B.R. at 684, 685):

The legislative history of § 1121 provides no compelling answer to the issue at hand, but it is helpful to the extent it provides a background against which the provisions of § 1121 must be read as a limitation on rather than a grant of debt- or’s rights.
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When compared to prior law, the effect of 11 U.S.C. § 1121 is sharply to limit a debtor’s exclusive right to file a plan. Creditors with ideas of their own can only be silenced if the debtor files a plan within 120 days and secures acceptance within 180 days. Both these time periods run from the date the order for relief was granted and are set out in separate paragraphs without reference to the other. A straightforward reading of the
(d)On request of a party in interest made within the respective periods specified in subsection (c) of this section and after notice and a hearing, the court may for cause reduce or increase the 120-day period or the 180-day period referred to in this section. *268 statute suggests that each time limitation is independant [sic] of the other and each has its own purpose, force and effect. The debtor’s theory that the time limits are necessarily connected and a 60-day grace period must be implied can be credited only if the apparent meaning of the statute is discredited. Therefore, extension of one time period should not extend the other automatically.

The court in In re Ravenna Industries, Inc., 20 B.R. 886, 891 (Bankr.N.D. Ohio 1982) disagreed (in dictum) with Trainer’s and Barker, stating:

This Court is of the opinion that where a debtor asks for an extension of the 120-day period and-an extension is granted without objection by any party in interest, then the extension automatically operates to extend the 180-day period as well. Such a conclusion follows as when a debtor has obtained an extension of the exclusive time in which to file a Plan under 11 U.S.C. § 1121(c)(2) to later hold that the Debtor has lost the exclusive right to file a Plan due to its failure to have both time periods extended by express Court order, is to deny the debtor the right obtained by virtue of the order extending the 120-day time period.
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Otherwise, the order of the Court granting the extension would be a vain act and would be misleading to all parties in the arrangement proceedings.

In addition, 5 Collier on Bankruptcy, ¶ 1121.03 states (at p. 1121-9):

A technical reading of section 1121 would require independent extensions of the two periods; there is no specific suggestion in the Code to the contrary. Such a reading of section 1121, however, may lead to anomalous results in those cases in which only the 120-day period is extended and especially in those cases in which that period is extended beyond 180 days. If the statute requires independent extension of both periods, then any extension of the 120-day period beyond the date of expiration of the 180-day period would have no effect due to the continued application of the 180-day period. The Code should not be construed so strictly as to nullify the effect of judicial action proper on its face. This is not to say that automatic extension of the exclusivity period for acceptance to 60 days beyond the date to which the court has extended the exclusivity period for filing can be supported by the language of the Code.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 B.R. 265, 14 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 425, 1986 Bankr. LEXIS 6205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-united-press-international-inc-dcd-1986.