In the Matter of Parkview-Gem, Inc., a Delaware Corporation, Debtor. Parkview-Gem, Inc. v. Sam Stein

516 F.2d 807
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJune 3, 1975
Docket74-1788
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 516 F.2d 807 (In the Matter of Parkview-Gem, Inc., a Delaware Corporation, Debtor. Parkview-Gem, Inc. v. Sam Stein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In the Matter of Parkview-Gem, Inc., a Delaware Corporation, Debtor. Parkview-Gem, Inc. v. Sam Stein, 516 F.2d 807 (8th Cir. 1975).

Opinion

VAN OOSTERHOUT, Senior Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal by respondents, Stein, Hayes and Mark, from order filed September 18, 1974, granting a preliminary injunction made permanent fifteen days after its filing. The preliminary and permanent injunctions issued enjoined the respondents from (1) taking or continuing any action that threatens the leasehold interest of Parkview-Gem of Hawaii, Inc.; (2) interfering with, or attempting to interfere with, ParkviewGem of Hawaii, Inc. in a manner that will affect the stock of Parkview-Gem of Hawaii, Inc.; (3) seizing, or attempting to seize, the property of Parkview-Gem of Hawaii, Inc.; or (4) filing, or threatening to file, any proceeding at law or in equity against Parkview-Gem of Hawaii, Inc.

Parkview-Gem, Inc., filed a petition for reorganization under Chapter X of the Bankruptcy Act on December 18, 1973, in the Western District of Missouri. On December 20, 1973, Judge Collinson referred the case to Bankruptcy Judge Barker for hearing and determination of all proceedings not specifically reserved to the district judge under Chapter X.

The primary issue raised by this appeal is whether the district court in the reorganization proceedings had subject matter jurisdiction over the affairs of Parkview-Gem of Hawaii, Inc., a solvent subsidiary of the debtor corporation, whose stock was 100% owned by the debtor. The Hawaiian subsidiary is not a party to the reorganization proceedings.

After the trial court issued a temporary restraining order which effectively precluded the respondents from exercising forfeiture rights as lessors on a lease in which the subsidiary was lessee, the respondents filed petition for mandamus or prohibition which was denied by this court upon the basis no need for extraordinary relief had been shown. Our opinion, Stein v. Collinson, is reported at 8 Cir., 499 F.2d 91. In such opinion we set out the factual background of this litigation in considerable detail and quote pertinent portions of the lease. We shall not repeat this factual material in detail.

Respondents are the lessors of the premises occupied by the Hawaiian corporation. The debtor, a prior lessee, had long prior to the bankruptcy proceedings validly assigned all of its interest in the lease to Parkview-Gem of Hawaii, Inc., and the assignee became the lessee and has made the payments due under the lease. The debtor by virtue of the valid assignment of the lease was not relieved *809 of its liabilities under the lease. No claim has been asserted in the bankruptcy court against the debtor upon its lease obligations.

The respondents as landlords, due to high interest costs, were dissatisfied with the existing lease and entered into negotiations with debtor’s Trustee to increase the rent or terminate the lease and ultimately served notice of forfeiture on the Trustee, based upon a bankruptcy clause in the lease.

Upon motion of the Trustee, the bankruptcy court on May 17, 1974, entered ex parte a temporary restraining order and an order to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not issue enjoining respondents from taking any proceedings to interfere with the leasehold interest of Parkview-Gem of Hawaii, Inc. On May 28, 1974, the date fixed for hearing upon such order, respondents filed response to show cause order and special appearance challenging subject matter jurisdiction of the court to grant the relief requested by the Trustee.

It is established beyond dispute that Parkview-Gem of Hawaii, Inc., is not a party to the reorganization case and is not insolvent. In Stein, supra, we stated:

Any jurisdiction over the affairs of the subsidiary must therefore depend upon whether the leasehold interest is “property” of the debtor, ParkviewGem, Inc., within the meaning of § 111 of the Bankruptcy Act:
Where not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter, the court in which a petition is filed shall, for purposes of this chapter, have exclusive jurisdiction of the debtor and its property, wherever located.
11 U.S.C. § 511.
Petitioners contend that the property interests of the subsidiary are not subject to the jurisdiction of the trial court. This contention is in agreement with the general rule that courts in Chapter X proceedings are without jurisdiction to enjoin an action against a subsidiary. 6 Collier on Bankruptcy (14th ed., 1972), § 3.11, pp. 500-01. [499 F.2d at 94.]

In In re Beck Indus., Inc., 479 F.2d 410, 415 (2nd Cir. 1973), the court holds:

In determining whether Subsidiary or its assets constitute “property” of the debtor within the meaning of the Act, we must note that Beck’s sole interest in Subsidiary is its ownership of Subsidiary’s outstanding stock. Ownership of all of the outstanding stock of a corporation, however, is not the equivalent of ownership of the subsidiary’s property or assets. See In Re Gobel, Inc., 80 F.2d 849, 851 (2d Cir. 1936); Klein v. Board of Tax Supervisors, 282 U.S. 19, 23-24, 51 S.Ct. 15, 75 L.Ed. 140 (1930); Liman v. Midland Bank Ltd., 309 F.Supp. 163, 167 (S.D.N.Y.1970). Even though the value of the subsidiary’s outstanding shares owned by the debtor may be directly affected by the subsidiary’s disputes with third parties, “Congress did not give the bankruptcy court exclusive jurisdiction over all controversies that in some way affect the debtor’s estate.” Callaway v. Benton, 336 U.S. 132, 142, 69 S.Ct. 435, 441, 93 L.Ed. 553 (1949).

To like effect, see In re Tonkawa Ref. Co., 502 F.2d 1341 (10th Cir. 1974); In re South Jersey Land Corp., 361 F.2d 610 (3d Cir. 1966); In re Adolf Gobel, Inc., 80 F.2d 849 (2d Cir. 1936).

The possible exception to the rule just stated, as noted in Stein that where the parent and the subsidiary are completely “one”, the corporate veil may be pierced and the separate identity may be disregarded, has no application to the facts of this case. There is no finding in the case before us that the subsidiary is a sham or that it serves no legitimate corporate purpose, nor is there any substantial evidence which would support such a finding. As heretofore stated, the Hawaiian subsidiary had separate officers, directors and management and maintained separate bank records and bank accounts. At the hearing Mr. Tenenbaum, debtor’s vice-president, and counsel *810 conceded that the parent and the subsidiary were separate and distinct corporate entities.

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