Kapila v. Clark (In Re Trafford Distributing Center, Inc.)

431 B.R. 263
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Florida.
DecidedJune 30, 2010
Docket18-20980
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 431 B.R. 263 (Kapila v. Clark (In Re Trafford Distributing Center, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Florida. primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kapila v. Clark (In Re Trafford Distributing Center, Inc.), 431 B.R. 263 (Fla. 2010).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

JOHN K. OLSON, Bankruptcy Judge.

1. OVERVIEW

The Debtor filed for bankruptcy protection on June 13, 2008 and, before the year was out, the Chapter 7 Trustee filed four adversary complaints against various individuals and entities seeking to recover property for the benefit of the bankruptcy estate. 1 Each of the adversary proceedings has a substantial procedural history with roughly two hundred docket entries apiece. One of the adversary proceedings settled and was closed last month. 2

The three adversary proceedings which remain seek to avoid preferential and fraudulent transfers pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 547 and 548, and one seeks to recover damages resulting from alleged breaches of fiduciary duties. All three were tried concurrently pursuant to Fed. R. Bankr.P. 7042 due to substantial factual overlap. For the reasons stated below and pursuant to Fed. R. Bankr.P. 7058, I will enter separate final judgments in favor of Chapter 7 Trustee Soneet Kapila in each of the three adversary proceedings.

I-A. Jurisdiction and Venue

I have subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b) because all three adversaries are civil proceedings arising in and related to the bankruptcy estate. I also have subject matter jurisdiction under *268 § 1334(e) because these adversary proceedings involve property of the Debtor’s estate. This is a core proceeding under § 157(b) and venue is proper under § 1409.

I-B. Background

The Debtor was incorporated under Florida law in September 2003. Defendant Barbara Wortley is its sole shareholder, officer, director, and registered agent. Its primary business was warehousing and it rented a warehouse owned by Defendant Liberty Properties at Trafford, LLC. The landlord was controlled by Mrs. Wortley’s husband, Joseph G. Wortley, who also owned a printing services company, Liberty Source W, LLC.

Despite the apparently different business operations, the National Labor Relations Board found at least as early as July 2005 that the Debtor was the alter ego of Liberty Source W, LLC. 3 The Debtor was therefore required to remedy certain labor practices previously engaged in by Liberty Source W. The Debtor tried to settle with the NLRB, but these negotiations failed when the NLRB rejected the Debtor’s offer of $200,000 and the Debtor rejected the NLRB’s offer of $400,000. 4

While the NLRB’s claim against the Debtor as of the June 13, 2008 bankruptcy

petition date was unliquidated, it was not contingent. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals concluded on February 26, 2007 that:

The decisions by the [Administrative Law Judge] and the Board are supported by substantial evidence and the petition for review will be DENIED. The NLRB has requested summary enforcement against Liberty in light of the fact that Liberty did not file an answer to the complaint, appear at the Board hearing, file exceptions to the ALJ decision, or appeal its decision. Under Rule 15(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, “[w]ithin 20 days after the application for enforcement is filed, the respondent must serve on the applicant an answer to the application and file it with the clerk.” Fed. R.App. P. 15(b)(2). There is no indication that Liberty answered the NLRB’s cross-petition for enforcement of the Board’s order, and on that basis the petition for enforcement will be GRANTED. 5

The NLRB’s unliquidated but not contingent claim was then liquidated on July 31, 2009 for $1,671,492.96 in backpay and $500,612.31 in interest. 6 The Third Circuit subsequently issued a “Judgment Enforcing a Supplemental Order of the National Labor Relations Board” affirming the backpay and interest amounts due. 7

*269 The Defendants have repeatedly argued that I should not incorporate the $2.17 million NLRB judgment into my solvency determination for preferential and fraudulent transfer purposes, but I have repeatedly replied that I cannot entertain attempts to relitigate the NLRB findings. The Defendants would prefer that I use the $400,000 for which the NLRB apparently offered to settle, but the Defendants did not settle, the judgment is what the judgment is, and unfortunately for the Defendants the judgment is $2,172,105.27.

I-C. Fact Issues at Trial

I attempted to narrow the issues in each of these adversaries, but was only able to do so in a substantial manner for adversary 08-01759-JKO (versus Richard I. Clark in his multiple capacities). Summary Judgment in that adversary left only the narrow issue of whether Mr. Clark owned an account receivable due from H. J. Heinz Company (“the Heinz Receivable”) in any of his multiple capacities. 8 Rather than issue separate shorter findings and conclusions for the Clark adversary, I have chosen to issue this single opinion for all three adversaries. This is because the evidence in its entirety over the course of the two-day trial — -particularly the credibility of Mr. Clark, Mr. Wortley, and Mrs. Wortley — was critical in gaining an overall sense of the multiple alleged oral trusts and Mr. Clark’s role in the Wortleys’ web of poorly documented entities. For reasons that will be more clearly articulated below, I conclude in adversary proceeding 08-01759-JKO that Mr. Clark did not own the Heinz Receivable in any of his multiple alleged capacities.

Regarding adversary proceeding 08-01792-JKO (versus Liberty Properties, et al), I originally granted partial summary judgment on counts VIII, X, and XVI of the Amended Complaint, 9 but on the eve of trial I equivocated regarding the propriety of doing so for counts X and XVI. 10 I therefore heard evidence on both counts and, in an abundance of caution, will outline my factual determinations below. Nevertheless, I am now confident that partial summary judgment was proper for counts X and XVI and will decline to amend the summary judgment order. 11

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431 B.R. 263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kapila-v-clark-in-re-trafford-distributing-center-inc-flsb-2010.