Lassman v. Poulos (In re American Pie, Inc.)

361 B.R. 318, 61 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1051, 2007 Bankr. LEXIS 326, 47 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 203
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedJanuary 30, 2007
DocketBankruptcy No. 04-13874-JNF; Adversary No. 06-1247
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 361 B.R. 318 (Lassman v. Poulos (In re American Pie, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lassman v. Poulos (In re American Pie, Inc.), 361 B.R. 318, 61 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1051, 2007 Bankr. LEXIS 326, 47 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 203 (Mass. 2007).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

JOAN N. FEENEY, Bankruptcy Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

The matter before the Court is the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by the Plaintiff, the Chapter 7 Trustee of the Estate of American Pie, Inc. (the “Debt- or”), pursuant to which he seeks an order disallowing secured proofs of claim filed by the Defendants, Peter Poulos and Constantine Lambrenos (the “Defendants”), as well as an order dismissing the Counterclaim filed by the Defendants. The Defendants oppose the Motion.1 The Court heard the matter on November 8, 2006 and directed the parties to file supplemental briefs.

The issue presented is whether, following the expiration of the limitation period set forth in 11 U.S.C. § 546(a), the Trustee may successfully assert his rights as a hypothetical lien creditor under 11 U.S.C. § 544(a), defensively, in response to the Defendants’ Counterclaim pursuant to which they seek a declaratory judgment that Peter Poulos and Constantine Lam-brenos hold claims secured by property of the estate.

II. FACTS

The following facts are not in dispute. On May 7, 2004, the Debtor filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. Peter Poulos, as Treasurer of the Debtor corporation, signed the petition, and Constantine Lambrenos, as Clerk, executed the Certificate of Vote authorizing the filing of the petition. In its Schedules, the Debtor listed a single asset — an “[e]scrow held by attorneys Kat-senes and Welinsky” [sic] in the sum of $14,500.2 It did not list any creditors holding secured claims on Schedule D, although it listed a priority claim held by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the sum of $4,297.47 for corporate income taxes and $429,190.60 in unsecured debt. Specifically, on Schedule F-Creditors Holding Unsecured Nonpriority Claims, the Debtor listed Constantine Lambrenos and Peter Poulos, each with a claim in the sum of $80,000; and Jade Eng with a claim in the approximate amount of $260,000. [320]*320On Schedule F, the Debtor listed Jade Eng’s address in care of “C. Fred Welen-sky, Esq. [sic]”

Peter Poulos and Christina Lambrenos were shareholders of the Debtor corporation, which was organized in 1990 and operated a restaurant business in Marshfield, Massachusetts. Peter Poulos, Christina Lambrenos, and her husband, Constantine Lambrenos, were officers and directors of the Debtor corporation. Lucy Poulos, the remaining Defendant, is married to Peter Poulos.

In May of 1997, the Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination held a hearing on a sexual harassment claim made by Jade Eng (“Eng”). In March of 1998, it rendered a decision in her favor. After unsuccessful appeals by the Debtor to the Superior Court and the Massachusetts Appeals Court, Eng, in July of 2003, obtained an execution in the amount of $259,436.07. The Debtor’s bankruptcy petition was filed less than one year later.

On June 14, 2004 and June 18, 2004, Peter Poulos and Constantine Lambrenos, respectively, filed nearly identical proofs of claim. Each set forth a total claim in the sum of $80,000 secured by collateral worth $14,000. Peter Poulos and Constantine Lambrenos attached copies of UCC-1 financing statements to their proofs of claim filed with the Marshfield Town Clerk in June of 1997.

The Trustee filed an Affidavit in conjunction with his Motion for Summary Judgment in which he represented that he had reviewed UCC filings available on line from the office of the Massachusetts Secretary of State. He stated that with respect to the secured claims filed by Peter Poulos and Constantine Lambrenos “[n]o continuation statement or other UCC filing appears after June 5, 1997 and, based on that, I conclude that none were ever filed.” Neither Peter Poulos nor Constantine Poulos contested the Trustee’s representation that continuation statements had not been filed.

On May 4, 2006, within two years of the commencement of the Debtor’s bankruptcy case, the Trustee filed the above-captioned Complaint. In his Complaint, the Trustee alleged that the Debtor was insolvent from at least 1998 until the petition date; that there were no disinterested directors of the Debtor corporation; and that, on May 29, 1997, approximately three weeks after the hearing held by the Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination on Eng’s sexual harassment claim, the Debtor executed two promissory notes. One note was in the sum of $110,983.26 and was for funds allegedly provided by Christina and Constantine Lambrenos between April 1, 1990 and March 31, 1996; the other note was in the sum of $114,749.74 and was for funds allegedly provided by Peter and Lucy Poulos during the same period. According to the Trustee, at various times prior to the petition date, the Debtor’s officers, Peter Poulos, Christina Lambre-nos, and Constantine Lambrenos, caused the Debtor “to pay for certain personal expenses and to make other expenditures which had no legitimate corporate purpose or benefit.”3 In addition to itemizing vari[321]*321ous allegedly improper payments, the Trustee also asserted that the officers of the Debtor corporation operated the business in such a way as to make it difficult for the Trustee or creditors to determine its financial condition. In particular, the Trustee averred that the Debtor did not maintain adequate accounting records and that neither Peter Poulos nor Christina Lambrenos reported wage income or profits from the Debtor for the period between 1996 and 2003, even though they claimed to work 25-80 hours per week.

Based upon these allegations, the Trustee formulated four counts: Count I-Fraudulent Transfers; Count II-Breach of Fiduciary Duty; Count Ill-Disregard of Corporate Entities/Pierce Corporate Veil; and Count TV-Equitable Subordination. The Trustee sued Lucy Poulos under Count I only, and he brought Count IV against Peter Poulos and Constantine Lambrenos only. Pursuant to Count TV, the Trustee sought to recharacterize the purported payments made by the Defendants to the Debtor corporation as capital contributions, not loans, and to equitably subordinate the claims of the Defendants to the claims of the Debtor’s other creditors pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 510(c). Although he alleged that continuation statements had not been filed by the Defendants, the Trustee did not challenge the perfection of the Defendants’ security interests under 11 U.S.C. § 544(a) in his Complaint.

The Defendants responded to the Trustee’s Complaint, and Peter Poulos and Constantine Lambrenos asserted in a Counterclaim that they hold perfected security interests in the proceeds of the sale of the Debtor’s assets. In an Affidavit, Peter Poulos represented that “[t]he assets were sold September of 2002[sic] in an attempt to resolve outstanding claims by Jade Eng.”

III. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES

A. The Trustee

Citing Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 106, § 9-515

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361 B.R. 318, 61 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1051, 2007 Bankr. LEXIS 326, 47 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 203, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lassman-v-poulos-in-re-american-pie-inc-mab-2007.