Le Tote, Inc.

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedOctober 30, 2020
Docket20-33332
StatusUnknown

This text of Le Tote, Inc. (Le Tote, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Le Tote, Inc., (Va. 2020).

Opinion

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA Richmond Division In re: Le Tote, Inc., et al.,1 Case No. 20-33332-KLP Chapter 11 Debtors. Jointly Administered MEMORANDUM OPINION Before the Court is the motion of Wilmington Trust, National Association (the “Trust”)2 for the entry of an order “[e]stablishing standing to compel payment of rent and to assert related rights under and with respect to master lease” (the “Motion). The Trust is the holder of an $846,000,000 commercial mortgage-

backed securities loan (the “Loan”) made to, among others, twenty-four landlords (the “L&T Landlords”)3 of Lord & Taylor (the “Debtors” or “L&T”).4 The Motion seeks to establish the Trust’s standing, as third party beneficiary, to compel the

Debtors to pay all rents and other sums due the L&T Landlords under a single

1The jointly administered debtors are LT Card Company LLC, Case No. 20-33328-KLP; French Tote LLC, Case No. 20-33329-KLP; Le Tote, LLC, Case No. 20-33330-KLP;Lord and Taylor LLC, Case No. 20-33331-KLP; and Le Tote, Inc, Case No. 20-33332-KLP. The lead caseis Le Tote, Inc., and the docket of each of the cases bears the notation that “[t]he docket in Case No. 20-33332 should be consulted forall matters affecting these cases.” 2The Trust is trustee for Holders of Hudson’s Bay Simon JV Trust 2015-HBS, Commercial Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2015-HBS, acting by and through Situs Holdings, LLC, its special Servicer. 3The twenty-fourlandlords are LT Eastchester LLC, LT Ridgewood LLC, LT Stamford LLC, LT Westfield LLC, LT Garden City LLC, LT Bridgewater LLC, LT King of Prussia LLC, LT Fair Oaks LLC, LT Freehold Raceway LLC,LT Rockaway Town LLC, LT Willowbrook LLC, LT Woodfield LLC, LT Twelve Oaks LLC, LT Columbia LLC, LT Walden Galleria LLC, LT Quakerbridge Leasehold LLC, LT Garden State Leasehold LLC, LT Walt Whitman Leasehold LLC, LT Burlington Leasehold LLC, LT Livingston Leasehold LLC, LT Braintree Leasehold LLC, LT Natick Leasehold LLC, LT Bay Shore Leasehold LLC, and LT Northbrook Leasehold, LLC. 4The Motion seeks recovery against “Lord & Taylor,” which is not a named debtor in these proceedings. As the Master Lease at issue is between the twenty-fourlandlords and Lord &Taylor LLC, the Court will construe the Motion as seeking to establish standing to recover against Lord & Taylor LLC. However, as this is a jointly administered case, the Court will refer to the respondent(s) as “Debtors” or “L&T,” as that term is used by the parties. master lease (the “Master Lease”) that serves as collateral for the Loan. The Motion is opposed by the L&T Landlords5 and the Debtors. For the reasons stated

below, the Motion will be denied. Jurisdiction and Venue The Court has jurisdiction to consider this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C.

§ 1334 and 157(a) and the general order of reference entered by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on August 15, 1984. This matter is a core proceeding within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. §157(b)(2). Venue in this Court is proper pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1408.

Facts L&T leases each of twenty-four stores from the L&T Landlords pursuant to the Master Lease.6 The Trust is not a party to the Master Lease. With respect to

L&T’s payment of rent, the Master Lease provides in Section 3.1(a) and (b) as follows: (a) Tenant will pay to Landlord in lawful money of the United States of America which shall be legal tender for the payment of public and private debts, at Landlord’s addressset forth on Exhibit Ghereof or at such other place or to such other Person (subject to Section 3.1(b) and Section 3.1(c)) as Landlord from time to time may 5Specifically, one objectionto the Motion has been submitted jointly by Hudson’s Bay Company ULC, HBC US Holdings Inc., and HBC US Propco Holdings LLC (collectively, “HBC”), HBS Global Properties LLC (“HBS”), and the wholly-owned subsidiaries of HBS that are the landlords for 28 of the 38 L&Tstores, including the twenty- four L&T Landlords.(ECF353). 6ECF157, #10. designate in a Notice, all Rent contemplated hereby during the Term on the basis hereinafter set forth. (b) Rent shall be payable by wire transfer or ACH transfer (or other electronic transfer method) in accordance with routing and payment instructions provided by Landlord. The L&T Landlords are part of a consortium of landlords that are borrowers under the Loan. The original lenders were JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Column Financial, Inc. and Bank of America, N.A. (collectively, the “Original Lenders”). The Original Lenders and borrowers executed a loan agreement (the “Loan

Agreement”) on July 22, 2015.7 Deeds of Trust, Assignments of Leases and Rents, Security Agreements and Fixture Filing (collectively, the “Deeds of Trust”) were also executed for the benefit of the Original Lenders to secure the Loan. L&T is not a party to the Loan Agreement or the Deeds of Trust.

As part of the loan transaction, L&T, as tenant, executed a Subordination, Non-Disturbance and Attornment Agreement dated July 22, 2015 (the “SNDA”) with the Original Lenders.8 Under the SNDA, L&T acknowledged that the Loan is

secured in part by certain first priority fee or leasehold mortgages and by the Deeds of Trust encumbering the twenty-four locations, and it agreed to subordinate the Master Lease to the Loan. In return, the Original Lenders agreed to grant non- disturbance to L&T under the Master Lease. Among other provisions, the Master

7ECF157, #1. 8ECF157, #9. Lease prohibits L&T and the L&T Landlords from amending or modifying the Master Lease in violation of the Loan Agreement.

Section 4(a) of the SNDA specifies that: “Landlord hereby instructs Tenant, and Tenant hereby covenants and agrees, to pay all rents, additional rents and all other sums due to Landlord pursuant to the Lease to [a specified bank] account via

electronic funds transfer. . . ” (the “Lockbox”). In § 9 of the SNDA, the term “Landlord”, as it is used in the agreement, is defined as “the present landlord under the [Master Lease] and such landlord’s successors in interest under the [Master Lease], but shall not mean or include the Lender.” Section 35.2 of the Master

Lease provides that L&T “shall not take any action if such action would constitute a violation, breach or default of any of the terms of the Current Loan Documents; provided, that, [L&T] shall not be required to fulfill any of [the L&T Landlords’]

direct obligations under the Current Loan Documents, including, without limitation, the obligation to make payments of debt service or any other obligation that does not directly relate to leasing and operating the Demised Premises.” In November 2015, the Original Lenders consummated a securitization of rated

securities secured by the Loan and assigned their right, title, and interest in and to the Loan to the Trust. Pursuant to § 4 of the SNDA, L&T agreed that all rents under the Master

Lease would be paid directly to the lender-controlled Lockbox. From inception of the Loan through March 2020, all rent that became payable under the Master Lease was paid to the Lockbox.

In 2019, HBC9 sold L&T to Le Tote.10 As part of the sale transaction, HBC Propco, HBC’s subsidiary, agreed in favor of Le Tote to pay rent due under the Master Lease for the twenty-four L&T stores at issue for a period of three years.11

The Trust was not a party to the sale or the rent payment agreement. In April of this year, L&T defaulted on paying rent under the Master Lease. No rents have been paid since then, either by the Debtors or HBC Propco. As a result, the L&T Landlords defaulted on the Loan, and the Loan was subsequently

accelerated.

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