LPJ, Inc. v. Royal Crown Cola Co. (In Re LPJ, Inc.)

22 B.R. 556, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 3694, 9 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 853
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Florida.
DecidedJuly 19, 1982
Docket18-19875
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 22 B.R. 556 (LPJ, Inc. v. Royal Crown Cola Co. (In Re LPJ, 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
LPJ, Inc. v. Royal Crown Cola Co. (In Re LPJ, Inc.), 22 B.R. 556, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 3694, 9 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 853 (Fla. 1982).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION

THOMAS C. BRITTON, Bankruptcy Judge.

This chapter 11 debtor seeks mandatory injunctive relief against Royal Crown Cola Company to compel reinstatement of a bottling agreement, under which the debtor has produced and sold Royal Crown Cola. The debtor has also moved for leave under 11 U.S.C. § 365 to assume certain leases of real and personal property from the defendant. (C.P. No. 4).

Because of the emergency nature of this problem, I treated the debtor’s motion for temporary restraining order (C.P. No. 1) and supporting affidavit (C.P. No. 2) as an adversary complaint in compliance with the requirements of B.R. 701(5) and entered a temporary restraining order on July 2 following an emergency hearing held July 1. At that hearing, I accepted defendant’s oral opposition as an answer to the “complaint”. The temporary restraining order provided the debtor with the ingredients necessary to fill orders through the July 4th weekend which, in this business, is the equivalent of the Christmas season for other merchants. Defendant’s cooperation and compliance has been without prejudice to its position that the bottler’s agreement was effectively terminated before bankruptcy and is, therefore, beyond the reach of this court as an executory contract assumable under § 365. That issue was tried before me on July 13.

Resolving the conflicting evidence, the essential facts are relatively simple. The Bottler’s Agreement of January 2, 1982, Section 7.1(4) provides:

“TERMINATION WITHOUT NOTICE. This Agreement and any and all rights of LICENSEE hereunder and any and all obligations of RCC hereunder shall immediately terminate, without the requirement of any notice to LICENSEE, upon the occurrence of any of the following: ... (4) The insolvency of LICENSEE;

On June 1, 1982, defendant notified the debtor by telegram, that:

“... LJP INCORPORATED IS INSOLVENT . .. ACCORDINGLY, WE HEREBY GIVE NOTICE OF TERMINATION OF THE BOTTLERS AGREEMENT, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 7.1(4) THEREOF.”

*558 This telegram made reference to and was preceded by notice to the defendant that the debtor’s second check in payment under the Agreement in the amount of $119,356 had been dishonored. Defendant was notified on May 25. The debtor’s third check in the amount of $56,779 was dishonored shortly thereafter and neither payment has yet been made good.

The debtor filed a voluntary chapter 11 petition on June 30.

There is no provision in the Bankruptcy Code which prohibits the termination before bankruptcy of a contract on account of insolvency. Section 365(e)(1) expressly prohibits the termination or modification of any contract “at any time after the commencement of the case” solely on account of insolvency. That subsection also prohibits termination or modification of any contract solely because of the commencement of a bankruptcy case. The express provisions of that subsection convince me that there is no legislative intent to invalidate the pre-petition termination of a contract on the sole ground of insolvency.

Similarly, there is no provision of the Code which permits assumption or the curing of defaults in a contract terminated before bankruptcy. Sections 1107(a) and 365(a) provide that the debtor-in-possession under chapter 11 “may assume or reject any executory contract or unexpired lease of the debtor”, subject to the court’s approval. The explicit provision for assumption of executory contracts convinces me that there is no legislative intention to permit assumption or reinstatément of contracts which have expired or have been terminated before bankruptcy. Matter of Benrus Watch Co. Inc., 13 B.R. 331 (Bkrtcy.S.D.N.Y.1981).

As I see it, therefore, the sole issue that remains is whether defendant lawfully terminated this contract before bankruptcy. The evidence before me is conclusive that it did so.

The Bottler’s Agreement expressly provides that it is governed by Georgia law. The term “insolvency” is not explicitly defined in the Agreement, however, Georgia law defines solvency by the balance sheet test. Ferguson v. Atlanta Newspapers, (1954) 91 Ga.App. 115, 85 S.E.2d 72, 74; Chambers v. Citizens Southern National Bank, (1978), 242 Ga. 498, 249 S.E.2d 214, 217. The parties by their conduct have given this same definition to the term.

After the debtor received the cancellation telegram, the parties met to afford the debtor an opportunity to demonstrate its solvency. A C.P.A. selected by the debtor prepared a balance sheet from the debtor’s books and records. That balance sheet reflected liabilities of $2.5 million as against assets of $1.9 million and it is conceded that the debtor was insolvent on the date of cancellation and has been insolvent by the balance sheet test throughout most of its brief existence.

The debtor has argued that notwithstanding the insolvency of its own balance sheet, it is in fact solvent because the balance sheet assigns no value to the leases of the defendant’s real and personal property held by the debtor. I find that these leases have been fully and accurately considered in the debtor’s balance sheet and that none of these leases can be given any net asset value under generally accepted accounting practices.

It is the debtor’s argument that there was an oral “gentlemen’s agreement” between the parties incident to the Bottler’s Agreement and the leases that the debtor could purchase the leased real and personal property at defendant’s book value and that the current market value of the property exceeds its book value by a substantial sum which would more than offset the deficiency in its balance sheet. There are two significant flaws in this argument.

The Bottler’s Agreement, § 10.2, stipulates that it is the complete agreement between the parties. The parol evidence rule would exclude proof of this “gentlemen’s agreement”. Although I received such testimony, over defendant’s objection, I did so solely to preserve a complete evidentiary record in the event that I am mistaken as to the admissibility of this evidence.

*559 Secondly, even if the “gentlemen’s agreement” were admissible, I find from the proffered evidence that the agreement was subject to the condition that it could not be exercised by the debtor until the end of five years’ satisfactory performance of the Bottler’s Agreement. Although there is some conflict as to the existence of these conditions, I cannot believe that Royal Crown intended to give the debtor an immediate opportunity to purchase substantial real and personal property assets at a fraction of their current market value. With these significant limitations, the leases obviously had only speculative value on the date of termination.

There is no basis in this record to dispute the insolvency of the debtor on June 1.

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22 B.R. 556, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 3694, 9 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 853, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lpj-inc-v-royal-crown-cola-co-in-re-lpj-inc-flsb-1982.