Mashburn v. Matassini (In re Matassini)

95 B.R. 817
United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida·Decided January 9, 1989·No. Bankruptcy No. 87-2316-8B1; Adv. No. 88-150·Published

Opinion

ORDER ON MOTION FOR REMAND

THOMAS E. BAYNES, Jr., Bankruptcy Judge.

THIS CAUSE came on to be heard upon Plaintiff Mashburn, et al’s, Motion For Remand of this proceeding back to the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County, Florida. In April, 1987, Plaintiff Mashburn sued the Debtor in a pre-petition action in the Circuit Court. The lawsuit was a two-count complaint, asserting in Count I replevin of two items of personal property, a safe and 166% shares of stock as evidenced by a stock certificate. Plaintiff Mashburn claimed a right to these items in that he had sold his interest in a restaurant to Debtor Matassini, took back a second mortgage on the property, and retained a security interest in the vault and in the stock. Count II of the state court action was for declaratory judgment as regards whether or not Plaintiff Mashburn indeed had a security interest in the personal property, or whether he was the absolute title owner.

Subsequently, Debtor Matassini filed a Voluntary Petition in Chapter 11. The lawsuit which was pending at the time in the Hillsborough County Circuit Court was stayed by Section 862(a) of the Bankruptcy Code. In April, 1988, Plaintiff Mashburn sought relief from the automatic stay to proceed in the Circuit Court action as regards his right to possession of the stock. Relief from stay was granted. In May, 1988, the state court ruled Mr. Mashburn had a right to possession of the stock and the Debtor was required to deliver the stock to Plaintiff Mashburn. Simultaneously, the Debtor filed a motion in the state court action to set aside the order which determined Mr. Mashburn’s right in that an application for removal to the bankruptcy court had been filed prior to the court’s ruling. This particular application may have been defective and an amended application was filed on the same date the court ruled on Mashburn’s right to possession of the stock. In any case, on May 17, 1988, an order on the application for removal was entered by this Court. Thereafter, Mr. Mashburn filed the Motion for Remand.

[818] It should be noted that prior to removal of the state case, a separate adversary action was filed by Mr. Mashburn in this bankruptcy case. It sought to determine the nondischargeability of the indebtedness owed by the Debtor to Mr. Mashburn. Included in the allegations in the Section 523 action were the claims not only on the initial debt, but also on the stock and on the vault which are the same subject matter of the removed case. It appears, however, that both in the initial complaint and in the amended complaint to the adversary proceeding Mr. Mashburn narrowed the issues directly to the destruction of the safe and not to the issue of the extent and validity of his rights to the stock. Mr. Matassini, not to be undone, filed a counterclaim in the adversary proceeding to determine the extent and validity of Mr. Mashburn’s security interest in the stock as well as other personal property sold by Mr. Mashburn to Mr. Matassini in the original sale of the restaurant. Thus, this Court has two adversary proceedings dealing with property of the estate, extent and validity of liens on property of the estate, and an action under Section 523 of the Code regarding the debt on the same personal property. All the causes of action are core matters. The Motion for Remand of the state court action is therefore a core matter.

When a motion for remand is filed in the bankruptcy court, Bankruptcy Rule 9027(e) seeks to deal with the issue. Unfortunately, this Rule may be inconsistent with the other parts of the U.S.Code dealing with remand. Further, the Rule is not always practical, logical, or consistent with the general reference of bankruptcy cases by the district court to this bankruptcy court.

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Mashburn v. Matassini (In re Matassini), 95 B.R. 817 (Fla. 1989).

95 B.R. 817 (Mashburn v. Matassini (In re Matassini)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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