McKinstry v. B & H Contractors, LLC (In re GC London KY Inc.)

575 B.R. 755
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Kentucky
DecidedOctober 11, 2017
DocketCASE NO. 15-60463; ADV. NO. 17-6003
StatusPublished

This text of 575 B.R. 755 (McKinstry v. B & H Contractors, LLC (In re GC London KY Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McKinstry v. B & H Contractors, LLC (In re GC London KY Inc.), 575 B.R. 755 (Ky. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Gregory R. Schaaf, Bankruptcy Judge

This matter is before the Court on. the Plaintiff Chapter 11 Trustee and the Defendant B' & H Contractors, LLC’s cross-motions for summary judgment. [AP ECF Nos. 35, 36 and 37.]1 The Plaintiff seeks recovery of certain prepetition and post-petition transfers related to financing provided by the Defendant to one or more of the jointly administered Debtors2 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 547 and 549.3 The Defendant also requests administrative expense treatment of the unpaid portion of the post-petition financing based on § 503(b).

The matter is fully briefed. [AP ECF Nos. 41, 42, 46, and 47.] A hearing was held on September 15, 2017, and the motions were taken under submission. For the reasons explained herein, the Plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [AP ECF No. 37 (“Plaintiffs Motion”)] is granted in part and denied in part. The Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment and the request for administrative expense priority are denied. [AP ECF No. 35 (“Defendant’s Motion”).]

I. RELEVANT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY.

The following facts are supported by the record and/or are undisputed.

A. The Debtors.

The Debtors are operators of Golden Corral franchises that filed chapter 11 petitions on April 10, 2015. The eases are administratively consolidated under the lead case of In re GC London KY, Inc., Case No. 15-60463. The Debtors are owned by Djenane and Dexter Bartholomew (collectively, the “Bartholomews”, or individually “Djenane” or “Dexter”). The Plaintiff was appointed as the chapter 11 trustee in early December 2015 due to the Bartholomews’ mismanagement of the Debtors’ operations. [See Bk. ECF Nos. 333, 339.]

B. The Prepetition Financing.

The Defendant is a commercial construction company owned by Matthew Hal-loran. [AP ECF No. 35-2 ¶¶ 1-2 (“Hallo-ran Certification”).] In August 2013, the Defendant began performing contracting services for the Bartholomews on a project unrelated to the Debtors. [Halloran Certification ¶ 3,] By September 2014, the Bar-tholomews owed the Defendant in excess of $125,000.00 on this project. [Halloran Certification ¶ 4.]

In November 2014, Djenane approached Halloran for a loan to help their struggling Golden Corral franchises. [Id. ¶¶ 5-6.] The Defendant was not in the business of lending money [see AP ECF No, 24 at 10], but Halloran thought the loan might make it more likely the Bartholomews would repay the existing debt on the other project. [Halloran Certification ¶ 6.] Therefore, on November 17, 2014, the Defendant loaned $75,000.00 to GC Egg Harbor NJ, Inc., one of the Debtors (“GC Egg Harbor”). [Id. ¶ 8.] GC Egg Harbor repaid $25,000.00 to the Defendant on December 8, 2014, but the balance of the loan remains outstanding. [Id. ¶¶ 9-10.] A chart summarizing the history of this loan, as well as other relevant loans, is attached as Exhibit A.

The Bartholomews again contacted Hal-loran for financing assistance on April 2, 2015. The Debtors needed $60,000.00 to cover food purchases and $90,000.00 for payroll. [Id. ¶ 11.] Halloran caused the Defendant to wire transfer these amounts directly to the food vendor and the payroll disbursing agent on April 2. [Id. ¶ 13.] GC Egg Harbor repaid $40,000.00 of this loan on April 3, 2015, and $25,000.00 on April 6, 2015. [Halloran Certification, Exhibit H, AP ECF No. 35-3 at 9-10.] The remaining $85,000.00 was repaid on April 7, 2015, by DB Somerset Realty Ky, Inc., an entity affiliated with the Bartholomews. [Hallo-ran Certification ¶¶ 11,14.]

The final prepetition loan was made on April 9, 2015, when the Defendant issued a check to GC Egg Harbor for $25,000.00 to pay food vendors. [Halloran Certification, Exhibit K, AP ECF No. 35-3 at 21.] This loan was repaid post-petition on April 16, 2015.

C.The Post-Petition Financing.

Halloran continued to loan money to the Debtors after the bankruptcy petition was filed, making the last loan on November 13, 2016. Halloran claims, and the Plaintiff does not dispute, that the Defendant did not learn about the bankruptcy cases until December 2, 2015, through an online search. [Halloran Certification 1119.]

The total post-petition financing was $491,714.31. Nothing about the loans is consistent. [See Exhibit A.] Some loans were made by the Defendant, but Halloran and LG Enterprises, another entity affiliated with Halloran [Halloran Certification ¶23], also disbursed funds. Further, the recipients of the loans were not the same. Some loan proceeds went directly to a food vendor or the payroll disbursing agent. Other loan proceeds went to GC Egg Harbor or Bartholomew Enterprises, Inc., an entity associated with the Bartholomews. [AP ECF No. 35-1 at 53, lines 6-16 (“Plaintiff Deposition”).]

There are also inconsistencies with the repayments the Plaintiff seeks to recover. The loans initially were repaid within a few days, but as the months wore on the payments took longer and only partially covered the last disbursements. The total post-petition payments were $456,714.31, of which $284,714.31 was transferred from GC Egg Harbor (“Post-petition Payments”). The other $172,000.00 was repaid by Bartholomew Enterprises. The Plaintiff only seeks to recover the Post-petition Payments made by GC Egg Harbor.

D.The Administrative Expense Claim.

The Defendant filed the following proofs of claim against each of the Debtors (“B & H Claims”):

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The B & H Claims were filed on a form titled “Request for Payment of Administrative Expense” and each indicate the claim is for “Money loaned.” The Defendant attached a ledger report dated March 7, 2016, to each proof of claim, titled: “B & H Contractors Account QuickReport All Transactions” (“Ledger Report”). The sum of the entries on the Ledger Report equals $110,000.00. Exhibit A shows that $75,000.00 of the B <& H Claims accrued prepetition. The balance of $35,000.00 arises from post-petition transactions.

E.The Amended Complaint.

The Plaintiff filed her Amended Complaint to A) Avoid and Recover Transfers and B) Disallow Certain Claims Against the Estate of the Jointly Administered Debtors on January 6, 2017. [AP ECF No. 4.] The Amended Complaint contains seven counts seeking to avoid and recover portions of the prepetition and post-petition transfers and disallow the Defendant’s claim.

The Defendant raised the contemporaneous exchange for new value defense in § 547(c)(1) in its Answer. [AP ECF No. 18.] The Defendant later sought and was granted permission to amend the Answer to add the ordinary course of business defense pursuant to § 547(c)(2)(A) and the subsequent new value defense under § 547(c)(4). [AP ECF Nos. 43 and 56.]

Count III and Count IV of the Amended Complaint were dismissed with prejudice on the request of the Plaintiff. [AP ECF Nos.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
575 B.R. 755, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mckinstry-v-b-h-contractors-llc-in-re-gc-london-ky-inc-kyeb-2017.