McNaughton-McKay Electric Co. v. Andrich

482 S.E.2d 564, 324 S.C. 275
CourtCourt of Appeals of South Carolina
DecidedNovember 25, 1996
DocketNo. 2593
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 482 S.E.2d 564 (McNaughton-McKay Electric Co. v. Andrich) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McNaughton-McKay Electric Co. v. Andrich, 482 S.E.2d 564, 324 S.C. 275 (S.C. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

HOWARD, Judge:

McNaughton-McKay Electric Co. of NC, Inc. (McNaughton) sued Peter A. Andrich (Andrich) d/b/a Carolina Advanced Technologies, Inc. (C.A.T.) for failure to pay a debt. The trial court granted McNaughton’s motion for summary judgment because an earlier bankruptcy proceeding determined Andrich [278]*278owed the debt. Andrich appeals. We affirm as modified and remand.1

I. FACTS

Andrich was the president of C.A.T., a now dissolved South Carolina corporation. C.A.T. ordered equipment from McNaughton. After C.A.T. failed to pay the debt, McNaughton sued Andrich and C.A.T. After filing suit, McNaughton discovered Andrich and his wife had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and, therefore, McNaughton’s suit against Andrich was stayed. McNaughton intervened as a creditor in the bankruptcy proceeding and Andrich’s Amended Plan of Reorganization listed McNaughton as an unsecured creditor with a claim in the amount of $7,380. The plan provided that And-rich would pay $3,690, half the amount of the unsecured claims, in quarterly installments beginning after confirmation of the plan. The bankruptcy court confirmed Andrich’s proposed plan.2 Subsequently, Andrich filed a Motion to Modify Debtor’s Confirmed Plan of Reorganization. In his motion, Andrich stated he and McNaughton had compromised the debt because Andrich had returned equipment to McNaughton and, in exchange, McNaughton forgave the debt. The bankruptcy court denied Andrich’s motion to modify the bankruptcy plan.

Andrich failed to make payments to McNaughton as called for under the plan. Eventually, upon McNaughton’s motion, Andrich’s bankruptcy case was dismissed without the discharge of debts.3 Thereafter, McNaughton restored this case against Andrich to the Court of Common Pleas docket. In his answer, Andrich claimed he was not personally liable for the corporate debt. Thereafter, McNaughton moved for, and was granted, summary judgment on the basis that res judicata prevented Andrich from denying personal liability of the debt [279]*279to McNaughton. The lower court found that the same issue between identical parties was finally adjudicated in the bankruptcy court proceeding.

II. SCOPE OF REVIEW

Summary judgment is proper when it is clear there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Ride 56(c), SCRCP. Summary judgment should be granted when plain, palpable, and undisputable facts exist on which reasonable minds cannot differ. Trico Surveying, Inc. v. Godley Auction Co., 314 S.C. 542, 431 S.E.2d 565 (1993). In determining whether any triable issues of fact exist, the evidence and all inferences which can be reasonably drawn from the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Koester v. Carolina Rental Ctr., 313 S.C. 490, 443 S.E.2d 392 (1994).

III. LAW/ANALYSIS

A. RES JUDICATA

On appeal, Andrich claims the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because he is not personally liable for the debt owed to McNaughton. McNaughton argues Andrich is barred from relitigating the issue of liability for the debt because the bankruptcy court’s determination that And-rich owed the debt conclusively resolved all the issues. We agree.

Collateral estoppel will bar the relitigation of an issue which was actually litigated and necessary to the outcome of a prior lawsuit. In re Harborview Dev. 1986 Ltd. Partnership, 149 B.R. 378 (Bankr.D.S.C.1993) (citing Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore, 439 U.S. 322, 99 S.Ct. 645, 58 L.Ed.2d 552 (1979)). Furthermore, in the context of bankruptcy matters, the elements required for collateral estoppel to apply are: (1) the same issue; (2) was actually litigated; (3) determined by a valid and final judgment; and (4) such determination was essential to the prior judgment. Harbor-view, 149 B.R. at 380-81.

[280]*280“[A] final judgment for purposes of res judicata must finally dispose of some matter which under the substantive law to be applied and the procedural law of the forum can be, and has been, finally disposed of.” Republic Supply Co. v. Shoaf, 815 F.2d 1046, 1053 (5th Cir.1987) (quoting Southmark Properties v. Charles House Corp., 742 F.2d 862, 870 n. 10 (5th Cir.1984)). In Shoaf, the court determined an issue not actually litigated was disposed of when the bankruptcy court confirmed the debtor’s reorganization plan and, thus, was a final judgment on the merits. Shoaf at 1053.

“The general rule is that a confirmed plan of reorganization is binding on the debtor and other proponents of the plan.” Paul v. Monts, 906 F.2d 1468, 1471 (10th Cir.1990); see 11 U.S.C. § 1141 (1988) (the provisions of a confirmed plan bind the debtor and the creditor). The basis for this reasoning is that a “litigant is required to be consistent in his conduct. He may not maintain a position regarding a transaction wholly inconsistent with his previous acts in connection with that same transaction.” Paul, 906 F.2d at 1473.

It is important to bear in mind that the bankruptcy tribunal has always been a federal district court, which is a court of authority and power____ A judgment or order in a bankruptcy litigation is a judgment or order of the district court, whether it is rendered by a district judge or by a bankruptcy judge, and as such it is entitled to the same respect that would be afforded to any other judgment or order of the district court. As a general proposition, then, the finality doctrines apply in bankruptcy cases in the same fashion in which they apply elsewhere.

IB J. Moore, Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 0.419[3.-2], at 430 (2d ed. 1983).

[Judgments of the bankruptcy courts are normally immune to collateral attack. They can be relied upon by state courts. And when the judgment is final and valid, it is given appropriate effect as res judicata or as a collateral estoppel in subsequent proceedings in the state courts, where it is there entitled to full faith and credit.

Id. at 434-35.

A very broad preclusive effect has been given to orders confirming reorganization plans. See, e.g., U.S. Dept. of Air [281]*281Force v. Carolina Parachute Corp., 907 F.2d 1469, 1473-74 (4th Cir.1990).

In this case, the previous bankruptcy case confirmed And-rich’s reorganization plan in which Andrich admitted owing McNaughton the original sum of $7,380.

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Bluebook (online)
482 S.E.2d 564, 324 S.C. 275, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcnaughton-mckay-electric-co-v-andrich-scctapp-1996.