Menchise v. Barber (In re Camero Enterprises, Inc.)

240 B.R. 446, 13 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 11, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 2340
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJune 18, 1997
DocketBankruptcy No. 92-7102-8G7; Adversary No. 94-319
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 240 B.R. 446 (Menchise v. Barber (In re Camero Enterprises, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Menchise v. Barber (In re Camero Enterprises, Inc.), 240 B.R. 446, 13 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 11, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 2340 (Fla. 1997).

Opinion

ORDER ON DEFENDANT ROBERT BARBER’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, AND ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO ALLOW AFFIDAVIT TO SERVE AS AMENDMENT TO REQUEST FOR ADMISSIONS OR AS UNTIMELY REQUEST FOR ADMISSIONS

PAUL M. GLENN, Bankruptcy Judge.

THIS CASE came before the Court to consider Defendant Robert Barber’s Motion for Summary Judgment. The Motion is directed to the Second Amended Complaint to Recover Avoidable Transfers and for Turnover filed by Douglas N. Men-chise, as Trustee of the Chapter 7 estate of Camero Enterprises, Inc. The Second Amended Complaint contains three Counts. Count I is an action to avoid and recover preferential transfers pursuant to Section 547 and Section 550 of the Bankruptcy Code; Count II is an action to avoid and recover fraudulent transfers pursuant to Section 548 and Section 550 of the Bankruptcy Code; and Count III is an action for turnover of certain vehicles pursuant to Section 542 of the Bankruptcy Code. Robert Barber (the Defendant) contends that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, and that he is entitled to the entry of a summary judgment in his favor with respect to each Count set forth in the Complaint.

Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as made applicable to this proceeding by Rule 7056 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, provides:

Rule 56. Summary Judgment
(c) Motion and Proceedings Thereon.... The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no Senuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving Party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.

In this case, the Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment is supported by (1) an Affidavit of Robert Barber, the Defendant, and (2) the Defendant’s Request for Admissions, which was served on the Plaintiff on August 6, 1996. The Defendant contends that the Plaintiff did not respond to the Request for Admissions within the time permitted by this Court, and that the matters included in the Request are therefore admitted pursuant to Rule 36(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as made applicable by Rule 7036 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.

Background

The Defendant served the Request for Admissions on the Plaintiff on August 6, 1996.

On October 3, 1996, the Plaintiff filed an Objection to the Request for Admissions, and on October 4,1996, the Plaintiff filed a Motion for Protective Order. In the Motion for Protective Order, the Plaintiff states that on August 22, 1996, Plaintiffs counsel had requested and received from the Defendant a forty-five day extension until October 3, 1996, within which to respond to the Request for Admissions. When the Defendant denied a request for an additional extension on October 2, 1996, the Plaintiff filed the Motion for Protective Order.

On October 9, 1996, the Defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss for Failure to Comply with Court Order and Motion to Compel Answers to Request for ^Admissions. In this motion, the Defendant requests, among other relief, that the Court order the Plaintiff to respond to the Request for Admissions.

A hearing was conducted on the motions on October 22, 1996. At the hearing, the parties agreed that the Plaintiff would re[448]*448spond to the Request for Admissions by November 22,1996.

On October 25, 1996, the Court entered an Order Granting Motion for Protective Order, which provided that the Plaintiff “shall respond to the Discovery on or as of November 22,1996.”

On October 29, 1996, the Court entered an Order granting the Defendant’s Motion to Compel, and ordered the Plaintiff to “fully respond, without objection, to Barber’s Request for Admissions on or before November 22,1996.”

The Plaintiff did not respond to the Request for Admissions on or before November 22,1996.

On December 9, 1996, the Defendant filed his Motion for Summary Judgment. In his Memorandum in support of the Motion for Summary Judgment, the Defendant states:

The Trustee has filed a separate adversary proceeding against the corporation owned by Barber, Top Value Auto Sales, Inc. (hereinafter “Top Value”), styled: Douglas N. Menchise, Chapter 7 Trustee, vs. Top Value Auto Sales, Inc., Case No. 94-325 (hereinafter the “Top Value Litigation”). The Trustee has urged that the legal distinction between Barber and the corporation owned by him, Top Value, be disregarded and that the extended one-year preferential transfer reachback recovery period set forth in 11 U.S.C. § 547(d)(4)(B) be applied to the facts of this adversary proceeding. See Second Amended Complaints at Paragraph 17. For the purposes of this Motion only, Barber will assume that Barber and Top Value are one and the same and that the one-year reachback periQd applies.
Barber relies on the Memorandum of law filed in Top Value Litigation and incorporates the same into this Memorandum in toto.

On pages 7 and 8 of Top Value’s Motion, Top Value discusses the Request for Admissions, and asserts that the Plaintiff did not respond to the Request on or before November 22, 1996, in accordance with the Court’s prior orders. Top Value therefore asserts that each of the matters contained in the Request is deemed admitted pursuant to Rule 7036 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. Robert Barber, the Defendant in this adversary proceeding, also asserts that the Plaintiff did not respond to the Request for Admissions by November 22, 1996, and that the matters contained in the request are therefore deemed admitted.

The Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment was scheduled for hearing on February 4, 1997. No written response to the Motion for Summary Judgment was filed with the Court prior to the hearing. It appears, however, that a “Motion to Allow Affidavit to Serve as Amendment to Request for Admissions or as Untimely Request for Admissions,” together with an Affidavit of the Chapter 7 Trustee, was served by the Plaintiff by facsimile on Defendant’s counsel on February 3, 1997, the day prior to the hearing. The Motion and Affidavit were filed with the Court during the hearing on February 4, 1997. In the Motion, the Plaintiff acknowledges that a response to the Request for Admissions had not been served or filed by the Plaintiff, but that the Plaintiff has documentary evidence to support some of the allegations of its Complaint.

Discussion

Rule 36

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Bluebook (online)
240 B.R. 446, 13 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 11, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 2340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/menchise-v-barber-in-re-camero-enterprises-inc-flmb-1997.