MorrisAnderson & Associates Limited v. Redeye II LLC

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedDecember 3, 2020
Docket2:20-cv-02219
StatusUnknown

This text of MorrisAnderson & Associates Limited v. Redeye II LLC (MorrisAnderson & Associates Limited v. Redeye II LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
MorrisAnderson & Associates Limited v. Redeye II LLC, (D. Ariz. 2020).

Opinion

Case 2:20-cv-02219-JAT Document 8 Filed 12/03/20 Page 1 of 69

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 IN THE MATTER OF: No: CV-20-02219-PHX-JAT 10 Swift Air, L.L.C. ORDER 11 Debtor. 12 13 MorrisAnderson & Associates Limited, 14 Plaintiff, 15 vs. 16 Redeye II LLC, et al., 17 18 Defendants.

19 Before the Court are the Report and Recommendation (the “Report and 20 Recommendation”), (Doc. 19-2 at 65–262),1 containing the proposed findings of fact and 21 conclusions of law of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona (the 22 “Bankruptcy Court”). Defendants Redeye II LLC, et al. (“Defendants”) object to specific 23 portions of the Report and Recommendation and filed Objections to the Report and 24 1 This case is related to the appeals in Swift Aircraft Management LLC v. MorrisAnderson 25 & Associates Limited, Case No. CV-20-00854-PHX-JAT, Transjet Incorporated v. MorrisAnderson & Associates Limited, Case No. CV-20-00849-PHX-JAT, and Redeye II, 26 LLC v. MorrisAnderson & Associates Limited, Case No. CV-20-00855-PHX-JAT (the “Redeye Appeal”) (together, the “Related Appeals”). The appellants in the Related Appeals 27 have briefed issues that cross all the Related Appeals and this case in the appellants’ Opening Brief in the Redeye Appeal as permitted by Fed. R. Bankr. P. 8014(e). Any 28 citation of Docs. 19, 19-1, 19-2, 19-3, 19-4, 19-5, 19-6, 19-7, or 19-8 will refer to the appellants’ Opening Brief and attachments in the Redeye Appeal. Case 2:20-cv-02219-JAT Document 8 Filed 12/03/20 Page 2 of 69

1 Recommendation. (Doc. 1 at 6–83). Plaintiff MorrisAnderson & Associates Limited 2 (“Plaintiff” or the “Trustee”) filed a Response. (Doc. 1 at 87–125). After reviewing the 3 filings and the record, the Court issues the following order. 2 4 I. BACKGROUND 5 The below is a brief summary of the background of this case. A more extensive 6 discussion of the background can be found in the Report and Recommendation, (Doc. 19- 7 2 at 75–116), and the appellants’ Opening Brief in the Redeye Appeal, (Doc. 19 at 10–14). 8 Prior to December 21, 2011, Swift Air, LLC (“Swift” or the “Debtor”) operated as 9 an aviation management company under a combined 14 CFR Part 121/135 Certificate 10 (“Part 121 Certificate” and “Part 135 Certificate”) issued by the Federal Aviation 11 Administration (“FAA”). (Doc. 19 at 10). Swift’s business involved managing aircraft 12 owned by other parties and booking charter contracts. (Id.). Swift maintained a Part 135 13 Certificate business which managed corporate/individual charter flights (the “Part 135 14 Business”), and Swift also maintained a Part 121 Certificate business which consisted of 15 flying large charter groups, in particular, professional sports teams (the “Part 121 16 Business”). (Id. at 11). Keeping the Part 121 Certificate operational required that certain 17 criteria be satisfied, such as having five specific positions filled by qualified employees 18 (the “Five Wise Men”).3 (Doc. 19-5 at 173–74). 19 Swift was a wholly owned subsidiary of Swift Aviation Group, Inc. (“SAG”). (Doc. 20 19-2 at 260). SAG also held all the equity interests in Swift Aviation Sales, Inc. (“Sales”), 21 Swift Aviation Management, LLC (“SAVM”), and Swift Aviation Services, LLC 22 (“Services”). (Id.). SAG was wholly owned by the Jerry and Vickie Moyes Family Trust 23 2 The Bankruptcy Court found that it only had the authority to issue a Report and Recommendation on all of Plaintiff’s breach of fiduciary duty claims and certain of 24 Plaintiff’s fraudulent transfer claims. (Doc. 19-2 at 75). The Bankruptcy Court determined that it had the authority to enter final judgment on Plaintiff’s preference claims, but this 25 Court determined in the Redeye Appeal that the Bankruptcy Court could only issue a report and recommendation on the preference claims against Redeye II, LLC, Jerry Moyes and 26 Vickie Moyes, and the Jerry and Vickie Moyes Family Trust. See Redeye II, LLC v. MorrisAnderson & Associates Limited, Case No. CV-20-00855-PHX-JAT, Part III.A (D. 27 Ariz. Dec. 1, 2020). This Order will apply only to those claims and defendants over which the Bankruptcy Court did not have the authority to enter final judgments. 28 3 The positions are Chief Pilot, Director of Operations, Chief Inspector, Director of Safety, and Director of Maintenance. (Doc. 19-5 at 174).

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1 (the “Moyes Trust”). (Id.). Jerry Moyes (“Moyes”) was the sole trustee of the Moyes Trust. 2 (Id.). The Moyes Trust also held all the equity interests in Transjet, Inc. (“Transjet”), 3 Transjet’s three subsidiaries (the “Transjet Subsidiaries”), Transpay, Inc. (“Transpay”), 4 and SME Steel Contractors, Inc. (“SME”). (Id.). Moyes also personally owned fifty percent 5 of Redeye II, LLC (“Redeye”). (Id.). Moyes served as Swift’s president, and Kevin 6 Burdette (“Burdette”) served as Swift’s vice-president. (Id. at 78). The companies owned 7 by Moyes and the Moyes Trust regularly did business with one another and through this 8 business incurred significant accounts receivable and accounts payable that were 9 outstanding on December 21, 2011. (Id. at 77–87). 10 In 2011, Swift’s balance sheet reflected liabilities greater than assets by more than 11 $3 million. (Id. at 88). In the latter half of 2011, Burdette met with two potential buyers for 12 Swift who ultimately did not purchase the company. (Id.). Then, in October 2011, Jeff 13 Conry (“Conry”), on behalf of Avondale Aviation II, LLC and Jordan Gunthorpe Holdings, 14 LLC (collectively, the “Buyers”), approached Burdette about purchasing Swift’s Part 121 15 Business (the “Transaction”). (Doc. 19 at 11). Notably, the Buyers told Burdette that they 16 only wanted to acquire the equity in Swift’s Part 121 Business and that they intended to 17 merge it with their recently acquired business, Direct Air, which needed a Part 121 18 Certificate. (Doc. 19-2 at 88–89). The Buyers also told Burdette that they planned to obtain 19 a $5 million investment in Swift after its acquisition. (Id. at 90). 20 The Transaction moved forward, terms were solidified, and the Buyers closed on 21 the purchase of the equity interest in Swift for a de minimis payment of $100 on December 22 21, 2011 (the “Transaction Date”). (Doc. 19 at 11–12). Swift’s Part 135 Business was not 23 included in the Transaction, so it was transferred into a newly created entity, Swift Aircraft 24 Management, LLC (“SAM”). (Id. at 12). As part of the Transaction, Swift transferred 25 certain assets and liabilities, including accounts receivable and accounts payable, 26 associated with the Part 135 Business to SAM and SAG pursuant to the Part 135 27 Assignment and Assumption Agreement and Guarantee (the “Assignment and Assumption 28 Agreement”). (Id. at 13). After the closing of the Transaction, Swift and the other Moyes

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1 owned companies executed an Inter-Company Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release 2 (the “Settlement Agreement”). (Id.). The Settlement Agreement released Swift from any 3 debts or obligations to the other Moyes owned companies and facilitated a transfer of assets 4 and liabilities between Swift and certain other Moyes owned companies (the “Transfers”). 5 (Id.). The Transfers included a receivable from SAVM (the “SAVM Receivable”) and a 6 receivable from Redeye (the “Redeye Receivable”). (Id.). 7 After the Transaction, the newly acquired Swift (“New Swift”) experienced 8 cashflow shortages. (Doc. 19-2 at 105). The $5 million investment that the Buyers planned 9 to obtain for New Swift never materialized, and New Swift never merged with Direct Air. 10 (Id. at 107).

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MorrisAnderson & Associates Limited v. Redeye II LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morrisanderson-associates-limited-v-redeye-ii-llc-azd-2020.