New Asset Subsidiary, L.L.C. v. Zelms (In re BFA Liquidation Trust)

331 B.R. 907, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22306
CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedSeptember 27, 2005
DocketNo. CIV 04-0406-PHX-EHC
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 331 B.R. 907 (New Asset Subsidiary, L.L.C. v. Zelms (In re BFA Liquidation Trust)) 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
New Asset Subsidiary, L.L.C. v. Zelms (In re BFA Liquidation Trust), 331 B.R. 907, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22306 (D. Ariz. 2005).

Opinion

ORDER

CARROLL, District Judge.

Plaintiffs/Appellees (“Appellees”) filed an Appeal of the Bankruptcy Court’s grant of summary judgment for the Defendant/Appellant (“Appellant”) on count one of Appellees’s Second Amended Complaint, which alleged breach of contract. [Dkt. 1]. The Appeal is fully briefed.

The Appeal turns on whether an offer to release individual lots in a subdivision from a deed of trust on the entire subdivision for payment of $12,500 for each lot released is enforceable against Appellant.

Background

William Blair (“Blair”) managed a real estate development company known as Desert Diamond Estates, L.L.C. (“Desert Diamond”). In October 1997, one of the Debtor companies, New Church Ventures Credit Corporation (“New Church”), extended Blair a line of credit to use in developing a parcel of land into a residential subdivision, and Blair executed an $800,000.00 Multiple Advance Promissory Note in favor of New Church (“Blair Note”). To secure the note, Blair, on behalf of Desert Diamond, executed a Deed of Trust and Assignment of Rents (“New Church Deed”) for Lots 1 through 78 of the subdivision, naming New Church as the Beneficiary. The New Church Deed has no provisions governing the release of individual lots from the New Church Deed.

Desert Diamond sought government approval for the subdivision. ATI Title Agency (“ATI”) assisted with this process. On June 19,1998, ATI sent a letter to New Church asking New Church to provide terms for the release of individual lots from the New Church Deed. ATI needed the partial release terms because the Arizona Department of Real Estate required provision for the release of lots encumbered by the New Church Deed before it would issue a subdivision report.

In June 1998, Dennis McKelvie (“McKelvie”), assistant to New Church’s attorney, Thomas Grabinski, sent a letter (“McKelvie Letter”) to ATI, offering to release individual lots from the New Church Deed for $12,500.00 per lot. The [910]*910substantive portion of the letter reads: “The Beneficiary of the above-referenced Deed of Trust, New Church Ventures Credit Corporation, an Arizona corporation, will release any encumbered lot, in any order of sale, for the release price of $12,500.00.” [Dkt. 16, app. 3].

Desert Diamond submitted the McKel-vie Letter to the Arizona Department of Real Estate to gain approval of its application for a public subdivision report. Desert Diamond also subdivided the property and, through its related entity Cholla Homes, L.L.C., which is also managed by Blair, began selling individual lots in the subdivision.

New Church, together with the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, Inc., the Arizona Southern Baptist New Church Ventures, Inc., and other related entities filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy1 in November 1999. The Bankruptcy Court established a liquidation plan, creating Appellant New Asset Subsidiary, L.L.C. Appellant became the holder of the Blair Note and succeeded to New Church’s beneficial interest in the New Church Deed.

In November 1998, the Blair Note was in default. Appellant demanded payment from Blair and Desert Diamond, who did not pay. In January 2001, Appellant discovered that Desert Diamond, through Cholla Homes, L.L.C., was selling individual lots in the subdivision even though the entire property was subject to the New Church Deed. Some of the lots were sold with sales documents mentioning payments to New Church, but only one of those payments was for the lot release price of $12,500, the rest ranged from $4,200 to $29,000. None of these payments were ever actually made to New Church.

Fidelity National Title Insurance Company (“Fidelity”) acted as the title insurer and escrow agent for each of these lot sales. Appellant notified Fidelity by letter sent on January. 31, 2001 that it had a lien on the lots that had not been released. [Dkt. 7E, app. 19, ex. A]. Appellant sent a second letter February 26, 2001. [Dkt. 7E, app. 19, ex. B]. Appellant did not receive a response to either letter.

In July 2001, Appellant filed a Notice of Trustee’s Sale in the Official Records of the Maricopa County Recorder, Document No. 2001-0598510. This Notice involved the following lots: “Lots 1 through 5, 7, 9 through 11, 13, 16, 23, 25 through 28, 32 through 34, 36 through 39, 42 through 45, 48 through 55, 58, 61 through 63, 65, 68 through 71, 73, and 76 through 78.”2 [Dkt. 14, p. 18]. In October 2001, the purchasers of the lots (“Appellees”) initiated an adversary proceeding in the United States Bankruptcy Court3 to enjoin the Trustee’s Sale of the property.

Both parties moved for summary judgment. On February 12, 2004, the Bankruptcy Court granted summary judgment for Appellees on count one of Appellees’s Second Amended Complaint, which alleged breach of the terms of the McKelvie Letter. The Bankruptcy Court granted summary judgment for Appellant on count two for promissory estoppel; that ruling is not challenged in this appeal.

Consequently, the Bankruptcy Court enjoined the Trustee’s Sale and required Appellant to release 22 of the individual lots from the New Church Deed upon payment [911]*911by Appellees of $12,500 for each lot to be released. As part of the same order, the Bankruptcy Court ordered Appellees to pay $275,000 (to release 22 lots at the $12,500 release price), minus the amount of their attorneys’ fees award, to Appellant. Appellant was ordered to accept the payment and release the 22 lots to Appellees.

On February 25, 2004, Appellant filed this Appeal challenging the Bankruptcy Court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Appellees on count one of the Second Amended Complaint.

Legal Standard

The Court reviews the Bankruptcy Court’s decision to grant summary judgment de novo. Parker v. Community First Bank, 123 F.3d 1243, 1245 (9th Cir.1997). Granting summary judgment is appropriate if “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact” and “the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

Discussion

Appellant makes three principal arguments: that the McKelvie Letter is not a modification of the New Church Deed; that bankruptcy law allows the Trustee, acting through Appellant, to avoid the effect of the McKelvie Letter because it was unrecorded; and that Appellees cannot exercise their partial release right because the Blair Note is in default.

Modification of the New Church Deed

Under Arizona law, the McKelvie Letter can only modify the New Church Deed if each of the following elements are met: “(1) an offer to modify the contract, (2) assent to or acceptance of that offer, and (3) consideration.” Demasse v. ITT Corp., 194 Ariz. 500, 506, 984 P.2d 1138, 1144 (1999). Appellant does not contend that the McKelvie Letter was not an offer to modify the contract or that there is no consideration. The issue is whether the McKelvie Letter was accepted.

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Bluebook (online)
331 B.R. 907, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22306, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-asset-subsidiary-llc-v-zelms-in-re-bfa-liquidation-trust-azd-2005.