New Jersey Steel Corp. v. Bank of New York

223 B.R. 406, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8283, 1998 WL 293283
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 5, 1998
DocketCiv.A 95 CIV. 3071MP
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 223 B.R. 406 (New Jersey Steel Corp. v. Bank of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New Jersey Steel Corp. v. Bank of New York, 223 B.R. 406, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8283, 1998 WL 293283 (S.D.N.Y. 1998).

Opinion

OPINION AND DECISION

MILTON POLLACK, Senior District Judge.

PRELIMINARY

A. The defendant The Bank of New York (“BNY”), pursuant to an Inter-Creditor Agreement, agreed with plaintiff, New Jersey Steel Corporation (“NJS”), to share with NJS the proceeds from the sale of all the assets of A.J. Ross Logistics, Inc. (“AJR”) pledged by AJR to BNY as security for the indebtedness of AJR to BNY. The collateral securing the indebtedness consisted of all of the assets of AJR which were sold in 1994 in a bankruptcy sale for the bankrupt AJR, and the net proceeds were paid to BNY in 1994.

B. Demand was made by NJS for its agreed share, but payment has been refused. This suit for breach of contract followed.

C. BNY has counterclaimed and also asserted as a defense to the complaint that the contract claim of NJS should be equitably subordinated to claims of other creditors of AJR. NJS contends that such defense and counterclaim are devoid of legal and factual content, and are in any event inapplicable to a contract claim which does not involve claims in bankruptcy by either party and the outcome of which can have no effect on the bankruptcy estate. And, more particularly, that BNY has not proved any inequitable conduct on the part of NJS in its relations with AJR which would warrant application of that bankruptcy doctrine in any connection where it could validly be asserted.

D.A bench trial of this action was held before the Honorable Milton Pollack on May 11 and 12,1998. During the course of the trial the Court received live testimony on behalf of the plaintiff from Paul Roik, plaintiffs former Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer, and on behalf of the defendant from Peter D. Brady, Executive Vice President of BNY Financial Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BNY, and George Hristak-is, an internal auditor for BNY.

FINDINGS

1. A.J. Ross Logistics, Inc. (“AJR”) was a publicly-owned steel rebar fabricator with a principal place of business located in Keasbey, New Jersey, and the plaintiff New Jersey Steel Corporation (“NJS”) was the largest supplier of steel to AJR.

2. NJS, the plaintiff, is a Delaware Corporation having its principal place of business in Sayreville, New Jersey. NJS is a publicly-owned company which manufactures steel and steel products, principally steel rebar, which is used in the construction industry.

3. NJS was a one-third equity owner of AJR, having acquired its interest in AJR in or about September 1988 in exchange for forgiveness of debt in the amount of approximately $2 million.

4. Thomas Petrizzo (“Petrizzo”) was a one-third equity owner of AJR and until June 1992 was President of AJR.

5. In 1991 and 1992, AJR was a major customer of NJS and NJS was the largest and most dominant supplier of inventory to AJR.

6. Defendant The Bank of New York (“BNY”) is a New York Corporation which has its principal place of business in New York, New York and engaged in the business of banking.

7. In November 1988, BNY’s predeeessor-in-interest, Irving Trust Company, entered into a Loan and Security Agreement (the “Loan Agreement”) and related financing agreements (collectively, the “Financing Agreements”) with AJR pursuant to which BNY made loans and *408 advances to AJR and was granted a first-priority security interest in all of AJR’s personalty, including all receivables, inventory, equipment and general intangibles. Those loans at one time were as high as $22 million.

8. Following BNY’s merger with Irving Trust Company in 1989, BNY vice president Stephen V. Mangiante (“Mangi-ante”) and BNY senior vice president Peter D. Brady (“Brady”) assumed primary responsibility for the AJR loan account.

9. Under the Loan and Security Agreement with Irving TrustyBNY, the Bank was granted and perfected a first priority lien and/or security interest in substantially all of AJR’s personal property, including without limitation all Receivables, Inventory, Equipment and General Intangibles.

10. In November 1990, AJR sold its Keas-bey, New Jersey property to NJS for $16 million. AJR had been seeking a buyer for the property without success. AJR had obtained an appraisal of the property, reciting a value of approximately $16,500,000.

11. The sale agreements of the Keasbey property contained a two-year leaseback provision which provided for annual rent from AJR of $900,000 and $1 million in years one and two, respectively-

12. Five million dollars of the price obtained for the Keasbey property was used to pay an outstanding mortgage on the property and the balance was applied to reduce AJR’s trade debt to NJS. The amount of rent on the leaseback was computed as a percentage of the sale price equal to the interest rate NJS was earning on its excess cash balances at the time (between 6 and %). The transaction was negotiated at arms-length at a time when NJS had no representation on AJR’s Board of Directors and no voting rights with respect to its one-third equity interest in AJR, having given a proxy to AJR’s President Petrizzo. Although no other buyer was willing to pay as much as the appraised value for the property, Petriz-zo was able to take advantage of NJS’s vulnerable position to obtain a premium for the property. NJS was vulnerable because all of AJR’s property was pledged to BNY as security for BNY’s loan. Once AJR sold the real property, it would have no assets left against which AJR might have recourse if AJR failed to pay its debt to NJS. The transaction reduced leverage and improved AJR’s working capital. AJR stopped paying rent to NJS in June, 1993.

13. In 1991 and 1992, BNY sent field examiners to AJR’s offices every three or four months to review its books and records. It was a standard auditing process. They reviewed cash receipts, cash disbursements, sales ledgers, receivables, inventory levels, payables, and the recorded rental payments from AJR to NJS. They were time-consuming audits, and could take from three to five weeks.

14. On or about January 27, 1992, BNY declared an Event of Default under the Loan and Security Agreement with AJR, citing, among other things, a significant deterioration in AJR’s accounts receivable ageings and the lengthy unavailability of Petrizzo, because of health-related reasons.

15. In early 1992, BNY’s officer in charge of the AJR account, Brady, asked Paul Roik (“Roik”), NJS’s chief financial officer, to propose a business plan for AJR, and on April 8, 1992, representatives of BNY, AJR, and NJS met to discuss the possible need for additional funding of AJR.

16. After negotiations, it was agreed among BNY, AJR and NJS that (a) a new president be hired for AJR to replace Petrizzo, (b) two representatives of NJS would become members of the five-member Board of Directors of AJR, (c) a controller would be hired for AJR, and (d) AJR would divest itself of all of its lines of business except for rebar fabrication.

*409 17.

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223 B.R. 406, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8283, 1998 WL 293283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-jersey-steel-corp-v-bank-of-new-york-nysd-1998.