Newhall Land & Farming Co. v. American Heritage Landscape, LP (In re Landsource Communities Development LLC)

476 B.R. 454, 2012 WL 3778864, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 4035
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Delaware
DecidedAugust 30, 2012
DocketBankruptcy No. 08-11111 (KJC); Adversary No. 09-51074 (KJC)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 476 B.R. 454 (Newhall Land & Farming Co. v. American Heritage Landscape, LP (In re Landsource Communities Development LLC)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Newhall Land & Farming Co. v. American Heritage Landscape, LP (In re Landsource Communities Development LLC), 476 B.R. 454, 2012 WL 3778864, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 4035 (Del. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

KEVIN J. CAREY, Bankruptcy Judge.

Before the Court are cross-motions for summary judgment filed by Plaintiff, The Newhall Land and Farming Company (A California Limited Partnership)1 (“New-hall”), and Defendants American Heritage Landscape, LP and R & R Pipeline, Inc. (respectively, “AHL” and “R & R” or, jointly, the “Defendants”). Newhall asserts that the Defendants do not hold valid secured claims against the Debtors’ estate, and the Defendants contend that their mechanic’s liens remain secured, senior in priority, and enforceable. For the reasons set forth below, the Court will grant partial summary judgment in favor of Defendants AHL and R & R, and will deny summary judgment to Newhall.

JURISDICTION

The Court has jurisdiction over this adversary proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 157 and 1334. Consideration of this matter constitutes a core proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(B) and (K). Venue is proper in this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1408 and 1409(a).

BACKGROUND

Newhall, a land management company, executed pre-petition contractual agreements with AHL, a landscape contractor, and R & R, a general engineering contractor. The Defendants hold mechanic’s liens, arising out of those pre-petition contractual agreements, against property purportedly owned by Newhall. On May 23, 2008, AHL recorded three mechanic’s liens for “labor and material for landscaping and irrigation work”: lien numbers 20080921053, 20090921054, and 20080921055. Compl. Ex. A, D.I. # 1. The AHL Liens are in the amount of $398,217.32. AHL lien number 20080921055 describes the encumbered property as ‘West Creek C Recreation Center — Lot 366, Tract 52455-01 (the “AHL Recreational Center Lien”).

On June 6, 2008, R & R recorded three mechanic’s liens against Newhall’s property, for “supplying and installing pipeline and related services and materials”: lien [456]*456numbers 20081005958; 20081005959; and 20081005960, which was amended on June 12, 2008 by lien number 20081045588. Compl. Ex. B, D.I. #1. The R & R Liens are in the amount of $634,470.98.

On June 8, 2008, LandSource Communities Development LLC and its affiliated debtors, including Newhall (collectively, the “Debtors”), each filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in this Court. At the same time, the Debtors filed a Notice of Filing of Creditor Matrix, which included the Defendants. List of Creditors, p. 4(AHL), p. 71 (R & R), Main D.I. #8.

The business of the Debtors, together with the non-debtor subsidiaries (referred to as “The LandSource Group”), was described in the Declaration of Donald L. Kimball (“First Day Declaration,” Main D.I. # 10) as follows:

The LandSource Group is a large and diversified land development company. Since its inception, it has managed over 35,000 homesites across the nation, including in the states of Arizona, California, Florida, New Jersey, Nevada and Texas.... Traditionally, the Land-Source Group has focused on site acquisition within regions with high population and economic growth, where supply is limited, and where development can be readily supported by the LandSource Group’s experienced development team. The LandSource Group’s primary business is horizontal, rather than vertical, real estate development. Horizontal development involves the land planning, entitlement, development, construction and remediation necessary to transform undeveloped land into ready to build homesites for homebuilding and commercial land for developers. Horizontal development includes, among other things, obtaining all required regulatory approvals (including zoning changes and approval of a subdivision map), clearing land, moving soil, installing water, cable, and sewer lines, grading and paving roads and providing community amenities such as recreation centers and parks. Once these activities have concluded, the LandSource Group typically sells the property to a homebuilder or commercial real estate developer. A significant portion of the LandSource Group’s horizontal development occurs within the context of master planned communities that are planned and developed by the LandSource Group.

First Day Declaration ¶¶ 5-6.2

On June 9, 2008, the Debtors filed a Motion to Approve Debtor-in-Possession Financing (the “DIP Motion”). Main D.I. # 18. The First Day Declaration described the proposed debtor-in-possession (“DIP”) facility as follows:

The DIP Credit Facility is comprised of (i) a senior Revolving Credit Facility of $135,000,000, including a letter of credit subfacility of up to $35,000,000 and a swing line facility of up to $10,000,000, and (ii) upon entry of a final order (the “Final Order”), a junior term loan, comprising the “roll-up” of up to $1,050,000,000 of prepetition obligations to the First Lien Lenders (the “Roll-Up”). If the Court enters the proposed form of interim order (the “Interim Order”) pending a hearing on, and entry of, the Final Order, the Debtors will be [457]*457authorized to borrow up to $35,000,000 from the Revolving Credit Facility. Borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility will be secured by, among other things, priming liens on substantially all of the Debtors’ property, senior in priority to the liens held by the Prepetition Lenders, and will also be afforded su-perpriority status. The term loan comprising the Roll-Up will, upon entry of the Final Order, also be secured by priming liens on the Debtors’ property, senior in priority to the liens held by the Prepetition Lenders, though junior in priority to borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility, and will also be afforded priority status, subject to certain permitted liens and a carve-out.
The First Lien Lenders have consented to the Debtors’ use of cash collateral in accordance with a budget annexed to the Interim Order, subject to the adequate protection set forth in the Interim Order. As adequate protection, the First Lien Lenders will receive (i) a superpri-ority claim to the extent of any such diminution, (ii) a junior lien on all assets of the Debtors subject to liens granted in favor of the First Lien Agent, (iii) the payment of the reasonable fees and expenses of First Lien Prepetition Agent, and (iv) upon entry of the Final Order, the Roll-Up. As a result of the consent of the First Lien Lenders, the Second Lien Lenders may not, pursuant to the terms of the Intercreditor Agreement, object to the use of the Debtors’ cash collateral, although they may seek adequate protection from the Court.

First Day Declaration ¶¶ 55-57. On June 10, 2008, the Court entered an Interim Order on the DIP Motion. On June 11, 2208, the Debtors filed a Notice of the Interim DIP Order and Final DIP Hearing.3

On July 7, 2008, the Committee of Unsecured Creditors filed an objection to the Debtors’ proposed DIP financing (the “Committee Objection,” Main D.I.

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476 B.R. 454, 2012 WL 3778864, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 4035, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/newhall-land-farming-co-v-american-heritage-landscape-lp-in-re-deb-2012.