Nilhan Developers, LLC

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJune 21, 2021
Docket15-58443
StatusUnknown

This text of Nilhan Developers, LLC (Nilhan Developers, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nilhan Developers, LLC, (Ga. 2021).

Opinion

JES (si (ihe Ne IT IS ORDERED as set forth below: a\ game Be Ms IES N VoisTRIct oD 7 Date: June 21, 2021 Lan ¥ Hy WendyL.Hagenau U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA ATLANTA DIVISION

IN RE: CASE NO. 15-58443-WLH NILHAN DEVELOPERS, LLC, CHAPTER 11 Debtor,

ORDER ON MOTION FOR AN ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE WHY WALTER E. JONES AND CLAY TOWNSEND SHOULD NOT BE SANCTIONED THIS MATTER is before the Court on the Motion for an Order to Show Cause Why Walter E. Jones and Clay Townsend, Attorneys in this Proceeding, and Other Related Cases, Should Not Be Sanctioned for their Lack of Candor to the Court (Case No. 15-58443 Doc. No. 265) (the “Motion”). In the Motion, “Equity”! asks the Court to enter an Order to Show Cause why Walter E. Jones and Clay Townsend, counsel for Good Gateway, LLC and SEG Gateway, LLC (collectively “Gateway”), a creditor in this case, should not be held in contempt for their failure to comply with the rules of professional conduct regarding candor to the court.

'! The Schedules reflect the equity owners are Rohan and Niloy Thakkar. The Motion does not identify “Equity.”

I. FACTS The facts are laid out in detail in the Court’s Order on Motions to (1) Remove the Chapter 11 Trustee; (2) Disqualify GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group, LLC, Accountants for the Trustee; (3) Disgorge Any Fees and Expenses of the Trustee; and (4) Disgorge Any Fees and Expenses of the Accountants for the Trustee (Case No. 15-58443 Doc. No. 300) (the “Removal Order”), entered on April 19, 2021. In short, Nilhan Developers, LLC (“ND”) filed a Chapter 11 petition on May 4, 2015. On December 11, 2018, the Court ordered the appointment of a trustee. The U.S. Trustee sought approval to appoint Ronald L. Glass as Trustee. The Court approved Mr.

Glass as Trustee on December 11, 2018 (Case No. 15-58440 Doc. No. 922). The Trustee sought to employ GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group, LLC (“GR”) as financial advisor (Doc. No. 934), which the Court approved (Case No. 15-58440 Doc. No. 965). The Court confirmed the Trustee’s Sixth Amended Plan on December 8, 2020 (Case No. 15-58443 Doc. No. 227), and the plan became effective on December 23, 2020. Niloy and Rohan Thakkar (the “Thakkars”) then filed a motion to remove the Trustee on January 5, 2021 (Case No. 15-58443 Doc. No. 238) (the “Removal Motion”), contending Ian Ratner, Mr. Glass’s business partner at GR, served as the President and Director of NCT, as reflected in documents filed with the Florida Secretary of State on September 10, 2018 (prior to the appointment of Mr. Glass as Trustee), until a new filing removed Mr. Ratner from the designated positions on April 26, 2019. NCT is wholly owned by Gateway, which has claimed multiple interests in this and related bankruptcy cases. In this case, Gateway asserts an interest in claims of Nilhan Financial, LLC, an entity also previously controlled by the Thakkars and a creditor of ND. Mr. Jones and Mr. Townsend represent Gateway in this and related cases including

15-58440 Bay Circle Properties, LLC; 15-58442 Sugarloaf Centre, LLC; and 15-58444 NRCT, LLC. The Thakkars alleged that neither Mr. Glass nor GR were disinterested and that they represented an interest adverse to the estate by virtue of Mr. Ratner’s role as an officer and director of NCT. The Removal Motion also contended that Mr. Glass and GR did not adequately disclose their connection to NCT and Gateway. After the evidentiary hearing on the Removal Motion, the Court found that GR (through Mr. Ratner) signed an engagement letter (the “Engagement Letter”) with NCT that provided: This letter confirms and sets forth the terms and conditions of the engagement between GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group, LLC (“GlassRatner”) and the Company [defined as NCT Systems, Inc.], including the scope of the services to be performed and the basis of compensation for those services. Upon execution of this letter by each of the parties below, this letter will constitute an agreement between the Company and GlassRatner. It is anticipated that the Company will file an action to gain control of Sugarloaf Centre Partners, LLC (“Sugarloaf Partners”) and Sugarloaf Centre, LLC (“Sugarloaf Centre”), either in state court or in the chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Sugarloaf Centre, which case is pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, before The Honorable Wendy Hagenau (the “Control Action”). In the Control Action, the Company would seek to have GlassRatner appointed as non-member manager of Sugarloaf Partners and Sugarloaf Centre. Sugarloaf Centre owns and operates commercial, income producing real property in the Atlanta area.

Although Mr. Glass stated in his declaration filed in connection with the motion to approve his appointment as Trustee that the Engagement Letter was not counter signed, the Court found it was signed by Carson Good on behalf of NCT. The Court found Mr. Jones received the fully signed Engagement Letter on September 10, 2018, and found Mr. Townsend filed on behalf of NCT a 2018 Florida Profit Corporation Reinstatement the same day representing that Mr. Ratner was President and Director of NCT. The Court also found that Mr. Ratner was alerted to the Florida Secretary of State filing in early 2019. He immediately emailed Mr. Jones and asked to be removed as an officer and director. Mr. Jones contacted Mr. Townsend and, on April 26, 2019, Mr. Townsend filed a 2019 Annual Report replacing Mr. Ratner with Good Gateway, LLC. In the Removal Order, the Court found neither GR nor the Trustee adequately disclosed the connections of Mr. Ratner and GR to the Gateway interests. The Court found it was “most disappointing . . . that although GR, the Trustee, the US Trustee, and Gateway’s counsel all knew the details of the proposed and . . . consummated[] engagement, not a single person thought to mention it in the almost three years since the contact occurred[.]” (Case No. 15-58443 Doc. No. 300 p. 51.) Nevertheless, no evidence was presented of actual harm to the estate. To the contrary, the Court concluded GR and the Trustee did contribute to the ND case and did real work on which the Court relied. (Id. at 52.) The Court reduced their fees, but did not deny all fees to the Trustee or GR. “Equity” filed the Motion on February 10, 2021, which was amended on April 21, 2021 (Case No. 15-58443 Doc. No. 302) to include additional facts found by the Court in the Removal

Order. In it, “Equity” contends both Mr. Jones and Mr. Townsend knew more facts than other participants in the case (particularly that there was a fully executed Engagement Letter and that NCT filed an annual report identifying Mr. Ratner as President and Director) and, pursuant to the applicable rules of professional conduct, had a duty of candor to the Court with which they failed to comply. “Equity” asked that the Court issue an order to show cause why Mr. Jones and Mr. Townsend should not be held in contempt. The Court held a hearing on the Motion on April 29, 2021, at which counsel for “Equity,” John Moffa, and respondents Mr. Jones and Mr. Townsend appeared. The Court asked the parties to brief whether, as a matter of law, Georgia Rule of Professional Conduct 3.3 regarding candor to the Court applied in this situation, even assuming the facts alleged by “Equity” were true. “Equity” filed a brief on May 21, 2021 (Case No. 15-58443 Doc. No. 349), that does not address Rule 3.3(a)(2). Rather, the brief cites Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct 3.3(d), 1.6, and 3.4. Mr. Jones and Mr. Townsend filed a response (Case No. 15-58443 Doc. No. 354) on June 4, 2021, in which they admit errors occurred but contend there was no sanctionable conduct. They

note that the requirement to disclose connections applied to GR and Mr. Glass. They also argue there was no harm to the estate or to Equity. II.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Glatter v. Mroz
65 F.3d 1567 (Eleventh Circuit, 1995)
Miller Buckfire & Co. v. Citation Corp.
493 F.3d 1313 (Eleventh Circuit, 2007)
Chambers v. Nasco, Inc.
501 U.S. 32 (Supreme Court, 1991)
In Re Olson
2009 MT 455 (Montana Supreme Court, 2009)
ATTORNEY GRIEV. COMM'N OF MARYLAND v. Rohrback
591 A.2d 488 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1991)
In Re Graffy
233 B.R. 894 (M.D. Florida, 1999)
In Re Harris Agency, LLC
451 B.R. 378 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 2011)
Attorney Grievance Commission v. Bellamy
162 A.3d 848 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2017)
In re Bone
657 S.E.2d 244 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2008)
In re Skinner
740 S.E.2d 171 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2013)
In re Reeves
372 B.R. 525 (N.D. Georgia, 2007)
In re Cabe & Cato, Inc.
524 B.R. 870 (N.D. Georgia, 2014)
Modi v. Virani (In re Virani)
577 B.R. 599 (N.D. Georgia, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Nilhan Developers, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nilhan-developers-llc-ganb-2021.