Noreen Wiscovitch Rentas v. BPP Retail Properties LLC

United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico·Decided October 23, 2013·No. 12-00093·Unknown

Opinion

THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

IN RE: CASE NO. 09-02048 Chapter 7 PMC MARKETING CORP Adversary No. 12-00093

Debtor(s)

NOREEN WISCOVITCH RENTAS

Plaintiff vs.

Defendant(s) FILED & ENTERED ON 10/23/2013

OPINION AND ORDER Before this Court is Defendant, BPP Retail Properties LLC's ["BPP"] Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. No. 33] and Trustee/Plaintiff’s Opposition to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment and accompanying Counterstatement of Facts [Dkt. No. 43, 44]. For the reasons set forth below, Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment is denied in part and granted in part. I. Background Debtor, PMC Marketing Corporation, filed a voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy petition on

March 18, 2009. On February 4, 2010, Defendant filed a motion for payment of administrative expense in the amount of $74,041.40. Subsequently, on April 15, 2010 this Court entered an order 1 granting BPP’s motion for payment of administrative expense in the amount of $74,041.40. On May 21, 2010, Debtor’s bankruptcy case was converted to a chapter 7. On March 2, 2012, Debtor’s Chapter 7 Trustee and Plaintiff herein Noreen Wiscovitch Rentas ("Plaintiff") filed an adversary proceeding to recover funds to the estate from the Defendant in the amount of $79,777.62. Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment and Plaintiff’s Opposition followed. II. Summary Judgment Motion The role of summary judgment is to look behind the facade of the pleadings and assay the parties' proof in order to determine whether a trial is required. Under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 56(c), made applicable in bankruptcy by Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, Rule 7056, a summary judgment is available if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Borges ex rel. S.M.B.W. v. Serrano-Isern, 605 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 2010). As to issues on which the movant, at trial, would be compelled to carry the burden of proof, it must identify those portions of the pleadings which it believes demonstrates that there is no genuine issue of material fact. In re Edgardo Ryan Rijos & Julia E. Cruz Nieves v. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya & Citibank, 263 B.R. 382, 388 (B.A.P. 1st Cir. 2001). A fact is deemed "material" if it potentially could affect the outcome of the suit. Borges, 605 F.3d at 5. Moreover, there will only be a "genuine" or "trial worthy" issue as to such a "material fact," "if a reasonable fact-finder, examining the evidence and drawing all

reasonable inferences helpful to the party resisting summary judgment, could resolve the dispute in that party's favor." Id. at 4. The court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the 2 nonmoving party. Alt. Sys. Concepts, Inc. v. Synopsys, Inc., 374 F.3d 23, 26 (1st Cir. 2004). Therefore, summary judgment is “inappropriate if inferences are necessary for the judgment and those inferences are not mandated by the record.” Rijos, 263 B.R. at 388. Although this perspective is favorable to the nonmoving party, she still must demonstrate, “through submissions of evidentiary quality, that a trial worthy issue persists.” Iverson v. City of Boston, 452 F.3d 94, 98 (1st Cir. 2006). Moreover, “[o]n issues where the nonmovant bears the ultimate burden of proof, [she] must present definite, competent evidence to rebut the motion.” Mesnick v. Gen. Elec. Co., 950 F.2d 816, 822 (1st Cir.1991).These showings may not rest upon “conclusory allegations, improbable inferences, and unsupported speculation.” Medina-Muñoz v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 896 F.2d 5, 8 (1st Cir.1990). But, the evidence offered by the nonmoving party “cannot be merely colorable, but must be sufficiently probative to show differing versions of fact which justify a trial.” Id. See also Horta v. Sullivan, 4 F.3d 2, 7-8 (1st Cir. 1993) (the materials attached to the motion for summary judgment must be admissible and usable at trial.) “The mere existence of a scintilla of evidence” in the nonmoving party's favor is insufficient to defeat summary judgment. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); González-Pina v. Rodríguez, 407 F.3d 425, 431 (1st Cir. 2005). In the Summary Judgment Motion presently before the court, Defendant argues that there are no genuine issues as to any material facts and that therefore the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Defendant argues that discovery demonstrated that Defendant only received an

alleged preferential transfer of $52,543.04 and not $79,777.62. The Defendant provided deposited checks in the following amount with their corresponding dates: 3 (1) Los Jardines Shopping Center (“Los Jardines Property”) total paid $13,977.42. Check no. 092745 dated December 31, 2008 for $4,659.14, cashed on February 18, 2009. Check no. 092948 dated February 10, 2009 for $9,318.28, cashed on February 18, 2009. (2) Dorado del Mar Shopping Center (“Dorado del Mar Property”) total amount received $19,783.30. Check no. 092748 dated December 31, 2008 for $6,524.76, cashed on February 18, 2009. Check no. 092979 dated February 12, 2009 for $13,258.54, cashed on February 18, 2009.

(3) Bayamon Oeste Shopping Center (“Bayamon Oeste Property”) total amount received $18,782.32. Check no. 093139 dated March 4, 2009, cashed on March 9, 2009.

Defendant further contends that for the Los Jardines Property, the amount of $13,977.42 from the payments on the executory contract lease may not be recovered by Plaintiff because Debtor assumed its lease post-petition with BPP for Store #29 on January 14, 2010, for subsequent sale to A+ HC Holding, Inc., with benefit to the estate. Thus, pre-petition payments to Defendant were necessary for the assumption and sale of the lease. Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 365(b)(1)(A) and (B), a trustee is entitled to “assume or reject” executory contracts with third parties. However, in order to assume a contract, the trustee must cure any default under the contract and compensate the other party for any losses resulting from the default. Further, under Section 547(b)(5) of the Bankruptcy Code, in order to make out a preference case, the trustee must establish that the alleged preferential transfer yielded the creditor a greater return on its debt than it would have received if the transfer had not taken place and it had received a distribution in a chapter 7 liquidation. Therefore, because the creditor would have been entitled to full payment even in a hypothetical chapter 7 case, the court should find that a preference claim cannot succeed. In regards to the two other properties, the Dorado

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