Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of the Adoni Group, Inc. v. Capital Business Credit, LLC (In re Adoni Group, Inc.)

530 B.R. 592, 86 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 540, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 1865, 60 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 262
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMay 4, 2015
DocketCase No. 14-11841 (REG); Adv. Proc. No. 14-02382 (REG)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 530 B.R. 592 (Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of the Adoni Group, Inc. v. Capital Business Credit, LLC (In re Adoni Group, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy 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
Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of the Adoni Group, Inc. v. Capital Business Credit, LLC (In re Adoni Group, Inc.), 530 B.R. 592, 86 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 540, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 1865, 60 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 262 (N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS PLAINTIFF’S FIRST AND SECOND CLAIMS FOR RELIEF

MICHAEL E. WILES, UNITED STATES BANKRUTPCY JUDGE

Before the Court is the motion (the “Motion”) by defendant Capital Business Credit, LLC (“Capital”) to dismiss two of the three claims alleged by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the “Committee”) in its Complaint. The Committee alleges that a UCC-1 initial financing statement was filed by Capital one day before Capital signed a security agreement with The Adoni Group, Inc. (the “Debtor”). The Committee further contends that the filing of the financing statement was “unauthorized” when it occurred, and that the financing statement therefore is of no effect. Capital contends in its Motion that the execution of the security agreement authorized and ratified the financing statement as a matter of law, even if the financing statement was filed one day earlier than the date of the security agreement. For the reasons stated below, the Court grants Capital’s Motion.

BACKGROUND

The facts stated herein are taken from the Complaint, the allegations in which are presumed to be true for purposes of the Motion.

On May 15, 2013, Capital filed an initial UCC-1 Financing Statement with the New York State Department of State (the “Financing Statement”), claiming that Capital held a security interest in the following collateral:

All assets of the Debtor, of every kind and nature, now existing and hereafter acquired and arising and wherever locat- . ed, including, without limitation, accounts, deposit accounts, commercial tort claims, letter of credit rights, chattel paper (including electronic chattel paper), documents, instruments, investment property, general intangibles (including payment intangibles), software, goods, inventory, equipment, furniture and fixtures, all supporting obligations of the foregoing, and all cash and non-cash proceeds and products (including, without limitation, insurance proceeds) [594]*594of the foregoing, and all additions and accessions thereto, substitutions therefor and replacements thereof.

The parties had not yet signed a security agreement and the Debtor had not otherwise authorized Capital to file a financing statement as of May 15, 2013. See Complaint ¶¶ 12, 28, 29.1

On May 16, 2013, Capital and the Debt- or entered into a Factoring Agreement pursuant to which Capital purchased accounts from the Debtor and made formula-based loans and advances to the Debtor against the purchase price of the Debtor’s accounts and against the value of the Debtor’s finished goods inventory. The Debtor granted Capital a security interest in the following assets:

[A]ll of our accounts, contract rights, computer software, programs, stored data, aging schedules, customer lists, and general intangibles (including all patents, trademarks, and copyrights registered in the United States Copyright or Patent offices, together with the goodwill of the business in connection with which such trademark may be used and the royalties and other fees which become due for the use of such patents, trademarks, or copyrights), whether or not otherwise specifically assigned to you in this Agreement, now existing or hereafter acquired, and in the proceeds and products thereof, any security and guarantees therefor, in the goods and property represented thereby, and in all of our books and records relating to the foregoing, and in all reserves, credit balances, sums of money at any time to our credit with you, and any of our property at any time in your possession. In addition to Receivables and all proceeds thereof, we also assign to you all right, title and interest, and grant to you a security interest in, the following collateral to secure all of our present and future obligations and indebtedness to you: (1) all deposit, savings, passbook or like accounts maintained at any bank, savings and loan or similar institution; and (2) the proceeds of any tax refund due to us by the state or federal government.

The Factoring Agreement included the following language regarding the filing of a financing statement:

We hereby appoint you as our attorney-in-fact and authorize you to sign such financing statements on our behalf as debtor or to file such financing statements without our signature, signed only by you as secured party.

Also on May 16, 2013, Capital and the Debtor entered into an Inventory Security Agreement (together with the Factoring Agreement, the “Security Agreements”) which granted Capital a security interest in, among other things, the Debtor’s current and future inventory. The Inventory Security Agreement stated that it was to be considered to be “supplementary to” and “part of’ the Factoring Agreement. The parties agreed that the Security Agreements would be governed by New York law.

On June 19, 2014, an involuntary bankruptcy petition was filed against the Debt- or (Case No. 14-11841(REG)). On September 4, 2014, the Court entered the Final Order Authorizing the Purchase and Sale of Accounts and the Incurrence of Secured Indebtedness (“DIP Financing Order”), which granted the Committee [595]*595standing to challenge the validity of Capital’s security interests. On October 15, 2014, the Committee filed this Adversary Proceeding.

In its Complaint, the Committee asserts three claims against Capital. First, the Committee seeks to avoid Capital’s pre-petition security interests pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 544 and 551 because they were not perfected on the Petition Date. The Committee alleges that the Debtor had not signed the Security Agreements or otherwise authorized the filing of the Financing Statement as of May 15, 2013, and that the Financing Statement therefore was void and of no effect. Second, because the security interests were purportedly not perfected, the Committee contends that the security interests are subject to avoidance and that this Court should disallow and expunge any secured claims made by Capital pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 502(d). Third, the Committee objects to the fixing of Capital’s claim in the approximate amount of $5.8 million, alleging that the amount is not supported by sufficient evidence and is inconsistent with the amount set forth in other records.

In its Motion, Capital argues that the first and second claims in the Complaint must be dismissed as a matter of law because Capital’s security interests were perfected and valid on the Petition Date. Capital asserts that Sections 9-502 and 9-509(b) of the Uniform Commercial Code, when read together, provide'that an initial financing statement that is filed without authorization becomes effective when the debtor subsequently executes a security agreement. Capital notes that the execution of a security agreement automatically “authorizes” a financing statement under Section 9-509(b) of the Uniform Commercial Code, and it contends that this automatic “authorization” includes not only an automatic permission to make a future filing, but also an automatic ratification of a previously filed financing statement.

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530 B.R. 592, 86 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 540, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 1865, 60 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 262, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/official-committee-of-unsecured-creditors-of-the-adoni-group-inc-v-nysb-2015.