Official Unsecured Creditors' Committee v. Chittenden Trust Co. (In Re East Boston Neighborhood Health Center Corp.)

242 B.R. 562, 1999 Bankr. LEXIS 1678, 1999 WL 1288677
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedDecember 30, 1999
Docket19-30192
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 242 B.R. 562 (Official Unsecured Creditors' Committee v. Chittenden Trust Co. (In Re East Boston Neighborhood Health Center Corp.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Official Unsecured Creditors' Committee v. Chittenden Trust Co. (In Re East Boston Neighborhood Health Center Corp.), 242 B.R. 562, 1999 Bankr. LEXIS 1678, 1999 WL 1288677 (Mass. 1999).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

CAROL J. KENNER, Bankruptcy Judge.

By its complaint in this adversary proceeding, the Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee in this case seeks a determination that certain liens that the .Defendants assert against the Debtor’s accounts receivable and real estate are invalid and unperfected. After a trial on the merits, at which few (if any) facts were truly in dispute, the Court now enters the following findings and rulings and, on the basis thereof, will dismiss the complaint on its merits.

BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Debtor, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center Corporation, filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code on January 26, 1999, and has continued to conduct its business—the provision of health services to residents of East Boston-—as a debtor-in-possession under §§ 1107 and 1108 of the Code. The Debtor’s assets include real estate and claims for reimbursement from three categories of “health care insurers” for goods sold and services rendered to its patients. The three categories of insurers, and the claims against them, are (i) Medicare and Medicaid (“Federal Insurance Claims”), (ii) the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ so-called Uncompensated Care Pool (“State Insurance Claims”), and (iii) nongovernmental health insurers such as Blue Cross Blue Shield (collectively, “Private Insurance Claims”). 1 These three categories of claims shall collectively be referred to as the “Health Insurance Claims.” Defendant Medford Savings Bank (“Medford”) asserts a claim against the Debtor in the approximate amount of $631,000 and contends that its claim is secured by a security interest in the Health Insurance Claims. The remaining five defendants (collectively, the “Bondholder Defendants”) collectively assert a claim against the Debtor in the approximate amount of $8,930,000 and contend that their claim is secured by a security interest in the Health Insurance Claims and a mortgage on the Debtor’s real estate. 2

The Plaintiff is the Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee (the “Committee”) in this Chapter 11 case, appointed pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1102(a)(1) by the United States Trustee on February 4, 1999. In bringing this action, the Committee purports to be acting pursuant to authority granted in paragraph 15 of the “Amended Stipulation and Order Pursuant to Sections 361 and 363 of the Bankruptcy Code and Rules 2002 and 4001 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Concerning Use of Cash Collateral,” which the Court approved on an interim basis on February 26, 1999, and approved on a final basis by the Final Order entered on March 22, *566 1999. The Amended Stipulation and Order was signed and agreed to by the Debt- or, Medford, and the Bondholder Defendants. In relevant part, paragraph 15 of the Amended Stipulation and Order provides:

15. Validity of Liens and Claims. The liens and claims of the Senior Secured Creditors and Medford are hereby determined to be valid, enforceable and perfected as set forth in paragraphs C and D above subject only to ... (ii) the right of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors or any creditor to object to the validity, perfection or enforceability of the hens of the Senior Lender [i.e., the Bondholder Defendants] or Medford provided that any such objection is filed [on or before] May 7,1999.

The Committee’s complaint, filed May 7, 1999, challenges the validity of the Bondholder Defendants’ mortgage and the validity, perfection, and enforceability of the security interests asserted by both defendants in the Health Insurance Claims. Medford and the Bondholder Defendants respond that their respective security interests and mortgage are valid, perfected, and enforceable against this bankruptcy estate. Medford has also (1) objected to the Committee’s standing to bring this complaint and (2) counterclaimed for a determination that its claim is secured by properly perfected security interests in its collateral. At trial, Medford agreed that, because the Debtor is not a party to this proceeding, the Court should dismiss its counterclaim without prejudice to Med-ford’s filing a proof of claim and seeking adjudication of that claim, if necessary, in another context.

The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, and, the material facts being few and uncontroverted, the Court might well have decided this adversary proceeding on those motions. However, for lack of sufficient time between the briefing of the motions and the trial date, the Court allowed the matter to go to trial and denied the motions for summary judgment as moot. Nonetheless, the parties’ summary judgment briefs, as supplemented by their oral arguments at trial, will serve as their arguments on the merits of the adversary proceeding.

FINDINGS AND RULINGS

1. Standing of the Committee

The Court must first address the Committee’s standing to bring this complaint. Medford contends that the Committee lacks standing because the Committee is not the estate representative and therefore can bring an action on behalf of the estate only with prior court authority. The Committee states that the necessary authority was granted by the Court in paragraph 15 of the “Amended Stipulation and Order” set forth above. Medford responds that this paragraph did nothing more than specify the time within which the Committee could object to the Defendants’ liens; it did not supply, or obviate the need to obtain, Court authority to bring its objection.

The Court agrees with the Committee that paragraph 15 did more than establish a deadline. It also provided that absent a timely objection, the Defendants’ liens would be deemed established for all purposes in this bankruptcy case. This would effectively foreclose the rights of the Committee and of unsecured creditors to object to the treatment of the Defendants’ claims as secured in a plan of reorganization filed after the deadline. 3 The Committee has standing, without leave of court, to object to confirmation of a plan of reorganization on behalf of the interests of general unsecured creditors. 11 U.S.C. §§ 1109(b) and 1128(b). 4 If the Debtor were to file a plan *567 of reorganization that proposed to treat the Defendants’ security interests as valid, then, but for paragraph 15, the Committee would be fully in its rights to object to the plan on the basis that it gave undue priority to the Defendants claims, to the detriment of the claims of unsecured creditors. The present complaint does nothing but make this same objection, albeit outside the context of a plan of reorganization, while the objection can still be made. Due process required that the Committee be assured of the authority necessary to preserve these rights of objection.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
242 B.R. 562, 1999 Bankr. LEXIS 1678, 1999 WL 1288677, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/official-unsecured-creditors-committee-v-chittenden-trust-co-in-re-east-mab-1999.