Pashaian v. Eccelston Properties, Ltd.

88 F.3d 77, 1996 WL 350788
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided June 25, 1996·No. No. 481, Docket 95-7403·Published·Cited by 25 cases

Opinion

MAHONEY, Circuit Judge:

Defendants-appellants Michael J. Donog-hue, Jay Landesman, and a number of affiliated entities — Eccelston Properties, Ltd. (“Properties”), Eccelston Leasing, Ltd. (“Leasing”), Roebling of New York, Inc. (“Roebling”), Funding Associates, Inc. (“Funding”), WK, Inc. Ill (“WK”), Tri-Cities Associates (“Tri-Cities”), Fort Williams Associates (“Fort Williams”), and Sierra Financial, Ltd. (“Sierra”) — appeal from an order entered April 14, 1995 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, John S. Martin, Jr., Judge, that granted the motion of plaintiff-appellee Robert A. Pashaian for a preliminary injunction. See Pashaian v. Eccleston Properties, Ltd., No. 95 CIV.1920 (JSM), 1995 WL 168893 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 7, 1995) (opinion granting preliminary injunction) (“Pashaian III”). The preliminary injunction bars pendente lite the disposition or transfer of various assets (and their proceeds) that were transferred from Properties and Leasing, against whom plaintiff-appellee Robert Pashaian has an $890,-993.45 judgment, to other defendants-appellants. It is undisputed that subject matter jurisdiction is premised upon diversity of citizenship, and that the substantive (as distinguished from the recusal) issues on appeal are governed by New York law.

Defendants-appellants argue that Judge Martin erred by granting the preliminary injunction because he was obligated to recuse himself from the case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 455(b)(5)(iii).1 They further contend that even if this statute did not require Judge Martin’s recusal, his discretionary decision to recuse himself should have taken effect im[80]*80mediately, and that he therefore should not have decided the motion for a preliminary injunction. Defendants-appellants also claim that Judge Martin abused his discretion in granting Pashaian a preliminary injunction.

Affirmed.

Background

From 1982 to 1986, Pashaian worked as a commissioned salesman for the Harkness Group (“Harkness”), which sold real estate partnerships and equipment leasing trusts that were sponsored by Properties and Leasing, and for Properties on at least two occasions. See Pashaian v. Eccelston Properties, Ltd., No. 92 CIV. 5487 (JSM), 1994 WL 389072 at *1 (S.D.N.Y. July 22,1994) (“Pashaian II”), aff'd, 52 F.3d 310 (2d Cir.1995) (table). Donoghue and Landesman were the sole shareholders of Properties, and Leasing was a wholly owned subsidiary of Properties.

A dispute arose regarding $536,486.09 that Pashaian claimed Properties, Leasing and Harkness owed him in unpaid commissions. See id. In June 1986, Pashaian commenced an arbitration proceeding against Properties, Leasing, Donovan, Landesman, and Harkness. Properties, Leasing, Donovan, and Landesman were found not to be subject to arbitration, and Pashaian obtained an arbitration award and subsequent judgment only against Harkness. Pashaian was unable to recover the judgment against Harkness, however, because Harkness was placed in bankruptcy. See Pashaian III, 1995 WL 168893 at *1.

By 1990, the financial condition of Properties and Leasing had become precarious, and Donoghue and Landesman determined that the entities could no longer obtain the financing necessary to continue in operation. Do-noghue and Landesman decided to create Sierra, a new entity that would own, develop, and operate real estate rather than syndicate real estate partnerships, and would not be subject to the obligations of Properties and Leasing.2 Donoghue and Landesman are the officers and directors of Sierra, and Sierra’s stockholders are two family trusts, the 1990 Donoghue Family Trust and the 1990 Maria Landesman Trust, of which Donoghue and Landesman are, respectively, beneficiaries. Donoghue and Landesman are also empowered to appoint successor trustees to their respective family trusts. The two family trusts acquired Sierra’s common stock for $50,000.00.

On October 31, 1990, Properties entered into a transaction (the “1990 Transfer”) in which it transferred a substantial portion of its assets to Sierra in exchange for 2,186 shares of Sierra’s preferred stock, valued at $2,186,000.00. Among the assets that were transferred to Sierra was Properties’ stock in its subsidiary Roebling, which had, between 1982 and 1990, performed management services for Properties for which it was allegedly owed more than $3,000,000.00. On May 28, 1991, Properties executed a contract (the “Pledge/Security Agreement”) with Roebling whereby Properties pledged the 2,186 shares of Sierra’s stock that it had received in the 1990 Transaction to secure payment of the management fees that Properties allegedly owed Roebling. Under the Pledge/Security Agreement, Properties was entitled to the first $750,000 of any payout on the Sierra stock, and Roebling was entitled to any surplus.

Frustrated in his attempt to collect his judgment against the bankrupt Harkness, Pashaian brought suit on June 23,1992 in the Supreme Court of New York, New York County, against Properties, Leasing, Donoghue, and Landesman. See Pashaian v. Eccelston Properties, Ltd., No. 92 Civ. 5487 (JSM), 1993 WL 322835 at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 16, 1993) (“Pashaian 7”). The case was removed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. That court granted a motion to dismiss Pashaian’s [81]*81fraud claims as time-barred, but denied a motion to dismiss his contract and New York Labor Law claims on that ground. See id. at *2-3. The district court subsequently granted summary judgment to Pashaian on his contract claims against Properties and Leasing in the amount of $890,993.45, consisting of the withheld commissions and accrued interest, on the basis that on February 10, 1986 and March 6, 1986, they had “signed writings pledging to pay [Pashaian] the debt owed him by [Harkness].” Pashaian II, 1994 WL 389072 at *1.

Pashaian initiated discovery in order to collect this judgment, and learned of several transfers of assets from Properties and Leasing during 1994 that had culminated, and primarily occurred, on November 23, 1994 (the “1994 Transfers”), in the immediate aftermath of Pashaian II. As described by defendants-appellants in their response to an information subpoena served upon them by Pashaian, the November 23, 1994 transactions included the following: (1) Sierra redeemed 2,084 shares of its preferred stock held by Properties for $2,084,000, with $2,077,000 of this amount going to Roebling pursuant to the Pledge/Security Agreement. (2) Properties transferred land in Casper, Wyoming to Tri-Cities for $10,000. (3) Properties transferred land in Sylaeagah, Alabama to Fort Williams for $7,800. (4) Leasing transferred land in Fargo, North Dakota to Tri-Cities in exchange for $10,000. The parties did not obtain appraisals of the land being sold in any of the foregoing transactions. (5) Properties transferred a $138,-000 receivable due from Donoghue and a $94,000 receivable due from Landesman to Funding in exchange for a commitment by Funding to provide up to $350,000 to settle a pending dispute with the Internal Revenue Service regarding withholding tax. (6) Properties transferred a partnership interest in C.R. Income Partners to WK in exchange for commitments to (a) pay $75,000 in past and future legal fees, and (b) give Properties twenty percent of any partnership interest if C.R. Income Partners emerged from bankruptcy.

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Pashaian v. Eccelston Properties, Ltd., 88 F.3d 77, 1996 WL 350788 (2d Cir. 1996).

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