Peninsula National Bank v. Allen Carpet Shops, Inc. (In Re Allen Carpet Shops, Inc.)

27 B.R. 354, 8 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 671, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 6899, 10 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 236
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 2, 1983
Docket8-19-70742
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 27 B.R. 354 (Peninsula National Bank v. Allen Carpet Shops, Inc. (In Re Allen Carpet Shops, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peninsula National Bank v. Allen Carpet Shops, Inc. (In Re Allen Carpet Shops, Inc.), 27 B.R. 354, 8 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 671, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 6899, 10 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 236 (N.Y. 1983).

Opinion

DECISION

C. ALBERT PARENTE, Bankruptcy Judge.

The creditors’ committee has moved for reargument and reconsideration of this court’s decision of October 12, 1982, granting summary judgment in favor of plaintiff in the above-captioned adversary proceeding.

FACTUAL CONTEXT

On February 19, 1981, Allen Carpet Shops, Inc. filed a petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 1107 and 1108, the debtor has continued in the management and possession of its property.

*356 Prior to the filing of its petition, the debtor maintained a certain payroll checking account (No. 02-02-106-0) at Peninsula National Bank (hereinafter “PNB”). On January 22, 1981, the debtor deposited in the payroll account a certain check (No. 245) in the amount of $24,000 drawn on European American Bank (hereinafter “EAB”). The check was erroneously micro-encoded by PNB to read as $240,000 rather than $24,000, and the payroll account balance was thus overstated by $216,000.

On February 17,1981, the debtor deposited in the PNB payroll account a certain check (No. 269) in the amount of $56,000 drawn on EAB. PNB provisionally credited this check to the payroll account subject to the right of charge back in the event of dishonor. On February 20, 1981, one day after the filing of the debtor’s bankruptcy petition, PNB debited the payroll account in the amount of $56,000 to reflect the dishon- or of check number 269 by EAB for insufficient funds.

On February 20, 1981, at the request of the debtor, PNB transferred the debtor’s payroll account balance into a debtor-in-possession payroll account, and continued the same account number (02-02-106-0). Immediately prior thereto the account had a stated balance of $259,315.83. However, due to the aforesaid overstatement of check number 245 and dishonor of check number 269, the account actually had an overdraft or negative balance of $12,684.17 at the time the bankruptcy petition was filed.

On February 25, 1981, this court signed an order authorizing the debtor to pay certain pre- and post-petition wages to its employees totalling $19,545.16. Thereafter, PNB honored and paid a series of wage checks totalling $37,892.92 drawn by the debtor on its payroll account one day prior to the filing of its petition and another series of wage checks totalling $19,996.13 drawn by the debtor on its payroll account six days after the filing. On February 26, 1981, PNB discovered the erroneous overstatement of check number 245 and accordingly debited the payroll account in the amount of $216,000.

PNB commenced an adversary proceeding against the debtor in April 1981 to recover as a priority administrative expense the total of the debtor’s alleged payroll account overdrafts, to wit: $70,793.37. On September 8,1981 the parties entered into a stipulation of settlement, by the terms of which it was agreed that PNB would have an allowed claim of $70,573.32, which to the extent of $45,724.59 would be treated as an administrative expense entitled to priority under 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(1), with the balance of $24,848.63 to be treated as a general unsecured claim. The stipulation was approved and “so ordered” by the court on September 16,1981. Thereafter, the debtor paid the sum of $25,362.30 to PNB, but defaulted in payment of the balance to be paid in accordance with the settlement stipulation.

On November 16, 1981, PNB moved by order to show cause to enforce compliance with the terms of the stipulation. Thereafter, the creditors’ committee, claiming that it was never served with notice of the proposed stipulation, moved to intervene in the adversary proceeding for the purposes of (1) opposing the motion to enforce compliance with the stipulation, and (2) moving the court to vacate the prior order approving the stipulation. By memorandum decision dated May 26, 1982, the court granted the committee’s motion to intervene and vacated the order approving the settlement. An order consistent with the memorandum decision was entered on June 28, 1982, and the adversary proceeding was restored to the calendar.

On September 28, 1982, PNB moved for summary judgment in the adversary proceeding based on the affidavits of George T. Kramer, Assistant Vice President of PNB, Leonard Zalkin, an attorney representing PNB, and Joseph Gelb, debtor’s accountant. No papers were served or filed in opposition to the motion prior to the hearing on October 12, 1982. At the hearing, the attorney for the committee made a belated attempt to serve and file a memorandum of law in opposition to the motion and a statement of material disputed facts as required by Local *357 Rule 22. The committee offered no affidavits in support of its position that there existed genuine issues of triable fact.

At the hearing, the court declined to consider the committee’s memorandum of law and Local Rule 22 statement since they were not timely served or filed. The court granted PNB’s motion for summary judgment to the extent agreed upon at the hearing by the attorneys for the debtor and PNB. On October 25, 1982, the court signed an order consistent therewith, which was duly entered on October 27, 1982. The order inter alia granted PNB an allowed claim of $70,573.22, with $45,724.59 to be paid as a first priority expense of administration and the remainder to be treated as a general unsecured claim. On October 26, 1982, the creditors’ committee moved for reargument and reconsideration of the court’s decision. The court received memo-randa of law from PNB and the creditors’ committee, and reserved decision on the motion.

The moving papers expound three justifications for granting reargument: (1) Summary judgment should not have been granted as a matter of law; (2) Summary judgment was improperly based on the creditors’ committee’s failure to submit any affidavits in opposition thereto; and (3) The court abused its discretion in declining to accept the committee’s untimely submission of its memorandum of law and statement of disputed facts.

I. WAS THE GRANTING OF SUMMARY JUDGMENT IMPROPER AS A MATTER OF LAW?

In its complaint, PNB asks for judgment against the debtor in the sum of $70,793.37, to be treated as an administrative expense having priority under 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(1). This total is comprised of payments made by PNB on three series of wage checks drawn by the debtor on its payroll account: (1) $12,684.17 drawn by the debtor and honored by PNB pre-petition; (2) $37,892.92 drawn by the debtor pre-petition and honored by PNB post-petition; and (3) $19,-996.13 drawn by the debtor-in-possession post-petition for services rendered pre-petition and honored by PNB post-petition. In addition to basing its claim for priority on the administrative expense theory, PNB also asserts wage priority status under 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(3).

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Bluebook (online)
27 B.R. 354, 8 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 671, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 6899, 10 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peninsula-national-bank-v-allen-carpet-shops-inc-in-re-allen-carpet-nyeb-1983.