Pettibone Corp. v. United States (In Re Pettibone Corp.)

151 B.R. 156, 1992 Bankr. LEXIS 2062, 23 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1384, 1992 WL 395948
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedDecember 28, 1992
Docket19-05408
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 151 B.R. 156 (Pettibone Corp. v. United States (In Re Pettibone Corp.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pettibone Corp. v. United States (In Re Pettibone Corp.), 151 B.R. 156, 1992 Bankr. LEXIS 2062, 23 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1384, 1992 WL 395948 (Ill. 1992).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

JACK B. SCHMETTERER, Bankruptcy Judge.

This matter came before the Court for the consolidated trial on objections of Debt- or Pettibone Corporation (“Pettibone”) to claims filed by the United States Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”); a motion of the IRS to enlarge the time in which to filed an amended proof of claim; and the Adversary Complaint of Pettibone against the IRS for a declaratory judgment and an order for turnover of an income tax refund allegedly due to Pettibone. Having considered the pleadings, evidence, stipulations, and all other submissions and arguments of counsel, the Court now makes and enters these Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Pettibone and its subsidiaries filed petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code on January 31, 1986. The Court set October 31, 1986 as the bar date for filing proofs of claim.

2. The IRS filed two timely proofs of claims, designated 1-22 and 1-23, on September 23, 1986, in which it asserted unsecured, priority claims for the following:

Year Tax
1974 Corporate Income Tax
1977 Corporate Income Tax
1978 Corporate Income Tax
1979 Corporate Income Tax
1980 Corporate Income Tax
1983 FICA and Withholding
1984 Corporate Income Tax
1985 Corporate Income Tax and Withholding
1986 FICA and Withholding

3. Claim 1-22 contained the following statement:

Pettibone Corporation and Subsidiaries is currently being audited for the 8103, 8303, 8403, and 8503 years. A final determination has not been made. It is believed that items being carried forward from prior periods will affect the current examination years. It is possible that issues of significant tax consequences will arise during those same periods now under examination.

IRS Ex. I. 1 This claim further states that deficiencies in several years had yet to be assessed. Id. The IRS claims consistently reflected the fact that the pre-petition tax years of Pettibone were under audit and that the amount of the claims asserted by the IRS were likely to be revised in view of the ongoing audit of those years.

4. Prior to the expiration of the bar date, neither the IRS nor Pettibone knew the ultimate extent of Pettibone’s tax liabilities, and continuing efforts by Pettibone and the IRS to fix the amount due were ongoing. See, e.g., IRS Ex. 17 (affidavit of James Schelli, an accountant for Pettibone, outlining the controversy between Petti-bone and the IRS).

5. After the claims bar date, the IRS filed five more proofs of claims, designated 1-28, 1-34, 1-35, 1-36 1-37, and 1-38, between November 3,1986 and November 25, 1988. Each of these claims stated that it was an amendment to the previously filed proofs of claims. The final proof of claim, 1-38, superseded all the prior claims. In it, the IRS asserted that Pettibone owed $5,518,116.49. IRS Ex. 8. This figure was partially based on Pettibone’s asserted lia *159 bility arising under the tax years listed in Claims 1-22 and 1-23. It was further based on assessments for four other taxable periods, namely Corporate Income tax due from 1976, FUTA due from 1983 and 1986, and Employment taxes due from 8412.

6. Pettibone’s Plan of Reorganization was confirmed on December 9, 1988 (the “Plan”). Plan § 2.02 provides for the payment of unsecured tax claims:

Unsecured Tax Claims. Subject to the right of Reorganized Pettibone to prepay allowed Unsecured Claims of governmental units of the kind specified in Code Section 507(a)(7), the holders of such Claims shall receive deferred cash payments over a period not exceeding six years after the date of assessment of such Claims in the full amount of such Allowed Claims, as provided in Code Section 1129(a)(9)(C), plus interest on the unpaid amount thereof at such rate as may be approved by the Bankruptcy Court.

IRS Ex. 13. The Plan did not provide for any secured claim or right of setoff for the IRS. The Confirmation Order provided, in pertinent part:

8. Except as otherwise provided in the Plan and in such orders as the Court has entered or may enter approving various settlement agreements in this case, and upon completion of all actions required by the Plan to be taken on or before the Implementation Date, Petti-bone shall be discharged from any debt that arose before the date of Confirmation and any debt of a kind specified in sections 502(g), 502(h), or 502(i) of the Code, whether or not (i) proof of the Claim based on such debt is filed or deemed filed under section 501 of the Code, (ii) such Claim is allowed in this Case, or (iii) the holder of such Claim has accepted the Plan.
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10. ... the commencement or continuation of an action, the employment of process, or any act to collect, recover, or offset any such discharged debt as a personal liability of Reorganized Petti-bone hereby is expressly enjoined.

Pettibone Ex. 3. Therefore, the Confirmation Order enjoined the IRS from exercising any right of setoff. The IRS did not file any objection to the Plan.

7. For three years after confirmation, Pettibone and the IRS continued to engage in negotiations to finalize Pettibone’s pre-petition tax liabilities. As a result of these negotiations, the parties stipulated that Pettibone made the following income tax overpayments and underpayments from 1973 to 1985:

Tax Year Balance Unadjusted for Carryback Amounts Carryback Adjustments Balance Due (overpayments in parentheses)

1973 (213,393) (376,518) (589,911)

1974 1,120,961 (489,147) 631,814

1975 (99,487) (609,782) (706,269)

1976 (258,972) 291,007 34,013

1977 (442,684) 127,550 (127,550) 195,042 (247,627)

1978 136,219 1,671,694 (399,705) 1,408,208

459,674 (466,410) (6,763) 05 C-05 rH

256,677 (2,043,589) 1,709,528 (77,384) O OO 05 t — l

1981 (82,235) (82,235)

1982 (106,832) (106,832)

1983 (131,077) (131,077)

1984 (180,596) (180,596)

1985 (3,890) (3,890)

*160 8. The parties have further agreed that Pettibone is entitled to a $396,289 product liability carryback to be applied to its 1978 tax liability.

9. The taxes claimed by the IRS in Claim 1-38 that do not relate to years referenced by timely filed Claims 1-22 and 1-23 total $70,960.

10. The IRS has made claims for unpaid FICA and withholding taxes in the amount of $46,759, excluding interest. However, Pettibone has no records that indicate that these taxes are owed.

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151 B.R. 156, 1992 Bankr. LEXIS 2062, 23 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1384, 1992 WL 395948, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pettibone-corp-v-united-states-in-re-pettibone-corp-ilnb-1992.