Piccerelli v. Piccerelli (In re Piccerelli)

525 B.R. 184
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedFebruary 6, 2015
DocketCase No. 12-17663-FJB; Adversary Proceeding No. 13-1062
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 525 B.R. 184 (Piccerelli v. Piccerelli (In re Piccerelli)) 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
Piccerelli v. Piccerelli (In re Piccerelli), 525 B.R. 184 (Mass. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

Frank J. Bailey, United States Bankruptcy Judge

By their complaint in this adversary proceeding, plaintiffs Brad Piccerelli and Carla Audette (the “Plaintiffs”) seek a determination against both the chapter 7 trustee, David Madoff (the “Trustee”), and the debtor, Jane Piccerelli (the “Debtor”), that the Debtor’s interest in certain real property, located at 55 Barneyville Road, Swansea Massachusetts (the “Property”), is subject to a constructive trust in their favor and therefore, to the extent of the' constructive trust, is not property of -her bankruptcy estate. They contend that, under Massachusetts law, a constructive trust arises from the Debtor’s prepetition contractual agreement with the Plaintiffs’ father to convey the Property to the Plaintiffs, subject to a life estate in herself.

The adversary proceeding is before the' court on motions of all four parties for summary judgment. The defendants contend that summary judgment should enter for them because the Plaintiffs have failed to allege, much less adduce evidence establishing, that cause exists to impose a constructive trust on the Property. For the reasons set forth below, the Court agrees that the defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The procedural history is as follows. On September 20, 2012, the Debtor filed a petition for relief under chapter 7, commencing this bankruptcy case. In schedules she filed in her bankruptcy case, she listed the Property as an asset without qualification — that is, not as a mere life estate — and claimed her interest in the Property as exempt to the extent of $162,174.66. She claimed this exemption under 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(1) and (3) (together permitting a debtor to avail herself to the exemptions available to her under applicable state law) and Mass. Gen. Laws c.188, § 1 (the Massachusetts homestead exemption statute). The amount of her claimed exemption is the difference between the value she assigned to the Property in her Schedule of Real Property, $212,300, and the amount that she stated in her Schedule of Creditors Holding Secured Claims was owing on the mortgage [187]*187encumbering the Property, $50,125.34. This mortgage is the only listed encumbrance on the Property. No objection was filed to the claim of exemption, and the time to object has expired. The Debtor has received a discharge in the case.

On December 6, 2012, the Trustee filed a stipulation between himself and the Debtor (the “Stipulation”) and a motion for approval thereof. But for this Stipulation, the Debtor could have exempted the net value of the estate’s interest in the Property in full, as a result of which the estate and creditors would have received no benefit from its liquidation, and the Trustee would likely have simply abandoned the Property to the Debtor. The Debtor desired that the Trustee liquidate the Property for her benefit, but he was unwilling to do so without a benefit to the estate, and therefore they reached the agreement embodied in the Stipulation. Under the Stipulation, the Trustee would market and sell the Property and share its net proceeds — the proceeds remaining after satisfaction of the mortgage and costs of sale— with the Debtor equally: half to the Debt- or on account of her claim of exemption, and the balance to the bankruptcy estate for distribution in the normal course. Only the Plaintiffs objected, arguing that the Property is subject to a constructive trust in their favor to the extent of the remainder interest that they contend the Debtor was contractually obligated to convey to them, and therefore that the remainder interest is not the estate’s to sell. The Court granted the motion without prejudice to the Plaintiffs’ right to commence an adversary proceeding for determination of the validity of their asserted interest and to oppose sale of their alleged interest in the Property.

The Plaintiffs then commenced the present adversary proceeding against both the Debtor and the Trustee. By their amended complaint in this adversary proceeding, they seek (i) a declaration that a constructive trust arose when the Debtor refused to honor her contractual obligation to convey the Property to the Plaintiffs; (ii) in the alternative, a declaration that a constructive trust arose when, in a prepet-ition state court action they brought against the Debtor, the jury returned a verdict determining that the Debtor’s refusal to convey the Property constituted a breach of contract; and (iii) on the basis of the determination that a constructive trust arose before the bankruptcy filing, a further declaration that the Property is not property of the bankruptcy estate and, accordingly, not subject to distribution in bankruptcy. The Trustee has elected not to proceed with a sale of the Property until the present proceeding is resolved.

The Trustee moved first for summary judgment, and, on the same day, the Debt- or separately moved for summary judgment by simply adopting the Trustee’s motion and supporting arguments. The Trustee’s motion is thus effectively a joint motion. The Trustee admits the truth of the facts alleged in the amended complaint and argues that the facts so established do not entitle the Plaintiffs to the relief they seek. In response to the Trustee’s motion, the Plaintiffs filed a combined opposition and cross-motion for summary judgment. In their opposition, the Plaintiffs argue (i) that the issue of whether a constructive trust has arisen is a fact-intensive one as to which the defendants have not established that there is no genuine issue of material fact and (ii) that even on the facts as presented by the Trustee, it is the Plaintiffs and not the defendants who are entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The latter argument is also the basis of the Plaintiffs’ cross-motion for summary judgment. In support of their opposition and cross-motion, the Plaintiffs have submitted the amended complaint, trial transcript, [188]*188and jury verdict from a state court action they brought against the Debtor. Though they have submitted the trial transcript, they have not cited to it to establish any particular fact, or indeed for any purpose at all.1

JURISDICTION

The matter before the court is a complaint under 11 U.S.C. § 541(a) and (d) to determine whether certain property of which the Debtor has at least legal title is property of her bankruptcy estate; viewed another way, as the Plaintiffs themselves characterize it, the proceeding is one to determine the priority of the plaintiffs’ claim. The matter arises in a bankruptcy ease and (in part) under the Bankruptcy Code and therefore falls within the jurisdiction given the district court in 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b) and, by standing order of reference, referred' to the bankruptcy court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(a). It is a core proceeding. 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(B) (core proceedings includes allowance or disallowance of claims against the estate). This court accordingly has authority to enter final judgment on the matter. 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(1).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
525 B.R. 184, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/piccerelli-v-piccerelli-in-re-piccerelli-mab-2015.