PN Chapter 11 Estate Liquidating Trust v. Inserts East, Inc.

468 B.R. 712
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 22, 2012
DocketBankruptcy No. 09-11204 (SR); Adversary No. 11-00068
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 468 B.R. 712 (PN Chapter 11 Estate Liquidating Trust v. Inserts East, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
PN Chapter 11 Estate Liquidating Trust v. Inserts East, Inc., 468 B.R. 712 (Pa. 2012).

Opinion

[715]*715Opinion

STEPHEN RASLAVICH, Chief Judge.

Introduction

Before the Court is the Trustee’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment Pursuant to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7056 (the “Motion”). In the Motion, PN Chapter 11 Estate Liquidating Trust, through its Liquidation Trustee (“Trustee”), seeks summary judgment against defendant, Inserts East, Incorporated (“Defendant”), with respect to the following Counts of the Trustee’s Amended Complaint: Count I for the avoidance of preferential transfers pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 547; Count IV for the recovery of avoided transfers pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 550; and Count V for the disallowance of claims pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 502(d) and (j).1 While the original amount at issue in the Amended Complaint was $118,163.81, see Amended Complaint 10, the amount has been decreased to $65,655.26 as a result of: (i) the Trustee’s concession that six of the transfers at issue were made within the ordinary course of business between the parties; and (ii) the Trustee’s concession that the Defendant provided subsequent new value to the Debtor in the amount of $30,294.08.

Upon consideration and for the reasons set forth below, the Trustee shall be granted summary judgment. However, based on the Court’s conclusion that the ordinary course of business exception under 11 U.S.C. § 547(c)(2)(A) protects some of the transfers which the Trustee is seeking to avoid, the amount of the judgment shall be $37,082.37 rather than the higher amount of $65,655.26 which the Trustee requested. However, the Trustee shall also be granted prejudgment interest at the federal judgment interest rate from the date upon which the Trustee filed the Amended Complaint.

Background

On February 22, 2009, Philadelphia Newspapers, LLC and its related debtor-entities (the “Debtors”)2 filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.3 The Debtors owned and operated numerous print and online publications in the Philadelphia area, including Philadelphia’s two major newspapers (i.e., the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News) and Philly.com. Pursuant to the terms of the Debtors’ Fifth Amended Joint Chapter 11 Plan, which the Court approved by Order, dated September 30, 2010, the Trustee is authorized to prosecute this adversary proceeding. See Bankruptcy Case No. 09-11204, Docket Entry No. 2620.

The adversary proceeding was commenced on February 18, 2011, by the filing [716]*716of a complaint. Docket Entry No. 4 On February 24, 2011, the Trustee filed the Amended Complaint, Docket Entry No. 3, which the Defendant answer shortly thereafter, Docket Entry No. 15. Pursuant to a Stipulation and Consent Order, the discovery deadline in this proceeding was November 4, 2011, which means that the discovery period was over before the Trustee filed its Motion on December 19, 2011. See Docket Entry Nos. 22 & 86.

Since the Debtors filed for bankruptcy on February 22, 2009, the ninety day period prior to the Debtors’ bankruptcy filings began on November 24, 2008. Therefore, the preference period, which is relevant to the Trustee’s claims, is November 24, 2008 to February 22, 2009 (the “Preference Period”).

Philadelphia Newspapers, LLC (the “Debtor”) and the Defendant have had a business relationship dating back to at least February of 2003. See Exhibit E, F and G to the Trustee’s Brief and Exhibit B to the Memorandum of Law in Support of Defendant’s Response to Trustee’s Motion (“Defendant’s Brief’). The payment history compiled by the Defendant contains payment information for 93 invoices which the Defendant issued and for which it was paid prior to the preference period (the “Historical Period”). See Exhibit G (chart compiled by Trustee using payment history from Defendant) to Trustee’s Brief and Exhibit B to Defendant’s Brief. During the Historical Period, the Debtor paid the Defendant from 7 to 112 days after the date of the invoice. Id. The following chart (the “Frequency Chart”), which the Court compiled based on the payments made during the Historical Period, shows the amount of times an invoice was paid within the listed amount of days after the date of the invoice:

FREQUENCY CHART FOR HISTORICAL PERIOD

Days after Frequency of Days after Frequency of Days after Frequency of invoice_times_invoice_times_invoice_times_

7_1_18_1_20_1_

22_1_24_2_25_1_

27_2_28_1_29_1_

31_2_32_3_33_1_

34_6_35_4_36_3_

39_2_41_2_42_4_

44_1_45_5_47_1_

48_1_49_5_50_1_

53_1_54_3_55_3_

57_1_58_1_60_2_

61_3_62_7_63_3_

64_1_67_1_69_2_

70_3_74_1_76_1_

77_1_78_1_81_1_

82_1_86_1_87_1_

96 _1_112_1_

Of significance to this matter, the Frequency Chart shows the following: (i) a [717]*717total of 21 invoices were paid between 30 to 40 days of the invoice date; and (ii) a total of 20 invoices were paid between 60 to 70 days of the invoice date. The relevance of these facts shall become apparent when the Defendant’s arguments are addressed below.

During the Preference Period, the Debt- or made payments which covered the amounts owed on 17 invoices issued by the Defendant. See Exhibit I to the Trustee’s Motion. During this period, the Debtor paid the Defendant between 8 and 78 days from the date of the invoice. Id. The following chart (the “Preference Period Chart”) shows the invoice number, invoice date, payment date, number of days between the invoice date and payment date, and the amount of the invoice. In the first column, the chart lists a number for each payment transaction. The Court will use these numbers to refer to the Preference Period payments in this opinion.

PREFERENCE PERIOD CHART

INVOICE PAYMENT DAYS AFTER AMOUNT OF No. Invoice No. DATE_DATE_INVOICE_INVOICE

1 20558_10/16/08_12/05/08___50_$ 3,077.50

2 20616_10/24/08_12/22/08_62_$ 3,320,52

3 20615_10/25/08_01/02/08_69_$10,037.10

4 20707_11/05/08_01/08/09_64_$ 2,655.14

5 20753_11/05/08_01/22/09_78_$ 4,980.00

6 20763_11/12/08_01/22/09_71_$ 2,640.50

7 20752_11/11/08_01/12/09_62_$ 1,595.00

8 20827_11/20/08_01/12/09_53_$ 6,120.50

9 20753_11/20/08_01/16/09_57_$ 4,980.00

10 20883 12/02/08_02/02/09_62_$ 2,655.14

11 20896_12/04/08_02/02/09_60_$ 2,935.00

12 20897_12/04/08_02/02/09_60_$ 695.00

13 20988_12/19/08_02/09/11_52_$ 4,405.83

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
468 B.R. 712, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pn-chapter-11-estate-liquidating-trust-v-inserts-east-inc-paeb-2012.