Randall L. Seaver v. Michelle Klein-Swanson

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 22, 2013
Docket12-6054
StatusPublished

This text of Randall L. Seaver v. Michelle Klein-Swanson (Randall L. Seaver v. Michelle Klein-Swanson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Randall L. Seaver v. Michelle Klein-Swanson, (bap8 2013).

Opinion

United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 12-6054 ___________________________

In re: Michelle Ann Klein-Swanson, As surety for Yarn Café Inc.; Scott Lawrence Swanson, As surety for Yarn Café Inc.

lllllllllllllllllllllDebtors

------------------------------

Randall L. Seaver, Trustee

lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Michelle Ann Klein-Swanson

lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota - Minneapolis ____________

Submitted: February 21, 2013 Filed: March 22, 2013 ____________

Before FEDERMAN, Chief Judge, SCHERMER and NAIL, Bankruptcy Judges. ____________

SCHERMER, Bankruptcy Judge Michelle Ann Klein-Swanson (the “Debtor”) appeals from a judgment1 of the bankruptcy court: (a) revoking the Debtor’s discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 727(d)(2);2 (b) avoiding the transfer under 11 U.S.C. § 549 of bonus funds she received postpetition from her employer and entering judgment for recovery of those funds by the Chapter 7 trustee, Randall L. Seaver (the “Trustee”), pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 550; and (c) granting a motion for costs filed by the Trustee pursuant to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7054(b). We have jurisdiction over this appeal from the final judgment of the bankruptcy court. See 28 U.S.C. § 158(b). For the reasons set forth below, we reverse.

ISSUE The central issue in this appeal is whether bonus payments received postpetition by the Debtor from her employer were property of the Debtor’s bankruptcy estate pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 541. Because we hold that the bonus payments were not property of the Debtor’s bankruptcy estate, we must reverse the bankruptcy court’s: (a) revocation of the Debtor’s discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 727(d)(2);3 (b) avoidance of the transfer of the bonus funds under 11 U.S.C. § 549

1 In her Notice of Appeal, the Debtor states that she also appeals from a July 2011 order granting summary judgment. The summary judgment order was not a final order. Rather, the decision reached in that order was incorporated into the bankruptcy court’s judgment of September 20, 2012. 2 The bankruptcy court’s judgment erroneously cites 11 U.S.C. § 707(d)(2), rather than 11 U.S.C. § 727(d)(2), with respect to revocation of the Debtor’s discharge, which we consider to be a typographical error. 3 The bankruptcy court discussed various omissions and misstatements that it believed the Debtor made on her Schedules and Statement of Financial Affairs other than the Debtor's failure to disclose the bonuses from her employer. However, the Trustee’s Complaint speaks only of the bonuses and the Trustee conceded as much at trial when his counsel said “[n]ow, we’re only seeking and I think we made this clear to revoke based upon her concealment of the two bonuses and failure to

-2- and recovery of those funds under 11 U.S.C. § 550; and (c) granting the Trustee’s motion for costs under Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7054(b).

BACKGROUND On January 19, 2009, the Debtor (together with her husband) filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”). In April 2009, an order was entered granting the Debtor and her husband a Chapter 7 discharge.

The Debtor has been employed by International Business Machines (“IBM”) since 1996, and she continued to be employed by IBM on the petition date. In October 2007 the Debtor changed her position at IBM to become the Client Executive for Oracle Alliance.

On the petition date, the Debtor was eligible to receive bonuses under two IBM programs: (a) the Excellence Award; and (b) the Growth Driven Profit (“GDP”) program. IBM determined bonuses using a calendar year. The bankruptcy court made extensive findings of fact, many of which are not relevant in light of our decision that the IBM bonuses were not property of the Debtor’s estate. We set forth only those facts that are relevant to our decision.

The Excellence Award was a quarterly bonus program whereby, each quarter, IBM was permitted to allocate funds for Excellence Awards to work teams. The team supervisor was then charged with deciding, based on each member’s performance during the quarter, how much, if any, of the Excellence Award funds for her team

disclose and failure to pay them over. The other things that we talked about, the eight or nine or ten things, were all introduced to establish the requisite fraudulent intent.” The bankruptcy court discussed the Debtor’s other omissions and misstatements to demonstrate the Debtor’s fraudulent intent regarding the bonuses, and it revoked the Debtor’s discharge solely based on the Debtor’s conduct with respect to the bonuses.

-3- would go to each member. The decision to make an award was entirely within IBM’s discretion. No member of the team was guaranteed an Excellence Award. The supervisor announced the awards after the close of the calendar quarter and, through the regular payroll process, IBM paid the bonuses about sixty days after the close of the quarter. In February 2009 (postpetition), the Debtor received an Excellence Award in the amount of $8,000 for work she had performed during the fourth calendar quarter of 2008.

In addition to the Excellence Award, the Debtor also received a GDP bonus. In March 2009, the Debtor received the GDP program payment of $16,072 for the year 2008. IBM based GDP bonus payments on the “personal business commitment” of an employee (an employee performance metric used by IBM) and IBM’s year- over-year profit and growth. IBM usually paid these bonuses about sixty days after the January announcement of its operating results from the year. Like the Excellence Award, the decision whether to make a GDP program payment was in the complete discretion of IBM: the GDP program documents state that “[n]o employee earns or otherwise becomes entitled to payment, or any portion of a payment, under the GDP program prior to payment by IBM.”

Prior to filing her bankruptcy petition, the Debtor had completed all tasks within her control toward obtaining an award under either of the bonus programs. However, the awards to the Debtor of the Excellence Award and the GDP bonus were within the complete discretion of IBM; IBM had the right to decide it would not make any award to the Debtor under either program. No evidence indicated that IBM decided to make the awards to the Debtor prior to the petition date. And the Debtor was not notified that she would receive a payment under either program until after she filed her bankruptcy petition.

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