Rock Airport of Pittsburgh, LLC v. Management Science Associates, Inc.

511 B.R. 746, 72 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 530, 2014 WL 1414853, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50715
District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania·Decided April 11, 2014·No. No. 14cv0091·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ARTHUR J. SCHWAB, District Judge.

Appellants, Rock Airport of Pittsburgh, LLC, and RPP, LLC (hereinafter, “Rock Airport” and “RPP,” respectively) filed an Appeal from the Bankruptcy Court’s December 3, 2013 Order claiming the Bankruptcy Court abused its discretion in several ways and made clearly erroneous findings of fact. Appellee, Management Science Associates, Inc. (hereinafter “MSA”), disputes that the Bankruptcy Court made clearly erroneous factual findings and contends the Court did not abuse its discretion in any way. This matter has been fully briefed by the parties and is now ripe for adjudication.

I. Jurisdiction and Standard of Review

This Court has jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 158(a). A district court sits as an appellate court in bankruptcy proceedings. In re Michael, 699 F.3d 305, 308 n. 2 (3d Cir.2012).

[749] The standards of review which apply to this case are as follows:

First, this Court cannot disturb the factual findings of a bankruptcy court unless they are clearly erroneous. In re Gray, 558 Fed.Appx. 163, 2014 WL 889355 at *3 (3d Cir. March 7, 2014); see also Accardi v. IT Litig. Trust (In re IT Group, Inc.), 448 F.3d 661, 667 (3d Cir.2006). A factual finding is “clearly erroneous” if the reviewing court is “left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.” In re W.R. Grace & Co., 729 F.3d 311, 319, n. 14 (3d Cir.2011); see also Gordon v. Lewistown Hosp., 423 F.3d 184, 201 (3d Cir.2005). Under the clearly erroneous standard, “it is the responsibility of an appellate court to accept the ultimate factual determinations of the fact-finder unless that determination is either (1) completely devoid of minimum evi-dentiary support displaying some hue of credibility or (2) bears no rational relationship to the supportive evidentiary data.” DiFederico v. Rohm Co., 201 F.3d 200, 208 (3d Cir.2000) (citations omitted).

Second, this Court exercises plenary, or de novo, review over any legal conclusions reached by the bankruptcy court. In re Ruitenberg, 745 F.3d 647, 650 (3d Cir.2014); see also Am. Flint Glass Workers Union v. Anchor Resolution Corp., 197 F.3d 76, 80 (3d Cir.1999).

Third, if the Bankruptcy Court’s decision is a mixed question of law and fact, this Court must break down the determination and apply the appropriate standard of review to each. In re Montgomery Ward Holding Corp., 326 F.3d 383, 387 (3d Cir.2003). The Court should “apply a clearly erroneous standard to integral facts, but exercise plenary review of the court’s interpretation and application of those facts to legal precepts.” In re Nortel Networks, Inc., 669 F.3d 128, 137 (3d Cir.2011) (citation omitted).

Finally, this Court reviews a bankruptcy court’s exercise of discretion for abuse. In re Friedman’s Inc., 738 F.3d 547, 552 (3d Cir.2013). A bankruptcy court abuses its discretion when its ruling rests upon an error of law or a misapplication of law to the facts. In re O’Brien Environmental Energy, Inc., 188 F.3d 116, 122 (3d Cir.1999).

II. Factual and Procedural History

A. Summary of the Facts

In a nutshell, the issues raised by Rock Airport and RPP in this appeal arise from the following facts: (1) MSA purchased property from Rock Airport and utilized RPP for its electrical needs with respect to that property; (2) MSA’s electrical needs were such that, over time, RPP either could not or would not accommodate MSA’s needs, and on several occasions (and at least once in violation of a Court Order), RPP cut off MSA’s electrical power; and (3) there came a time when the parties agreed that MSA should migrate from RPP’s electrical system to West Penn Power’s system, but RPP contends that this migration did not occur in a timely fashion and was in contravention of a Court Order. Ultimately, the Bankruptcy Court required Rock Airport to grant an easement to MSA so that a power line from MSA’s building(s) to West Penn Power’s electrical system could be installed thereby enabling MSA’s electrical migration from RPP to West Penn Power to occur.

B. Factual and Procedural History

This Court has detailed below the procedural history (which emanated from Orders entered in both the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (“State Court”) [750] and the Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (“Bankruptcy Court”)) from which the above-mentioned relevant facts were born.

Rock Airport was acquired in the late 1990s by Mr. Rock Ferrone. After acquiring the airport, Ferrone developed a business park (“Rockpointe Business Airpark”) and in September of 2000, sold some the property within Rockpointe Business Air-park to MSA. MSA purchased this property for the purpose of constructing a data center. MSA used the property purchased from Ferrone to construct a 42,000 square-foot data center which operates on a 24/7/365 schedule. MSA’s data center provides back-up support and services to the computer information systems of its clients, in the event of its clients’ own system failures.

Around the time that MSA purchased this property from Ferrone, Ferrone created RPP which, in 2002, became MSA’s sole supplier of electricity. RPP also supplied electricity to other tenants and owners at Rockpointe Business Airpark. After connecting to the RPP electrical system in 2002, MSA increased its electrical needs in 2004, and again in 2008.

1.Electrical/Power Loss-2008

Because of the increasing amount of electricity MSA needed, in 2008, RPP either could not or would not supply power to MSA and terminated MSA’s power. MSA filed a lawsuit seeking injunctive relief in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (docket no. GD 08-8520, hereinafter “State Court”) against Rock Airport and RPP. On April 30, 2008, the State Court granted MSA preliminary in-junctive relief, thereby requiring RPP to restore electrical power to MSA. MSA v. Rock Airport, Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, GD 08-8520, doc. no. 4.

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Rock Airport of Pittsburgh, LLC v. Management Science Associates, Inc., 511 B.R. 746, 72 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 530, 2014 WL 1414853, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50715 (W.D. Pa. 2014).

511 B.R. 746 (Rock Airport of Pittsburgh, LLC v. Management Science Associates, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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