Scharffenberger v. Philadelphia Health Care Trust (In re Allegheny Health, Education & Research Foundation)

253 B.R. 157, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 1054
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 18, 2000
DocketBankruptcy Nos. 98-25773-MBM to 98-25777-MBM; Adversary No. 00-2157-MBM
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 253 B.R. 157 (Scharffenberger v. Philadelphia Health Care Trust (In re Allegheny Health, Education & Research Foundation)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scharffenberger v. Philadelphia Health Care Trust (In re Allegheny Health, Education & Research Foundation), 253 B.R. 157, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 1054 (Pa. 2000).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

m. bruce McCullough,

Bankruptcy Judge.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee (hereafter “the Trustee”) of Allegheny Hospitals, Centennial (hereafter “Centennial”), one of the above-captioned debtors, seeks in the instant adversary proceeding to avoid as fraudulent, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 544(b)(1) and .12 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 5104(a)(2) and 5105, transfers made and obligations incurred by the predecessor of said debtor that allegedly benefitted, either directly or indirectly, the predecessor of Philadelphia Health Care Trust (hereafter “PHCT”), defendant herein. PHCT now moves, pursuant to Fed. R.Bankr.P. 7012(b) and Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), for the dismissal of the Trustee’s adversary complaint in its entirety.

STATEMENT OF FACTS1

Effective as of October 31, 1996, three nonprofit subsidiary corporations of PHCT’s predecessor, Graduate Health Systems, Inc. (hereafter “GHSI”), which subsidiaries operated four hospitals (hereafter “the GHSI Subsidiaries”), were merged into SDN, Inc. (hereafter “SDN”), which corporation was (a) then a subsidiary of another of the above-captioned debtors, Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation (“AHERF”), (b) a shell corporation without any assets or liabilities prior to October 31, 1996, and (c) a predecessor to Centennial. For the sake of clarity, and because it will not affect the Court’s subsequent analysis, SDN shall hereafter be referred to as Centennial, GHSI shall hereafter be referred to as PHCT, and the GHSI Subsidiaries shall hereafter be referred to as the PHCT Subsidiaries.

Although Centennial ultimately obtained ownership of the PHCT Subsidiaries from PHCT via the aforesaid merger (hereafter “the Merger”), PHCT and Centennial orig[161]*161inally contemplated, as reflected in Resolutions adopted on August 5, 1996, that Centennial, rather than absorbing the assets and liabilities of the PHCT Subsidiaries via a merger, would be substituted as the sole member of, or would obtain from PHCT all of the shares in, each of the PHCT Subsidiaries. On October 2, 1996, PHCT and Centennial agreed, as reflected in a document to which the Trustee refers in his complaint as an Amendment to Agreement (hereafter “the Amendment”), to, inter alia, amend the manner in which Centennial obtained the PHCT Subsidiaries so that such acquisition took the form of a merger.

As part of the Merger, PHCT and Centennial agreed to additional terms, to wit that:

(a) Centennial would provide consideration in several forms to Health Systems International, Inc. (hereafter “HSI”), as well as to an officer of HSI Management Company (hereafter “HSIM”), all of which consideration the parties appear to agree was provided in return for the termination, at or about the time of the Merger, of a preexisting management agreement between PHCT and HSIM;
(b) Centennial would indemnify PHCT to the extent that PHCT either (i) performed on a preexisting guaranty for certain preexisting indebtedness of the PHCT Subsidiaries, or (ii) paid other particular obligations as set forth in the Amendment, including the consideration, as described in the preceding paragraph, that was to be provided by Centennial to HSI and the officer of HSIM;
(c) Centennial would assume liability for, and indemnify PHCT for PHCT’s future payment of, certain obligations of PHCT that, according to a Memorandum of Agreement dated October 31, 1996 (hereafter “the Memorandum of Agreement”), had previously been undertaken by PHCT on behalf of the PHCT Subsidiaries;
(d) PHCT would offset an existing inter-company receivable due to it from certain of the PHCT Subsidiaries (hereafter “the Intercompany Receivable”) with an existing intercom-pany debt that it owed to another of said subsidiaries (hereafter “the In-tercompany Debt”), and that PHCT, after reconciling said intercompany accounts, would either pay to Centennial any net intercompany debt due from itself or would forgive any net intercompany receivable due to itself;
(e) PHCT would contribute $25 million to Centennial, $10 million of which would be paid on October 31, 1996, and $15 million of which would be paid into an escrow account (hereafter “the Escrow Account” and “the Escrow Funds”) on the same date, after which said $15 million would be released in annual $5 million increments to Centennial; and
(f) PHCT would have the right of reimbursement from any funds remaining in the Escrow Account at any particular time for any indemnification claim that PHCT might have against Centennial (hereafter “the Offset Agreement”).

The Trustee now contends that many of the terms just described, or, more accurately, the execution or operation of such terms, constituted transfers made or obligations incurred by Centennial that benefitted, either directly or indirectly, PHCT, which transfers and obligations the Trustee contends he may now avoid as fraudulent pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 544(b)(1) and 12 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 5104(a)(2) and 5105. In particular, the Trustee appears to attack as a fraudulent conveyance:

(a) Centennial’s absorption of the liabilities of the PHCT Subsidiaries as of October 31, 1996, at least to the ex[162]*162tent that the amount of said liabilities exceed the value of the assets of the PHCT Subsidiaries as of the same date;
(b) Centennial’s incurrence of the obligation to provide consideration to HSI and the officer of HSIM;
(c) Centennial’s incurrence of the numerous indemnification obligations to PHCT;
(d) Centennial’s assumption of the obligations of PHCT that, according to the Memorandum of Agreement, had previously been undertaken by PHCT on behalf of the PHCT Subsidiaries;
(e) PHCT’s elimination of the Intercom-pany Debt, which elimination the Trustee alleges benefited PHCT in an amount approximating $52 million, notwithstanding (i) PHCT’s simultaneous elimination of the Inter-company Receivable, and (ii) that PHCT forgave, after reconciliation of the intercompany accounts, a net in-tercompany receivable due to PHCT in the approximate amount of $3.4 million; and
(f) The Offset Agreement.2

[163]*163As a remedy to accompany a determination that the preceding transfers and obligations constitute fraudulent conveyances, the Trustee seeks, inter alia, a monetary recovery against PHCT for the difference between the value of the assets of the PHCT Subsidiaries merged into Centennial via the Merger and the amount of debt incurred by Centennial via the Merger, said debt comprising both the preexisting liabilities of the PHCT Subsidiaries absorbed by Centennial via the Merger and those additional obligations placed upon Centennial as a result of the same transaction.

PHCT seeks dismissal of the entirety of the Trustee’s adversary complaint under Fed.R.Civ.P.

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Bluebook (online)
253 B.R. 157, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 1054, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scharffenberger-v-philadelphia-health-care-trust-in-re-allegheny-health-pawb-2000.