SDIF Ltd. Partnership 6 v. Northern Beef Packers Ltd. Partnership (In re Northern Beef Packers Ltd. Partnership Tax ID/EIN 26-2530200)

518 B.R. 24, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 4082
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. South Dakota
DecidedSeptember 22, 2014
DocketBankruptcy No. 13-10118; Adversary No. 13-1016
StatusPublished

This text of 518 B.R. 24 (SDIF Ltd. Partnership 6 v. Northern Beef Packers Ltd. Partnership (In re Northern Beef Packers Ltd. Partnership Tax ID/EIN 26-2530200)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. South Dakota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
SDIF Ltd. Partnership 6 v. Northern Beef Packers Ltd. Partnership (In re Northern Beef Packers Ltd. Partnership Tax ID/EIN 26-2530200), 518 B.R. 24, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 4082 (S.D. 2014).

Opinion

AMENDED DECISION RE: CLAIM OF DEFENDANT SCOTT OLSON DIGGING, INC.

CHARLES L. NAIL, JR., Bankruptcy Judge.

The matter before the Court is the allowance of Defendant Scott Olson Digging, Inc.’s claim. This is a core proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(B). The Court enters these findings and conclusions pursuant to Fed.R.Bankr.P. 7052. As discussed below, the Court concludes Defendant Scott Olson Digging, Inc. holds a secured claim for $205,10^.07 against the bankruptcy estate of Debtor-Defendant Northern Beef Packers Limited Partnership, plus applicable interest to the petition [27]*27date. Defendant Scott Olson Digging, Inc. may file a separate application for pre-petition attorney fees under S.D.C.L. § 44-9-42 and post-petition costs, including attorney fees and interest, under 11 U.S.C. § 506(b).

I.

Northern Beef Packers Limited Partnership (“Debtor”) filed a chapter 11 petition in bankruptcy. Debtor is not reorganizing. Most of Debtor’s assets were sold at auction. Limited funds remain to pay claims.

Two of Debtor’s secured creditors, SDIF Limited Partnership 6 and SDIF Limited Partnership 9, initiated this adversary proceeding, asking the Court to determine several claims and sort out the priority of various parties’ liens and other encumbrances against Debtor’s assets (doc. 1). The final major issue to be resolved in the adversary proceeding is the amount of the claim held by Defendant Scott Olson Digging, Inc. (“SOD”).1

SOD provided various earth-moving related services to Debtor as construction of Debtor’s beef processing plant began. Dennis Hellwig, one of Debtor’s founders and organizers, and Scott Olson, the president of SOD, executed four written contracts, one each on October 20, 2006,2 November 24, 2006,3 December 28, 2006,4 and July 13, 2007.5 SOD performed additional [28]*28work, but the scope of and agreed price for the additional work is contested. SOD began its work at the construction site in early November 2006 and completed its work in late November 2007. After that time, Warren Barse, who had been employed by SOD during SOD’s tenure with Debtor, continued doing material-moving related services for Debtor as the construction project continued.

Though the record is not clear, it appears in the first several months of their relationship, SOD did not produce and Debtor did not require invoices that were tied to a particular written or oral agreement, and Debtor made rounded payments to SOD that did not necessarily match specific sums set forth in particular invoices. Later, Donald B. Ulmer, who served Debtor as a project engineer beginning in June 2007, kept a closer eye on Debtor’s payments to SOD. Debtor’s payments to SOD totaled $8,109,771.89 by the end of October 2007. The record does not reflect which particular invoices Debtor paid. Debtor has not made any more payments to SOD since October 2007.

Representatives for Debtor and SOD conferred in late 2007 and early 2008, attempting to reconcile accounts. SOD produced several invoices dated around the time of their meetings. An accord was not reached. SOD filed a mechanic’s lien on March 27, 2008, and Debtor and an affiliate started a state court action against SOD in 2008. The matter remained unresolved for a handful of years, carrying into Debtor’s 2013 chapter 11 bankruptcy case, Bankr. No. 13-10118 (D.S.D.), and this adversary proceeding.

In Debtor’s bankruptcy case, SOD filed a proof of claim for $3,311,417.00 (proof of claim 69-1). SOD stated its claim was comprised of $2,114,975.49 principal as of November 29, 2007 and $1,196,441.64 statutory pre-petition interest. SOD further indicated its claim was fully secured by the mechanic’s lien on Debtor’s real property. In addition to the interest, SOD also stated in its claim that it was entitled, under S.D.C.L. §§ 44-9-40, 44-9-41, and 44-9-2, to other costs, including attorney fees, but said it had not yet determined what those additional costs were.

As supporting documentation for its proof of claim, SOD attached its Answer and Counterclaim from the state court action. Attached to the state court pleadings was a Bill of Particulars, and attached to the Bill of Particulars was SOD’s Mechanic’s Lien Statement and 42 invoices. The invoices totaled $5,096,228.26. The Court was unable to find anything in the proof of claim or the several attachments that distinguished paid invoices from unpaid invoices or otherwise itemized SOD’s principal claim of $2,114,975.49. Though no party filed an objection to SOD’s proof of claim, challenges to SOD’s claim were raised through the adversary proceeding.

Through various motions and defaults in the adversary proceeding, and consistent with SOD’s counterclaim and cross-claim (doc. 38), it has been determined SOD’s secured claim, once the claim is liquidated, has priority over the mortgages held by [29]*29Plaintiffs and Defendant White Oak Global Advisors, LLC and over the judgment liens and other encumbrances held by the other defendants, save one: Defendant Brown County, South Dakota’s lien for real estate taxes and special assessments has priority over SOD’s mechanic’s lien (doc. 200).

In its cross-claim against SOD, Debtor said SOD is not owed any more for its work and has actually been overpaid “by nearly $100,000.00” (doc. 53). Debtor asked the Court to disallow SOD’s claim and avoid SOD’s mechanic’s lien to the extent the claim is disallowed. Citing 28 U.S.C. § 2201, Debtor also asked the Court to disallow SOD’s mechanic’s lien because SOD filed a “false and exaggerated account in support of its mechanic’s lien statement!.]” Debtor did not ask that SOD be required to return any overpayment.

In its answer to SOD’s cross-claim, Debtor essentially agreed SOD holds a mechanic’s lien to the extent SOD has a valid claim and its mechanic’s lien has priority over Plaintiffs’ and the other defendants’ secured claims (doc. 92). Debtor then made numerous, generalized equitable arguments against SOD’s claim, and again argued SOD’s mechanic’s lien should be voided because it was fraudulently claimed.

In its answer to Debtor’s cross-claim, SOD reiterated many of its earlier allegations and essentially reminded Debtor that Debtor’s counsel, in a letter dated May 18, 2010, had conceded SOD had not been overpaid but instead was actually owed $182,682.00 (doc. 71). As with SOD’s proof of claim, the Court was unable to find anything in SOD’s various adversary proceeding pleadings or the attachments thereto that itemized SOD’s $2,114,975.49 principal claim.

The parties in interest6 stipulated to several facts before trial (doc. 254):

1. In 2005, Dennis Hellwig, who had owned and operated a large livestock auction business in the Aberdeen, South Dakota area, began efforts to build a beef packing plant in Aberdeen, South Dakota (the “Project”).
2. On or about October 31, 2006, Mr. Olson executed the parties’ first contract (“Contract 1”) on behalf of SOD, and Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
518 B.R. 24, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 4082, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sdif-ltd-partnership-6-v-northern-beef-packers-ltd-partnership-in-re-sdb-2014.