Sears Savings Bank v. Tucson Industrial Partners (In Re Tucson Industrial Partners)

129 B.R. 614, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6859, 25 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 523, 91 Daily Journal DAR 10162, 1991 Bankr. LEXIS 1158, 21 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1638, 1991 WL 155788
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJuly 17, 1991
DocketBAP No. AZ-88-1728 JVR, Bankruptcy No. 7-01806-TUC-LO, Adv. No. 88-0126
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 129 B.R. 614 (Sears Savings Bank v. Tucson Industrial Partners (In Re Tucson Industrial Partners)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sears Savings Bank v. Tucson Industrial Partners (In Re Tucson Industrial Partners), 129 B.R. 614, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6859, 25 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 523, 91 Daily Journal DAR 10162, 1991 Bankr. LEXIS 1158, 21 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1638, 1991 WL 155788 (bap9 1991).

Opinions

[615]*615OPINION

VOLINN, Bankruptcy Judge:

This is an appeal from an order denying appellant’s motion for restriction of debt- or’s use of cash collateral in the form of rents and for adequate protection. The bankruptcy court denied the motion and ordered that accumulated net rents be turned over to the trustee without restriction or condition as to use. We reverse.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Debtor and appellee Tucson Industrial Partners (TIP), an Arizona limited partnership, is the owner of a 46,600 square foot industrial building which produces commercial income in the form of rents. The property is presently managed by Tucson Commercial Management (TCM) which collects the rents.

Sears Savings Bank (Sears) is a secured creditor of TIP holding a thirty year note dated January 30, 1984 in the original principal balance of $1,000,000, payable at $10,-808.00 per month. The note was secured by a first position, properly recorded deed of trust. The deed of trust grants to Sears, as additional security, an interest in all rents, issues, royalties and profits produced by the subject property.

The debtor, on May 28, 1987, who was in default on its payments on the note, issued an “irrevocable letter of instruction” to the property manager, TCM, by which TCM was directed to disburse all income from the property directly to Sears, after payment of normal operating expenses. This letter, written approximately three months prior to bankruptcy, stated:

Please consider this letter as your irrevocable instruction from Tucson Industrial Partners that all sums presently held by you in your account concerning the above property and all sums coming due from the tenants in the future shall be disbursed first to normal operating expenses and then directly to lien holders in their order of priority. No sums shall be disbursed to Tucson Industrial Partners unless all recorded lien holders are current.

A copy of this letter was sent to Sears. It is difficult to glean from the record what the effect of this letter was. However, despite the letter, it appears that the funds in question were not forwarded by TCM to Sears after bankruptcy but instead conveyed either to the debtor or to Mr. Romano, the debtor’s attorney. The record does not indicate what TCM did with the rents for the' three months prior to bankruptcy.

In August 1987, Sears declared a default of TIP’s obligation and a foreclosure sale was noticed. On August 27, 1987, TIP filed a Chapter 11 petition which stayed the foreclosure sale. After bankruptcy, TCM was retained by the debtor as debtor in possession pursuant to order of the court, to continue to manage the property and collect rents. TIP continued to make use of the rents without application to the bankruptcy court and without the consent of Sears.

Some eight months after bankruptcy, on May 10, 1988, Sears filed a Motion Re Cash Collateral and for Adequate Protection, asserting, inter alia, that TIP had accumulated approximately $40,000 in a debtor in possession account after payment of all operating expenses of the building, and that the debtor in possession and its property manager had violated section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code1 by using Sears’ cash collateral for the payment of operating expenses. The motion further stated that Sears would be willing to stipulate to the use of cash collateral for the payment of operating expenses so long as the net operating income was forwarded to Sears for application on the obligation owing to Sears by TIP; that the debtor in possession had received neither consent from Sears as to the use of cash collateral, nor had it applied to the bankruptcy court for an order governing the use of cash collateral. Sears also asserted that pursuant to §§ 361-362, [616]*616estate turn over of all net operating income was necessary in order to afford Sears adequate protection of its interest in the collateral because a substantial equity cushion above its security interest was lacking.

The debtor contends that prior to the filing of the bankruptcy it paid Sears approximately $40,000 of net operating income, plus an additional $19,500 of condemnation proceeds, for a total of some $60,-000, and that it was entitled to a further credit of approximately $20,000; that it was not in default under the Sears loan at the time of bankruptcy and that as a result of the allegedly improper determination of default and filing of a notice of a trustee’s sale, the debtor was forced into bankruptcy. The record does not indicate that the trial court made any findings on these issues.

During one of the three evidentiary hearings on Sears’ motion, an employee of Sears, one Marjorie Foster, testified that there was a principal balance owing to Sears of $1,116,441.74 less a credit of approximately $19,000.

The record shows that the appraiser, called by Sears, testified that the value of the collateral was $900,000 and could go lower. He testified that there was a huge surplus of industrial income property in the Tucson area and that at the time there was “a dead market right now of Tucson industrial property.” The record before us does not indicate testimony controverting the appraisal.

At a hearing held on June 6, 1988, the court ordered TIP to sequester all the net operating income from the subject property pending a continued hearing and that the funds be held in the trust account of debt- or’s attorney, D.M. Romano. At the time of the debtor’s response to Sears' motion, $50,600 had accumulated in the trust account, representing the net operating rental income through May 31, 1988. On the same date, June 6, 1988, a trustee was appointed for the debtor and, as indicated below, the accumulated net rentals were turned over to him.

THE ASSIGNMENT AND THE STATUTE

The pertinent Arizona statute, Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated (“A.R.S.”) § 33-702(B), provides in part:

B. A mortgage or trust deed may provide for an assignment to the mortgagee or beneficiary of the interest of the mortgagor or trustor in leases, rents, issues, profits or income from the property covered thereby, whether effective before, upon or after a default under such mortgage or trust deed or any contract secured thereby, and such assignment may be enforced without regard to the adequacy of the security or the solvency of the mortgagor or trustor by any one of the following methods:
1. The appointment of a receiver.
2. The mortgagee or beneficiary taking possession of the property, or without the mortgagee or beneficiary taking possession of the property.
3. Collecting such monies directly from the parties obligated for payment.
4. Injunction.

The language of the assignment of rents provided by the debtor was drafted to fit the language of the statute. The deed of trust provides for assignment to the Beneficiary of:

All rents, ... if trustee shall default as aforesaid, Trustor’s right to collect any such rents shall cease and Beneficiary shall have the right, with or without taking possession of the property affected hereby to collect all rents, ... without bringing any action or proceeding, or by receiver to be appointed by the court....

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Bluebook (online)
129 B.R. 614, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6859, 25 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 523, 91 Daily Journal DAR 10162, 1991 Bankr. LEXIS 1158, 21 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1638, 1991 WL 155788, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sears-savings-bank-v-tucson-industrial-partners-in-re-tucson-industrial-bap9-1991.