Siegel ex rel. Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Russellville Steel Co. (In re Circuit City Stores, Inc.)

479 B.R. 703, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 2491
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedJune 1, 2012
DocketBankruptcy No. 08-35653; Adversary No. 10-03317-KRH
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 479 B.R. 703 (Siegel ex rel. Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Russellville Steel Co. (In re Circuit City Stores, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Siegel ex rel. Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Russellville Steel Co. (In re Circuit City Stores, Inc.), 479 B.R. 703, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 2491 (Va. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

KEVIN R. HUENNEKENS, Bankruptcy Judge.

Alfred H. Siegel (the “Plaintiff’), in his capacity as Trustee of the Circuit City Stores, Inc. Liquidating Trust, initiated this Adversary Proceeding against Russell-ville Steel Company, Inc. (the “Defendant”) to avoid and recover several transfers made by Circuit City Stores, Inc. and its affiliated debtors (collectively, the “Debtor”),1 in the ninety days immediately preceding the Petition Date (the “Preference Period”). In its Answer [Docket No. 5] to the Plaintiffs Complaint [Docket No. [705]*7051], the Defendant asserted that the transfers that occurred during the Preference Period were not avoidable as they were made in the ordinary course of business. Trial was held on February 21, 2012. Upon consideration of the Stipulation of Undisputed Facts, the legal memoranda submitted by the parties, and the argument and evidence offered at trial, the Court finds that the transfers made by the Debtor to the Defendant do not fall within the ordinary course of business exception set forth in § 547(c)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code.2 This memorandum opinion sets forth the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law in accordance with Rule 7052 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.3

The Court has subject-matter jurisdiction over this adversary proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 157 and 1334 and the general order of reference from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dated August 15, 1984. This is a core proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(A), (B), (C), (F), and (O), in which final orders or judgments may be entered by a bankruptcy court. Venue is appropriate in this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1408 and 1409.

Facts and Procedural Posture4

The Debtor filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code on November 10, 2008 (the “Petition Date”), and continued to operate as a debt- or-in-possession pursuant to §§ 1107 and 1108. On September 14, 2010, the Court entered an order confirming the Plan of Liquidation,5 which created the Circuit City Stores, Inc. Liquidating Trust and appointed Alfred H. Siegel as Trustee [Docket No. 8555 in case No 08-35653]. The Trustee has the sole authority to pursue claims transferred to the Trust by the Debtor through the Plan of Liquidation and to litigate objections to claims asserted against the Debtor’s substantively consolidated estate. The Plan of Liquidation became effective on November 1, 2010.

Prior to the commencement of the bankruptcy case, the Debtor was a leading specialty retailer of consumer electronics and operated a nationwide chain of electronics stores. As of the Petition Date, the Debt- or employed approximately 39,600 employees and operated 712 retail stores and nine outlet stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. The Defendant is a corporation specializing in steel fabrication based in Russellville, Arkansas. On August 30, 2006, the Debtor and the Defendant entered into a Procurement and Services Agreement under which the Defendant provided steel products to the Debtor (the “Agreement”). Invoices submitted to the Debtor under the Agreement were on “Net 30” terms, which required the Debtor to pay the invoice within thirty days of the invoice date. The Debtor paid eighty-six invoices over the entire course of its business with the Defendant.

Beginning in November 2007, the Debt- or experienced a significant change in its liquidity that caused it to delay making [706]*706payments to its vendors (the “Liquidity Event”). Between the consummation of the Agreement on August 30, 2006, and the Liquidity Event, the Debtor received and paid forty-four invoices submitted by the Defendant. Excluding five payments that drastically deviated (for reasons not relevant here) from the parties’ general course of conduct, the thirty-nine remaining payments that the Debtor made to the Defendant during this period all occurred between thirty-one and forty-one days after the invoice date. The average of the days-to-pay these thirty-nine invoices was 33.49 days.

Between the Liquidity Event and the beginning of the Preference Period on August 11, 2008, the Debtor received and paid thirty-eight invoices submitted by the Defendant. Excluding one aberrant payment, the remaining thirty-seven payments that the Debtor made to the Defendant during this period all occurred between forty-four and fifty-one days after the invoice date. The average of the days-to-pay these thirty-seven invoices was 46.74 days.

The Debtor paid four invoices submitted by the Defendant, totaling $124,261, during the Preference Period (the “Preference Payments”). Invoice 27414, in the amount of $3,432, was issued by the Defendant on April 21, 2008, and was paid by the Debtor 189 days later on October 27, 2008. Invoice 27514, in the amount of $1,100, was issued on July 16, 2008, and was paid fifty-one days later on September 5, 2008. Invoice 27509, in the amount of $112,922, was issued on July 25, 2008, and was paid forty-five days later on September 8, 2008. Invoice 27548, in the amount of $7,978, was issued on August 18, 2008, and was paid forty-six days later on October 3, 2008. The average of the days-to-pay the four Preference Payments was 82.75 days.

On December 3, 2008, the Defendant filed a proof of claim in the amount of $6,953.63 as a claim allegedly entitled to administrative expense priority under § 503(b)(9) of the Bankruptcy Code. The claims agent appointed by the Court designated this claim as Claim No. 249. Pursuant to the Court’s order on the Debtor’s Fifth Omnibus Objection, the Defendant’s claim was reclassified as a general unsecured claim. Order on Debtor’s Fifth Omnibus Objection to Certain Miselassified Non-Goods 503(B)(9) Claims [Docket No. 4008 in Case No. 08-35653]. The Parties have agreed that Claim No. 249 (as reclassified by the Court’s order) shall be allowed in the amount of $6,953.63. Stipulation of Undisputed Facts, ¶ 16 [Docket No. 11].

Discussion

Section 547(b) of the Bankruptcy Code permits a trustee to avoid certain payments made by a debtor to a creditor within the ninety-day period immediately preceding the Petition Date.6 11 U.S.C. [707]*707§ 547(b). The avoidance of such preferential transfers “promotes the ‘prime bankruptcy policy of equality of distribution among creditors’ by ensuring that all creditors of the same class will receive the same pro rata share of the debtor’s estate ... [as well as] discourages creditors from attempting to outmaneuver each other in an effort to carve up a financially unstable debtor and offers a concurrent opportunity for the debtor to work out its financial difficulties in an atmosphere conducive to cooperation.” Morrison v. Champion Credit Corp.

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479 B.R. 703, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 2491, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/siegel-ex-rel-circuit-city-stores-inc-v-russellville-steel-co-in-re-vaeb-2012.