Silvestri v. Lampl (In re Virginia Mansions Apartments, Inc.)

163 B.R. 471, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 2137, 1993 WL 532447
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 23, 1993
DocketBankruptcy No. 88-21186-JKF; Motion Nos. JMS-4, JMS-3
StatusPublished

This text of 163 B.R. 471 (Silvestri v. Lampl (In re Virginia Mansions Apartments, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District 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
Silvestri v. Lampl (In re Virginia Mansions Apartments, Inc.), 163 B.R. 471, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 2137, 1993 WL 532447 (W.D. Pa. 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JUDITH K. FITZGERALD, Bankruptcy Judge.

The matter before the court is a motion for summary judgment on John M. Silvestri’s “Motion to Have Judgments Entered December 22, 1993, as Supplemented by an Order Entered January 28, 1993, Marked Satisfied as to John M. Silvestri”. The underlying judgments were entered in favor of respondents Robert O. Lampl, Michael R. Kelly, James A. Ashton, and others not party to the motion under consideration, and against Sil-vestri and Elias J. Hakim, Jr., pursuant to motions for sanctions. See Memorandum [472]*472Opinion and Order of December 22, 1992, as modified by the January 28, 1993, Supplemental Judgment Order Regarding Order and Judgment Orders of December 22, 1992, 1992 WL 391232. Sanctions were imposed against Silvestri and Hakim, jointly and severally, pursuant to Bankruptcy Rule 9011. Sanctions against Silvestri were also based on 28 U.S.C. § 1927.

Lampl assigned his judgment to himself and his wife as tenants by the entireties. Thereafter, the Lampls, Hakim, and others not party to the matter before us1 entered into a settlement agreement which “satisfied with prejudice approximately a dozen active items of litigation, as well as a multitude of other claims and counterclaims pending” among those entities. See Response to Motion to Have Judgments Entered December 22, 1992, as Supplemented by an Order Entered January 28, 1993, Marked Satisfied as to John M. Silvestri, Docket Entry 339, at ¶ 5. As a result of the settlement, the Lampls, Kelly, and Ashton each filed a “Praecipe to Satisfy Judgment” in favor of Hakim. See Docket Entries 329, 330, 331. On behalf of the respondents, Lampl filed a response to the motion to have the judgments satisfied as to Silvestri in which he alleged that the settlement agreement and a release executed pursuant thereto specifically excluded the liability of Silvestri pursuant to the sanctions judgments. Asserting a confidentiality clause, respondents have not provided this court with a copy of the settlement agreement, although they have offered to make it available for in camera review.2 The release, however, was attached to the response to the motion to have the judgments marked satisfied, and states in pertinent part with respect to the instant bankruptcy that “this Release ... by the Lampls specifically excludes any release or satisfaction of the judgment they have and/or claims that they may now or will have against John M. Silvestri”. Response to Motion to Have Judgments ... Marked Satisfied ..., Docket Entry 339, at Exhibit B at ¶ l(i), ¶ 3.

The parties’ arguments center on a disagreement as to whether Pennsylvania common law or Pennsylvania statutory law concerning contributions among joint tortfeasors applies. Under Pennsylvania common law, a release of one tortfeasor effected a release of all. The Uniform Contribution Among Tort-feasors Act, 42 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. §§ 8321-8327, changed the common law in some respects. Section 8325 states that “[t]he recovery of a judgment by the injured person against one joint tort-feasor does not discharge the other joint tort-feasors.” Section 8326 provides:

A release by the injured person of one joint tort-feasor, whether before or after judgment, does not discharge the other tort-feasors unless the release so provides, but reduces the claim against the other tort-feasors in the amount of the consideration paid for the release or in any amount or proportion by which the release provides that the total claim shall be reduced if greater than the consideration paid.

42 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. § 8326.

The Lampls assert that under Pennsylvania law Silvestri remains liable for the entire amount of the judgment in light of the specific exclusion in the settlement and release and the fact that he is separately liable for the judgments pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1927. Silvestri maintains, pursuant to case law after enactment of the Uniform Contribution Among Tortfeasors Act and the common law, that the satisfaction of the judgments as to Hakim operates as a satisfaction of the judgments against him. Lampl asserts that the cases cited by Silvestri are either inapplicable to or distinguishable from the instant situation.

[473]*473The arguments of both parties assume that state law concerning judgments against tortfeasors applies to parties involved in sanctions actions which stem from causes arising solely under federal bankruptcy law. In this ease we sanctioned Hakim and Silves-tri and imposed joint and several liability on them pursuant to federal law; that is, Bankruptcy Rule 9011. Silvestri also was independently hable pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1927. These sanctions were imposed to effectuate the federal interest in protecting the bankruptcy process from the type of abuse extant in this bankruptcy case. See Memorandum Opinion of December 22,1992. In the present ease, state created rights and interests are not implicated. It is the integrity of the federal bankruptcy judicial system that is at stake. Inasmuch as the question is squarely grounded in federal law, the Pennsylvania Uniform Contribution Among Tort-feasors Act and Pennsylvania case law do not apply. Cf. In re Nanodata Computer Corp., 74 B.R. 766, 771 (W.D.N.Y.1987) (“federal courts acting in the bankruptcy context should deal with state law only to the extent such is necessarily and directly implicated by the bankruptcy issues”) (emphasis in original).

Concerns over when it is appropriate to apply state laws in eases founded on federal statutes have been addressed in nonbank-ruptcy contexts. Carley v. Wheeled Coach, 991 F.2d 1117, 1119 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 191, 126 L.Ed.2d 160 (1993), concerned whether the government contractor defense applied to eases involving a nonmilitary government contractor. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit stated that before applying state tort law in a products liability action in such a situation, it must determine first whether state law is in significant conflict with federal interests associated with procurement contracts. In a 1990 ERISA case, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit concluded that “[w]hen ERISA is silent on an issue, a federal court must fashion federal common law rules to govern ERISA suits”. Fox Valley & Vicinity Construction Workers Pension Fund v. Brown, 897 F.2d 275, 281 (7th Cir.), cert. denied 498 U.S. 820, 111 S.Ct. 67, 112 L.Ed.2d 41, reh’g denied, 498 U.S. 993, 111 S.Ct. 540, 112 L.Ed.2d 549 (1990). Fox Valley also noted that relevant statutes and state law should be examined for guidance as long as the state law is consistent with the policy underlying the federal statute at issue.

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Bluebook (online)
163 B.R. 471, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 2137, 1993 WL 532447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/silvestri-v-lampl-in-re-virginia-mansions-apartments-inc-pawd-1993.