Staats v. Amerine (In re Bethel Resources, Inc.)

79 B.R. 717, 1987 Bankr. LEXIS 1765
United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Ohio·Decided September 17, 1987·No. Bankruptcy No. 2-81-04550; Adv. No. 2-85-0266·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER SUSTAINING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

BARBARA J. SELLERS, Bankruptcy Judge.

On February 19, 1986 plaintiff Larry E. Staats (the “Trustee”) filed a motion seeking summary judgment on his complaint against defendants William R. and Marlene J. Dineen, Allan F. and Frances E. Crisp, James A. and Dorothy I. Brown, Angelo Haidaris, Robert F. Linton, and Harold B. and Gloria P. Gintert (collectively “Motion Defendants”). Opposition to that motion for summary judgment was filed on behalf of the Dineens and Linton individually, and by Rubicon Industries, Inc. (“Rubicon”), an intervenor in this action and the assignee of the interests in the property held by the Crisps, the Browns, Haidaris, and the Gin-terts. Default judgments in favor of the Trustee have been granted against 18 other defendants whose interests apparently were not assigned to Rubicon and who failed to answer the complaint.

The Court has jurisdiction of this adversary proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b) and the General Order of Reference entered in this district. This matter is a core proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(F) and (H). Although the Trustee’s complaint seeks to avoid certain transfers to the Motion Defendants and 49 other defendants not included in this motion on the bases that such transfers are either preferences pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 547 or fraudulent transfers pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 548, the motion for summary judgment is premised only upon the preference theory. For reasons stated below, the Court finds there is no question as to any material fact and the Trustee is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The facts in this matter are essentially undisputed. The debtor is an Ohio corporation which was engaged in exploration for oil and gas and in the development of oil and gas wells. In connection with those activities, the debtor also sold non-producing working interests in oil and gas lease properties.

In 1979 and early 1980 the debtor offered units of non-producing working interests in the Moorhead # 1 oil and/or gas well to be drilled in Wayne County, Ohio. Each of the defendants purchased one or more of those unit offerings at $2,500 per unit. Upon sale of all offered units, each was said to represent 1.1904% of the non-producing working interest in the particular well. The accompanying Participation Agreement, which was part of the Offering Circular for this program, was executed by the debtor as Manager and by the Motion Defendants as Investors, and provided that the debtor “is or shall become the owner of 100% of the working interest” in the Moor-head lease; that the debtor proposed to drill a test well for oil and gas on that lease; and that the Motion Defendants wished to be joint venturers with the debt- or in this project. In addition, the debtor as Manager, and the Motion Defendants as Investors agreed, in part, to the following:

ARTICLE IV.

As soon as practicable after completion of the producing well, and upon execution of an Operating Agreement, a copy of which is attached to the Offering Circular, Investor shall be given an assignment, upon request, in recordable form, without warranty of title, in and to the tract(s) on which said wells are located, [720]*720of the interest described in Article I above. No assignment will be issued unless such test well(s) produce oil and/or gas in commercially paying quantities ... (Participation Agreement, p. 3).

The Offering Circular, on page 37, also states:

No actual assignment of working interest in recordable form will be issued to a participant unless a written request is made by the participant. If no request is made, the participant risks loss of his interest to a bona fide purchaser for value with or without actual notice of the participants interest. Only by requesting an assignment of working interest from the offeror and recording same upon receipt can a participant protect himself against a bona fide purchaser for value without notice.

The Motion Defendants subscribed to purchase certain units in this program and paid the debtor for the resulting working interests in 1979 or 1980. That commitment involved execution of a Subscription Agreement and, presumably, of the Participation Agreement.

The Dineens apparently purchased and paid for four (4) units or non-producing working interests of 4.7616% in this program. Linton purchased and paid for three (3)units or non-producing working interests of 3.5712%. All other Motion Defendants purchased and paid for two (2) units or non-producing working interests of 2.3808% each. The Court is not aware when the Operating Agreements were executed, but on or about September 8, 1981 the debtor executed assignments to the Motion Defendants of the purchased interests in the Moorhead well. Those assignments were recorded in the Recorder’s Office of Wayne County, Ohio on September 22, 1981.

On November 13, 1981 an involuntary petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code was filed against the debtor. The debtor agreed to the entry of an order for relief and, on December 31, 1981, this case was converted to one under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. That Chapter 11 case was reconverted to a Chapter 7 liquidation on December 6, 1983, subsequent to the confirmation of a plan of reorganization, and the Trustee’s complaint was filed on October 16, 1985. On December 17, 1985 the Crisps assigned their working interests to Rubicon. Similar assignments to Rubicon were made by the Browns on December 19, 1985 and by Haidaris and the Ginterts on December 27, 1985.

ISSUES OF LAW

The Trustee asserts that the execution and perfection of the assignments to the Motion Defendants within ninety (90) days of the filing of the involuntary petition in bankruptcy were preferential transfers pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 547. The Dineens and Linton, and all other Motion Defendants, through their assignee Rubicon, argue that the recordations of the assignments were not the actual transfers of the working interests, and that the working interests were transferred to the Motion Defendants in 1980 as personalty pursuant to a contract effective between the parties at the time the Subscription Agreements were accepted by the debtor. Therefore, according to the Dineens, Linton and Rubicon, the recordations are not legally significant with regard to the transfer of any ownership interests of the debtor.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

The Bankruptcy Code requires seven (7) elements to be proven before a preference can be established pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 547(b). Those elements are:

(1) a transfer;
(2) of an interest of the debtor in property;
(3) to or for the benefit of a creditor;
(4) for or on account of an antecedent debt owed by the debtor before such transfer was made;

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Staats v. Amerine (In re Bethel Resources, Inc.), 79 B.R. 717, 1987 Bankr. LEXIS 1765 (Ohio 1987).

79 B.R. 717 (Staats v. Amerine (In re Bethel Resources, Inc.)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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