Stanley-Southwest Investments, Inc. v. Colonial Frost Bank, N.A. (In re Stanley-Southwest Investments, Inc.)

96 B.R. 701, 3 Tex.Bankr.Ct.Rep. 237, 1988 Bankr. LEXIS 2371
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedDecember 31, 1988
DocketBankruptcy No. 5-86-00391; Adv. No. 5-86-0246
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 96 B.R. 701 (Stanley-Southwest Investments, Inc. v. Colonial Frost Bank, N.A. (In re Stanley-Southwest Investments, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stanley-Southwest Investments, Inc. v. Colonial Frost Bank, N.A. (In re Stanley-Southwest Investments, Inc.), 96 B.R. 701, 3 Tex.Bankr.Ct.Rep. 237, 1988 Bankr. LEXIS 2371 (Tex. 1988).

Opinion

JUDGMENT AND ORDER

LEIF M. CLARK, Bankruptcy Judge.

At San Antonio, Texas, came on for trial the foregoing cause. Upon consideration of the evidence and the arguments of counsel, the court enters this judgment and order. The following represents this court’s findings and conclusions with respect thereto.

On May 15, 1984, Larry J. Stanley (“Stanley”) and his closely held company, Stanley-Southwest Investments, Inc. (“Stanley-Southwest”), formed a general partnership known as “Stanley Travel.” On June 6, 1984, Stanley filed an assumed name certificate for Stanley Travel, indicating that the entity was a general partnership. Though not reflecting who the partners were, the certificate did correctly reflect the partnership’s address. On December 26, 1984, Stanley Travel borrowed $25,-000.00 unsecured for furniture and equipment (the “Note”) from Colonial Frost Bank (“the Bank”).

On March 1, 1986, Stanley retired from the partnership by causing his company, Stanley-Southwest, which then owned 90% of the partnership, to “purchase” his 10% interest in the partnership for $20,000.1 Two weeks later, on March 14, 1986, Stanley-Southwest, d/b/a Stanley Travel, filed this bankruptcy.

Both prior to and following the bankruptcy filing, Stanley Travel continued to make its regular monthly note payments of $1165.19 to Colonial Frost. Three payments totalling $3,495.57 were paid prior to the filing, and $4,660.76 was paid post-petition. The debtor-in-possession, Stanley-Southwest, now seeks to recover all of these sums as preferential transfers under Sections 547, 549, and 550 of the Bankruptcy Code. 11 U.S.C. §§ 547, 549, 550.

The Bank argues that the plaintiff has no standing to recover these sums because the Bank made its loan to the partnership, not to Stanley-Southwest. What is more, the Bank contends it was deceived by the assumed name certificate into thinking that Stanley-Southwest had nothing to do with this partnership.2 It urges that it could be liable only to Larry Stanley or Stanley Travel for preferences received, but not to Stanley-Southwest. The Bank finally urges that this court does not have jurisdiction over this proceeding.

This court has the jurisdiction to enter a final, appealable judgment in preference litigation. 28 U.S.C. § 157(b). As a preliminary matter, the court also has the power (indeed the duty) to resolve issues of standing. U.S. v. One 18th Century Colombian Monstrance, 797 F.2d 1370, 1374 (5th Cir.1986).3 All federal courts are courts of “limited jurisdiction,” i.e., they hear only actual cases and controversies which are truly ripe for consideration and do not enter merely advisory decisions. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 518, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2215, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975); U.S. v. One 18th Century Colombian Monstrance, 797 F.2d at 1375.

The Bank’s standing argument has some merit. A debtor-in-possession, exercising the powers of a trustee under Section 547 may only recover transfers of the debtor’s interest in property. 11 U.S.C. § 547(b) [704]*704(“... the trustee may avoid any transfer of an interest of the debtor in property”). Recoveries under Section 549 are limited to transfers of property of the estate. 11 U.S.C. § 549(a) (“the trustee may avoid a transfer of property of the estate that occurs after the commencement of the case ... ”). The question here is whether the transfers in question came from the partnership, Stanley Travel, or from the debtor, doing business as Stanley Travel. In re Caudy Custom Builders, Inc., 31 B.R. 6, 8-9 (Bankr.D.S.C.1983) (a transfer of partnership property cannot be avoided by the trustee of a partner). If the property transferred to the Bank was that of the partnership, the plaintiffs case falls for failure to prove a transfer either of the debtor’s (i.e., Stanley-Southwest) interest in property or of property of the estate (i.e., Stanley-Southwest, debtor-in-possession). Id. If the property transferred is that of the debtor doing business as Stanley Travel, however, the transfer may be avoided under either Section 547(b) or 549.

Stanley Travel was undeniably a partnership at least until March 1, 1986. When the debtor, Stanley-Southwest, bought out Stanley’s 10% interest in Stanley Travel, it was left as the only remaining “partner.” The minimum requirement for a partnership is that it have at least two partners. TUPA, § 6(1); State v. Houston Lighting & Power Co., 609 S.W.2d 263, 267 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1980, writ ref’d n.r. e.). The “buyout” thus should have worked a dissolution of the partnership. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann., art. 6132b, § 29 (West pamphl. ed. 1988) (hereinafter “Texas Uniform Partnership Act” or “TUPA”) (“dissolution of a partnership is the change in the relation of the partners caused by any partner ceasing to associate in the carrying on as distinguished from the winding up of the business”); Kelly v. Kelly, 411 S.W.2d 953, (Tex.Civ.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1967, writ ref’d n.r.e.) (generally sale of partnership interest by one of two partners and that partner’s withdrawal from participation in the business dissolves the partnership).

The partnership agreement permits the continuation of the partnership despite the retirement of one partner. Plaintiff’s Exhibit 1. Under Texas law, the “partnership” could conceivably have continued its existence even after Larry Stanley’s retirement without a dissolution being effected as a matter of law. See Park Cities Corp. v. Byrd, 534 S.W.2d 668, 672 (Tex.1976) (partnership agreement controls over Uniform Partnership Act); TUPA, § 1, Comment 1; cf. Gevinson v. Manhattan Constr. Co. of Oklahoma, 420 S.W.2d 486 (Tex.Civ.App.—Ft.Worth 1967), rev’d on other grounds, 449 S.W.2d 958 (1969) (pre-TUPA, a single individual could not own a partnership). Here, though, the parties intended to terminate the partnership, as evidenced by (1) the final partnership tax return, closing the tax year on February 28, 1986 (Plaintiff’s Exhibit 3) and (2) the debt- or’s Schedule B-2, which fail to reflect any continuing interest in Stanley Travel as a partnership (Plaintiff’s Exhibit 6). The voluntary desire of a partner to dissolve a partnership is honored under the Uniform Partnership Act. TUPA, § 31(l)(b).

Dissolution does not automatically terminate a partnership. TUPA, § 30. To the contrary, there are three distinct stages in the process of discontinuing a partnership’s existence — dissolution, the winding up of partnership affairs, and termination. Bader v. Cox, 701 S.W.2d 677, 681 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1985, writ ref’d n.r.e.).

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96 B.R. 701, 3 Tex.Bankr.Ct.Rep. 237, 1988 Bankr. LEXIS 2371, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stanley-southwest-investments-inc-v-colonial-frost-bank-na-in-re-txwb-1988.