Stanziale v. Southern Steel & Supply, L.L.C. (In re Conex Holdings, LLC)

518 B.R. 269, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 4356
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Delaware
DecidedOctober 14, 2014
DocketCase No. 11-10501(CSS) Jointly Administered; Adv. Proc. No. 12-51211(CSS)
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 518 B.R. 269 (Stanziale v. Southern Steel & Supply, L.L.C. (In re Conex Holdings, LLC)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stanziale v. Southern Steel & Supply, L.L.C. (In re Conex Holdings, LLC), 518 B.R. 269, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 4356 (Del. 2014).

Opinion

Chapter 7

OPINION1

Sontchi, J.

INTRODUCTION

Before the Court is a motion for summary judgment filed by creditor/defen[274]*274dant, Southern Steel & Supply, L.L.C., for a determination that six preferential transfers paid to it by the debtor, which constituted the totality of the parties’ relationship, qualify for the ordinary course of business defense. The Chapter 7 trustee has filed a cross-motion for summary judgment, arguing that the creditor does not qualify for the ordinary course of business defense.

Southern Steel’s motion for summary judgment will be denied. Southern Steel has not met its burden under the summary judgment standard of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the transfers fall under the ordinary course of business defense. Under the defense, an otherwise preferential transfer cannot be avoided if “such transfer was in payment of a debt incurred by the debtor in the ordinary course of business or financial affairs of the debtor and the transferee, and such transfer was (A) made in the ordinary course of business of the debtor and transferee, or (B) made according to ordinary business terms.” The statute is written in the disjunctive and only one element need be proven to insulate the transfer from avoidance.

While the transfers appear to be avoidable under section 547(b) and incurred in the ordinary course of business, Southern Steel has not effectively shown the applicability of either prong of the defense. But, the record is also insufficient to support the Trustee’s motion for summary judgment that the transfers were definitively not made in the ordinary course of business nor according to ordinary business terms.

At the end of the day, there is a genuine issue of material fact as to the applicability of the ordinary course of business defense that will need to be decided after a trial on the merits. Thus, both motions will be denied with prejudice.

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

This Court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 157 and 1334. Venue is proper in this District pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1408 and 1409. This is a core proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(F) and this Court has the judicial power to enter a final order.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The collective debtors, Conex Holdings, LLC, Conex International, and Advantage Blasting & Coating, Inc. (together, “Debt- or” or “Conex”),2 were placed into involuntary bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code by three petitioning creditors on February 20, 2011.3 An adversary proceeding was filed by the Chapter 7 Trustee (“Trustee” or “Plaintiff’) against Southern Steel & Supply, L.L.C. (“Southern Steel” or “Defendant”) to avoid and recover several preferential transfers under 11 U.S.C §§ 547 and 550, as well as to delay or disallow any preferential transfer claims made, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 502(d).4 The complaint alleges that the Debtor made certain preferential transfers to, or for the benefit of, the Defendant in [275]*275the aggregate amount of $203,864.87, within 90 days prior to the Petition Date.5

All six of the transfers occurred during the preference period — between December 2, 2010 to February 10, 2011.6 While five of the payments were under $15,000.00, the last check was for the sum of $166,020.69.7 Each of the payments were meant to cover multiple late invoice payments, but no invoice was allegedly more than sixty days past due when paid.8 The Debtor had no previous dealings with Southern Steel outside of these six payments.9

According to Southern Steel’s motion for summary judgment, however, these payments were made within the ordinary course of business, a valid defense against preferential transfers under 11 U.S.C. § 547(c)(2).10 Southern Steel alleges that it regularly engaged in the selling of pipe and other similar materials to businesses like Conex, and Conex, operating in the construction industry, regularly purchased supplies from companies such as Southern Steel.11 Although the Debtor had a consistent pattern of late payment, this late payment was acceptable to Southern Steel,12 and was common in the construction industry.13 Consequently, Southern Steel is able to meet both the subjective and objective tests of the ordinary course of business defense, making the transfers unavoidable.14

In opposition, the Trustee has filed a cross-motion for summary judgment, arguing that Southern Steel is unable to meet either the subjective or objective tests of the ordinary course of business defense.15 The Trustee argues that because the dealings between Southern Steel and the Debt- or all occurred during the preference period, the subjective test of the ordinary course defense is entirely unavailable to the Defendant.16 Additionally, seeing as all payments were made late, and therefore outside the terms of the parties’ contractual arrangements, the payments are presumptively not ordinary.17 The Trustee further asserts that the Defendant is unable to establish a defense under the objective prong, as there has not been an extensive and exacting analysis of industry standards.18 According to the Trustee’s professionals, most of the payments fell beyond industry lateness standards, which creates, if nothing else, a genuine issue of [276]*276material fact on the issue.19

The Defendant filed a subsequent reply, alleging flaws in the Trustee’s arguments.20 First, the Trustee has not provided any evidence for his own expert analyses, yet the data does show that the payments fall within the ordinary course of business within the industry.21 Second, there have been several circuit courts which have recognized that transactions occurring for the first time within the preference period remain eligible for the ordinary course of business defense.22 Finally, despite that performance was not in conformance with the express terms of the contract, the parties’ consistent pattern of performance established that late payments were acceptable in the ordinary course of dealings.23

DISCUSSION

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
518 B.R. 269, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 4356, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stanziale-v-southern-steel-supply-llc-in-re-conex-holdings-llc-deb-2014.