Sun Insurance Co. v. Consolidated Companies (In re Consolidated Companies)

157 B.R. 10, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10164
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedJuly 13, 1993
DocketCiv. A. No. 93-1244
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 157 B.R. 10 (Sun Insurance Co. v. Consolidated Companies (In re Consolidated Companies)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sun Insurance Co. v. Consolidated Companies (In re Consolidated Companies), 157 B.R. 10, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10164 (E.D. La. 1993).

Opinion

McNAMARA, District Judge.

Before the court is the Appeal of General Electric Capital Corporation (“GECC”) from a final decision of the United States Bankruptcy Court. Sunrise Investment Company and Gulf Life Insurance Company have filed briefs as appellees. The matter is before the court on briefs, without oral argument.

FACTS

On or about April 12, 1991, a warehouse owned by the debtor in the underlying bankruptcy case, Consolidated Companies, Inc. (“ConCo”), was damaged by vandalism. The insurance policy on the property listed Sunrise and Gulf Life as additional assureds. Sunrise and Gulf Life also held the first and second mortgages on the property. GECC was the only loss payee named on the policy. GECC held a third mortgage. Each of three mortgagees of the property sought to collect the insurance proceeds. The property insurer, Sun Insurance Company of New York, noting the competing claims, filed an interpleader action in the bankruptcy case.

On July 21, 1992, before the bankruptcy court had determined the proper recipient of the insurance money, the plan for the reorganization of ConCo was confirmed. GECC, as one the largest creditors of Con-Co, was very involved in that process. Under the plan, GECC released its mortgage on the property.

Next, to dispose of the insurance question, the bankruptcy court heard cross motions for partial summary judgment. The bankruptcy court found that GECC was not entitled to the insurance proceeds because GECC had been “paid off” in the bankruptcy reorganization plan (even though GECC was not paid everything that ConCo owed it). The bankruptcy court based its decision on the application of cases decided under the Louisiana Deficiency Judgment Act (“LDJA”) prior to its amendment in 1986.

Also, the court found that GECC neither expressly reserved its rights to the insurance proceeds, nor showed an intent to do so. GECC argued that no reservation was required. Alternatively, GECC offered two affidavits at trial which indicated that GECC did intend to retain its right to the money.

Even though no other claimant offered any countervailing evidence, the trial court made a factual determination that the affidavits were not true. The court refused to allow the evidence to weigh in favor of GECC because no representative of another claimant was at the meetings in question. GECC argued that the president of ConCo was present and could have been contacted by the other parties to rebut GECC’s evidence.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The case was before the bankruptcy court on motions for partial summary judgment by the various claimants of the insurance money. Rulings on motions for summary judgment are reviewed on appeal under the de novo standard. Easley v. Southern Shipbuilding Corp., 936 F.2d 839 (5th Cir.1991). Conclusions of law are [12]*12reviewed under the same standard. However, evidentiary rulings in Rule 56 proceedings are treated like all other eviden-tiary rulings: review is under the manifest-error standard. Cristophersen v. Allied-Signal Corp., 939 F.2d 1106 (5th Cir.1991).

ANALYSIS

The questions presented for review center on two basic areas: the application of the LDJA to the facts of this case and the evidentiary ruling by the bankruptcy court on the affidavits offered by GECC.

ENTITLEMENT AFTER EXTINGUISHMENT: The LDJA

It is clear that a named loss payee should receive the insurance proceeds over a senior mortgagee not named as loss payee. See Miller v. Hartford Fire Insurance Company, 412 So.2d 662, 670 (La.Ct.App. 2nd Cir.1982), quoting Hartford Fire Insurance Company v. Landreneau, 19 La. App. 280, 140 So. 52, 53 (1st Cir.1932). However, it is also possible for the named loss payee to take some action which may cause it to forfeit its right to the proceeds. See, e.g., Rushing v. Dairyland Insurance Company, 456 So.2d 599 (La.1984). The bankruptcy court concluded that GECC’s release of its mortgage pursuant to the reorganization plan for Consolidated also relinquished any right GECC had to the insurance money.

The court based its conclusion on three cases decided under the Louisiana Deficiency Judgment Act (“LDJA”) prior to its amendment in 1986. La.Rev.Stat. 13:4106 et seq. The LDJA provides that debts are extinguished by operation of law if the creditor sells the property of the debtor without appraisal. The cases relied upon by the bankruptcy court, Rushing, 456 So.2d 599, Federal National Mortgage Association v. Prudential Property & Casualty Insurance Company, 517 So.2d 201 (La.Ct.App. 1st Cir.1987), and Bohn v. Louisiana Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, 482 So.2d 843 (La.Ct.App. 2d Cir.1986), extend the LDJA to say that a mortgagee forfeits its right to insurance proceeds if it holds a foreclosure sale without appraisal.

However, the LDJA is inapplicable to the facts of this case. First, the LDJA is concerned with the extinguishment of obligations owed by a debtor to a creditor. ConCo, the debtor, does not owe GECC the insurance proceeds; Sun Insurance Company does. In fact, the insurer, in effect, had a separate contract of insurance with GECC. See May v. Market Insurance Company, 387 So.2d 1081, 1084 (La.1981). After the loss was suffered, GECC compromised its claims against ConCo through the reorganization. However, GECC’s right to be paid arose when the loss was sustained. See Chrysler Credit v. Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association, 514 So.2d 245, 247 (La.Ct.App. 5th Cir.1987) (“when an insured loss occurs, the insurer is liable”). The subsequent compromise through reorganization of GECC’s claims against ConCo is irrelevant. The LDJA simply was not designed to apply to this situation.

Next, the public policy goals of the LDJA and the bankruptcy statutes are distinctly different. The LDJA protects debtors from having to “overpay” creditors. If a creditor seizes property of the debtor and sells without appraisal, the creditor loses his right to a deficiency judgment by operation of law. This forces the creditor to maximize the proceeds from the sale of the property so that the least amount of the debtor’s property is seized and sold. Consequently, the LDJA discourages creditors from taking action to eliminate debts.

The bankruptcy laws, on the other hand, protect creditors. They “assur[e] [creditors] that they will be treated equally if the debtor is precipitated into bankruptcy....” Matter of Elcona Homes Corporation, 863 F.2d 483, 484 (7th Cir.1988). Debtors are protected only to the extent that they are allowed a “fresh start” and that their debts are administered in an orderly fashion. See, e.g., In re Epstein, 39 B.R. 938 (Bankr.N.M.1984). Furthermore, under this regime, given that an insolvent debtor, by definition, cannot pay every debt in full, compromise through reorganization is encouraged. See Protective Committee v. [13]*13Anderson, 390 U.S. 414, 423-425, 88 S.Ct. 1157, 1163, 20 L.Ed.2d 1 (1968).

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Bluebook (online)
157 B.R. 10, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sun-insurance-co-v-consolidated-companies-in-re-consolidated-companies-laed-1993.