Textron, Inc. v. United States

418 F. Supp. 39, 38 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5298, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14762
CourtDistrict Court, D. Rhode Island
DecidedJune 7, 1976
DocketCiv. A. 4072
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 418 F. Supp. 39 (Textron, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Textron, Inc. v. United States, 418 F. Supp. 39, 38 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5298, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14762 (D.R.I. 1976).

Opinion

OPINION

DAY, Senior District Judge.

In this action the plaintiff seeks a refund of federal income taxes and interest paid by it on June 15, 1964 in the total amount of $3,706,028.03 for its 1959 taxable year 1 plus statutory interest thereon from the date of payment.

The parties submitted this action for determination upon an agreed statement of facts. Said stipulation established the following facts.

Early in 1956, a corporation which was in no way connected with Textron, Inc. (hereinafter Textron), and which was known as Hawaiian Steamship Co. Ltd. (hereinafter Steamship) purchased a former World War II troop ship, then called the LaGuardia, from the U. S. Maritime Administration for $3,850,438, and paid for it in large part by executing a large note secured by a first mortgage on the vessel in favor of the United States. The note provided that the sole recourse of the mortgagee would be limited to repossession of said vessel.

Under the terms of said mortgage, Steamship was required to recondition the LaGuardia to make it suitable for passenger service between the West Coast and the Hawaiian Islands. This was obviously a costly undertaking. Steamship needed financing. It approached" Textron with a proposal that the latter finance said reconditioning.

After negotiations, the following arrangement was effectuated: Textron purchased said ship from Steamship at Steamship’s actual cash cost and assumed the payment of said first mortgage held by the Maritime Commission. Textron also agreed to recondition said vessel and then to charter it to Steamship on a bareboat basis for fifteen (15) years for $100,000 per month (later increased to $110,000). Textron financed a part of said cost of reconditioning through a loan from the Bowery Savings Bank, secured by a second mortgage on said vessel that was insured by the Maritime Administration.

Steamship began to operate the reconditioned vessel — now renamed Leilani — in January, 1957; its maiden voyage through the Panama Canal was a well publicized fiasco from which the ship never recovered. By October, 1957, Steamship was not only three months in arrears in its payments to Textron for charter hire, but owed substantial amounts to other creditors such as suppliers of fuel and goods; on November 22, 1957, Textron repossessed the ship for nonpayment of the charter hire.

Textron wanted to keep said ship in service so that a sale thereof might be arranged in the future. But Textron was faced with an immediate difficulty; under its corporate charter Textron’s management doubted whether it could operate a ship without first obtaining the approval of its shareholders. Its management then made a decision to create a wholly owned subsidiary to operate the Leilani.

Accordingly, on November 29, 1957, Hawaiian Textron, Inc. (hereinafter Hawaiian Textron) was incorporated. Shortly thereafter, said corporation issued 1,000 shares of its stock to Textron for the sum of $200,000. It became Hawaiian Textron’s sole stockholder. In addition, Textron loaned $600,-000 to Hawaiian Textron on its 6% note due December 1, 1967. On December 4, 1957, Textron chartered the Leilani to Hawaiian Textron on substantially the same terms as it had previously been chartered to Steamship.

*42 Meanwhile, Textron continued to search for a buyer of the Leilani without success. Finally, on February 11, 1958, officials of Textron met with the Maritime Administration in Washington, D. C. At this meeting it was agreed that the operation of the Leilani would continue, but that title to the ship would be transferred to Hawaiian Tex-tron. As consideration therefor, Hawaiian Textron issued additional shares of stock and a promissory note to Textron and agreed to assume Textron’s various obligations on the ship, although the Maritime Administration insisted that Textron guarantee that all conditions of the “sole recourse” provisions of the mortgages would be met by Hawaiian Textron. As part of this agreement Textron advanced to Hawaiian Textron an additional sum of $589,-843.32 in exchange for another promissory note of Hawaiian Textron.

Hawaiian Textron continued to operate the Leilani between the West Coast and Hawaii — but at' a loss — and required additional financial assistance from Textron which, from time to time, advanced funds to its subsidiary as open account advances. The unpaid balance of these advances amounted to more than $1,500,000 by June 2, 1959. And in a further effort to make a profitable operation of the Leilani, the management of Hawaiian Textron chartered two additional vessels to provide more cargo capacity and greater frequency of voyages in the hope of increasing its business.

These efforts proved futile. Hawaiian Textron continued to lose money at an alarming rate. In August, 1958, the Maritime Administrator agreed to a moratorium on further payments of principal on said first mortgage by Hawaiian Textron for the remainder of 1958 — but only after Hawaiian Textron agreed to waive the “sole recourse” provisions of said mortgage and thus assumed personal liability for any deficiency.

However, Hawaiian Textron’s losses continued to increase and it was finally decided to put an end to the constant financial drain. On January 6, 1959, the Leilani was placed temporarily in dry dock; on January 9,1959, it was tied up at a pier in Alameda, California.

Officers of Hawaiian Textron then undertook negotiations with the Maritime Administration and several potential purchasers of the Leilani, none of which resulted in the sale of said vessel. On May 11, 1959, the Maritime Administration which had previously satisfied the second mortgage pursuant to its insurance obligation, filed a notice of foreclosure of the Leilani under both mortgages in the United States District Court in San Francisco, California. The foreclosure was completed by the sale of the Leilani at an auction on June 2,1959, resulting in a deficiency against Hawaiian Textron in the amount of $688,000.

After said foreclosure, Hawaiian Textron had no assets other than nominal cash, accounts receivable and office furniture. As of June 6,1959, its total assets as shown on its books were $139,000 and its liabilities to creditors other than Textron amounted to $1,254,000 (including said mortgage deficiency of $688,000 which was ultimately settled in December, 1959 for the sum of $100,000). In addition, Hawaiian Textron owed Textron a total amount of $4,585,-476.02 in unpaid debt and accrued interest.

This was the situation on June 2, 1959, the date of the foreclosure of said mortgage on the Leilani which deprived Hawaiian Textron of the capacity to conduct its business, to earn profits and recover from its hopeless insolvency.

As of June 2,1959, Textron’s total investment in Hawaiian Textron consisted of the following:

Basis of Hawaiian Textron
Stock $ 1,259,714.67
Basis of Hawaiian Textron
notes, 2,725,724.63
Accrued and unpaid interest
through June 2,1959 213,374.61
Open account advances through
June 2,1959 1,646,376.78

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Bluebook (online)
418 F. Supp. 39, 38 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5298, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14762, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/textron-inc-v-united-states-rid-1976.