TJN, Inc. v. Superior Container Corp. (In Re TJN, Inc.)

207 B.R. 502, 1996 Bankr. LEXIS 1813, 1996 WL 875866
United States Bankruptcy Court, D. South Carolina·Decided December 31, 1996·No. 19-01086·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

JUDGMENT

JOHN E. WAITES, Bankruptcy Judge.

Based upon the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law as recited in the attached Order of the Court, the Motion to Dismiss filed by California State Bank on November 4, 1996 and the Motion to Dismiss filed by John T. Thompson, Jimmy R. Phelps, Thompson Leasing Co. and Phelps Leasing, LLC on November 20, 1996 are denied and the Movants have ten days from the entry of this order to answer or otherwise respond to the Second Amended Complaint.

ORDER

This matter comes before the Court as a result of a Motion to Dismiss (the “Motion”) filed by California State Bank (the “Bank”) on November 4, 1996 and a Motion to Dismiss filed by John T. Thompson (“Thompson”), Jimmy R. Phelps (“Phelps”), Thompson Leasing Co. (“TLC”) and Phelps Leasing, LLC (“PLC”) on November 20, 1996. TJN, Inc. (“TJN”), the plaintiff herein, filed a Return to the Bank’s Motion on November 22, 1996, and to the Motion of Thompson, Phelps, TLC and PLC on December 5, 1996.

In support of their Motion, the Movants rely upon Rule 12(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure made applicable to adversary proceedings pursuant to Rule 7012 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure 1 , and assert that this Court lacks both subject matter and personal jurisdiction. Because the grounds set forth in support of the Motions are very similar, they will be treated together in the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The transaction which forms the basis for this litigation occurred in December, 1994, and involves the sale to Superior Container Corporation (“Superior”) of certain equipment (the “Equipment”) and additional equipment (the “Additional Equipment”) *504 owned by TJN. The sale occurred pursuant to Motions for Sale pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 363, and consisted of a sale of virtually all of the assets of the Debtor. The initial Motion for Sale was filed October 26, 1994, and requested Court approval of the sale to Superior. Objections to such sale and competitive offers were filed by NLE, Inc.

Hearings were conducted on November 28, 1994 and December 6, 1994, during which Superior appeared through its representative and requested that this Court approve its offer. After considerable competitive bidding and modifications and amendments of offers, this Court approved Superior’s offer to purchase the Equipment and the Additional Equipment. The Court’s approval was based upon its review of the offers, and upon the recommendation of the duly appointed Examiner in this case, Nathan Crystal. In the Examiner’s opinion, the offer made by Superior, as modified, represented the greatest benefit to the debtor and the creditors herein and was based in part upon the creditworthiness of Superior.

The offer by Superior provided that Superior would purchase all the equipment sold by TJN. It divided the equipment into two different categories which for purposes of this Order will be referred to as the Equipment and the Additional Equipment. Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement entered into by the parties on December 15, 1994 (the “Purchase Agreement”), the Additional Equipment would be paid for in four separate payments as it was installed and became operational. The Equipment would be financed and secured by a lien on both the Equipment and the Additional Equipment.

Superior executed a note (the “Note”) and security agreement to consummate this transaction. Cal Western, Inc. (“Cal West”) executed a guaranty agreement. The Bank provided an irrevocable letter of credit to further secure the repayment. Copies of all of these documents were attached to the Purchase Agreement, which was attached as an exhibit to the Order approving the sale. The Purchase Agreement contains various representations and warranties and provides:

17. SURVIVAL OF REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES.
All representations and warranties contained in this Agreement shall survive the execution, delivery, and performance of this Agreement.

Superior’s purchase of the Additional Equipment was financed by the Bank. Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, TJN alleges it received a lien with a first priority on the Equipment and a second priority security interest in the Additional Equipment. The Bank was aware at the time of the purchase that TJN was a debtor-in-possession and that the sale of the Equipment and the Additional Equipment was being conducted under the supervision of the Bankruptcy Court.

The Order approving the sale to Superior was entered on December 15, 1994. A copy of the documents consummating the transaction were attached to the Order and were also dated December 15,1994.

During the progress of this Chapter 11, several proposed plans of reorganization were filed, incorporating the proceeds of such sales into the distribution to the creditors. The Amended Plan, the Third Amended Plan and the Order of Confirmation all address the continuing jurisdiction of the Court and the future of the assets of the estate. The Amended Plan, filed on July 7, 1995, discusses at length the sale of the Equipment and the resulting income stream which would be used to fund the plan. As evidenced by the approved Disclosure Statement and the Amended Plan, all of the income which funds the plan is a result of the payments to be received from Superior.

Article VII of the Amended Plan refers specifically to the retention of jurisdiction post-confirmation as follows:

JURISDICTION
7.1 Retention of Jurisdiction. The Court shall retain jurisdiction over the reorganized debtor, his property, and all other parties appearing in the reorganization proceeding as provided by this plan or by Order of the Court. The Court may authorize the debtor to examine, copy and produce the debtor’s books, records and papers for the purposes of (i) determining all *505 claims that have been asserted against the debtor, or the debtor’s estate; and (ii) carrying out and giving effect to any and all provisions of the plan and the Order Confirming Plan; and the Court shall retain jurisdiction as provided in the Bankruptcy Code until entry of the final decree discharging the debtor in the reorganization proceeding.

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TJN, Inc. v. Superior Container Corp. (In Re TJN, Inc.), 207 B.R. 502, 1996 Bankr. LEXIS 1813, 1996 WL 875866 (S.C. 1996).

207 B.R. 502 (TJN, Inc. v. Superior Container Corp. (In Re TJN, Inc.)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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