Vaca Brava Old San Juan, LLC v. Puerto Rico Treasury Department (In re Vaca Brava Old San Juan, LLC)

560 B.R. 376
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedOctober 27, 2016
DocketCASE NO. 15-09787 (MCF); ADVERSARY CASE No. 15-00293
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 560 B.R. 376 (Vaca Brava Old San Juan, LLC v. Puerto Rico Treasury Department (In re Vaca Brava Old San Juan, LLC)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vaca Brava Old San Juan, LLC v. Puerto Rico Treasury Department (In re Vaca Brava Old San Juan, LLC), 560 B.R. 376 (prb 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

MILDRED CABAN FLORES, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge

Before the Court is a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure from the Puerto Rico Treasury Department (hereafter “Defendant”) seeking the dismissal of this adversary complaint filed by Vaca Brava Old San Juan LLC (hereafter “Plaintiff’) for: (1) an alleged violation of the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362, (2) protection against discriminatory treatment under 11 U.S.C. § 525(a), (3) actual and monetary damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and (4) punitive damages, attorney’s fees and costs under 11 U.S.C § 362.1 The Court adopts as true the factual allegations of the complaint for the sole purpose of the motion before us. For the reasons stated herein, the Court grants in part and denies in part Defendant’s motion to dismiss and as a result, the adversary case shall continue.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

1. On December 10, 2015, at 6:19 p.m., the Plaintiff filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11.
2. On that same day, at 6:25 p.m. Defendant’s agents arrived at the Plaintiffs px*emises to collect a purported debt of $208,368.58, of which $194,899.29 is alleged sales and use tax debt (hereafter “IVU” for its Spanish initials).
3. Plaintiff alleges that even though it notified the agents about the Chapter 11 petition filing, Defendant proceeded, at that moment, to cancel and collect Plaintiffs alcoholic beverage license for failing to pay the mentioned debt.
4. Subsequently, Plaintiff filed a Complaint and an Urgent Motion Seeking Temporary Restraining Order and Injunction asking for a declaratory and injunctive relief for viola[379]*379tion of the automatic stay (§ 362) and discriminatory treatment (§ 525(a)). Plaintiff also requested compensatory and punitive damages, attorney’s fees, and costs pursuant to § 362(k).
5. On December 14, 2015, Plaintiffs temporary restraining order against Defendant was denied for failure to prove an irreparable injury.
6. On December 22, 2015, after a preliminary injunction hearing, the court ordered Defendant to (1) cease any action to withhold or revoke Debtor’s license to sell alcoholic beverages and (2) restore possession of the license and any other document needed for said possession within 24 hours. The injunctive reliefs duration was conditioned to Debtor’s post-petition remittance of taxes withheld as fiduciary agent to the Treasury.
7. Plaintiff alleges that cancelation of alcoholic beverage license prevented the Plaintiff from generating substantial economic revenue during the holiday season.
8. On December 24, 2015, Plaintiff filed an amended complaint adding that on December 15, 2015, five days after the Chapter 11 petition was filed, Defendant levied the amounts of $1,462.26 and $1,639.46 from its Ban-co Popular accounts # 011-691098 and # 011-665378, respectively.
9. On April 8, 2016, Plaintiff filed a second amended complaint to add that the Puerto Rico Treasury Department Secretary had appeared in numerous public forums dissuading consumers from sponsoring Plaintiffs restaurant operations. Plaintiff contends that these expressions caused a direct negative impact of Plaintiffs income and public image. Plaintiff also added a cause of action for actual and monetary damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
10. Plaintiff estimates its expenses, costs, and loss of income due to Defendant’s actions in no less than $60,000.
11. On May 25, 2016, Defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss for Eleventh Amendment immunity, failure to state a claim, and unavailability of a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 remedy.
12. Plaintiff filed an Opposition to the Motion to Dismiss on July 1, 2016.

APPLICABLE LAW AND LEGAL ANALYSIS

L MOTION TO DISSMISS FOR FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM

When a court evaluates a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), its duty is to determine whether a complaint contains “sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009); Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007).

Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(1), pleadings must contain: “(1) a short and plain statement of the grounds for the court’s jurisdiction,...; (2) a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief; and (3) a demand for the relief sought, which may include relief in the alternative or different types of relief.” A short and plain statement “needs only enough detail to provide a defendant with ‘fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests’.” Ocasio-Hernandez v. Fortuno-Burset, 640 F.3d 1, 12 (1st Cir. 2011) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955). [380]*380This rule does not require “detailed factual matter,” just sufficient factual allegations that tend to make more plausible the plaintiffs claim to a remedy. Plausibility must not be confused with probability, but it does mean something more than a mere possibility. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937; Twombly, 550 U.S. at 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

Under a Rule 12(b)(6) test, the court must first distinguish factual from conclu-sory allegations. Cardigan Mt. Sch. v. N.H. Ins. Co., 787 F.3d 82, 84 (1st Cir. 2015). In other words, the court must disregard those that merely offer, “legal conclusions couched as fact or threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action.” Ocasio-Hernandez, 640 F.3d at 12; Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937. Factual allegations that are plausible on their face, on the other hand, are those' that “allow the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Sanchez v. Pereira-Castillo, 590 F.3d 31, 48 (1st Cir. 2009); Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

After disregarding those conclusory allegations, the court “must take all of the factual allegations’ in the complaint as true.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

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560 B.R. 376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vaca-brava-old-san-juan-llc-v-puerto-rico-treasury-department-in-re-vaca-prb-2016.