Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co. v. Keach (In re Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.)

521 B.R. 703
CourtBankruptcy Appellate Panel of the First Circuit
DecidedDecember 9, 2014
DocketBAP No. 14-033; Bankruptcy No. 13-10670-LHK
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 521 B.R. 703 (Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co. v. Keach (In re Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co. v. Keach (In re Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.), 521 B.R. 703 (bap1 2014).

Opinion

HARWOOD, Bankruptcy Judge.

Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company (“Wheeling”) appeals from the bankruptcy court’s Decision and Order determining that Wheeling does not have a valid, enforceable and perfected security interest in the cash proceeds paid to Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd. (the “Debtor”) and its affiliate under a commercial property insurance policy issued by Travelers Property Casualty Company of America (“Travelers”). For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM.

BACKGROUND

The essential facts of this case are not in dispute.

A.Wheeling Note and Security Agreement

Prior to the petition date, in June 2009, the Debtor, its Canadian subsidiary, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Canada Co. (“MMAC”), and their affiliates executed and delivered to Wheeling a Line of Credit Note with a ceiling amount of $6 million. To secure their obligations under the note, the Debtor, MMAC, and their affiliates executed a security agreement granting Wheeling a security interest in the following collateral:

A. All Accounts and other rights to payment (including Payment Intangibles), whether or not earned by performance, including but not limited to, payment for property or services sold, leased, rented, licensed, or assigned. This includes any rights and interests (including all liens) that Debtor may have by law or agreement against any account debtor or obligor of Debtor.
B. All Inventory.
C. All additions, accessions, substitutions, replacements, products to or for, and all cash or non-cash proceeds of any of the foregoing, including insurance proceeds.

The security agreement is, by its terms, governed by Maine law, “except to the extent that the Maine Uniform Commercial Code (the “UCC”) provides for the application of the law of the state where Debtor is located.” Wheeling filed a [705]*705UCC-1 financing statement with the Delaware Secretary of State on August 25, 2009.

B. The Travelers’ Policy and the Derailment

In April 2013, Travelers issued a commercial • property insurance policy under which the Debtor and MMAC (and some of their affiliates) were insured for total coverage in the amount of $7.5 million (the “Policy”).

On July 6, 2013, a train operated by the Debtor containing 72 tank cars filled with crude oil derailed in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, causing several large explosions, the death of 47 people, damage to or destruction of several nearby structures, and significant environmental damage. After the derailment, the Debtor filed a claim under the Policy for resulting damages to locomotives, railcars, railroad track and roadbed. The Debtor also asserted a claim under the Policy for loss of business income due to the derailment (“Business Interruption”) and for the extra expenses the Debtor incurred as a result of the accident (“Extra Expenses”). The Debtor claimed that it was entitled to the entire Policy limit of $7.5 million premised on the asserted claims. Travelers denied payment on the grounds that coverage did not exist under the Policy for the type of claims asserted by the Debtor. Specifically, Travelers claimed there was no Business Interruption coverage or Extra Expenses coverage because the claimed loss did not arise out of “Covered Property” as defined in the Policy. Travelers also argued that, to the extent Business Interruption coverage existed, it was included in the Policy by mistake.

C. The Debtor’s Bankruptcy Case

On August 7, 2013, the Debtor filed a chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maine, and Robert J. Reach was appointed chapter 11 trustee (the “Trustee”). Shortly thereafter, MMAC commenced a parallel proceeding under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, and Richter Advisory Group was appointed as the monitor in MMAC’s case.1

On August 27, 2013, Travelers filed a motion for relief from the automatic stay in order to file a declaratory judgment action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine regarding the scope of coverage provided by the Policy. It intended to seek a declaration that any Business Interruption coverage was included in the Policy by mistake, and that the Policy as written did not include Business Interruption coverage for the claimed loss. The Trustee filed a timely opposition to the motion for relief. On October 9, 2013, the bankruptcy court entered an order denying the motion for relief, and Travelers appealed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine.

Eventually the Trustee, MMAC, and Travelers reached a settlement whereby Travelers agreed to pay $3.8 million (the “Settlement Payment”), to be apportioned 65% to MMAC and 35% to the Debtor. The parties agreed that the Settlement Payment would be full and final satisfaction of any and all claims arising under the Policy, Travelers would be released from any and all liability under the Policy, and the district court appeal would be dismissed. The Trustee filed a motion seeking court approval of the settlement with Travelers. Wheeling objected, arguing that it had a valid, perfected, first-priority security interest in all of the Debtor’s in[706]*706ventory, accounts, and payment intangibles, which included all rights to payment that the Debtor and its affiliates have under the Policy and the proposed Settlement Payment from Travelers, and that the settlement impaired its security interest. It also objected to the 65%-35% allocation of the Settlement Payment between MMAC and the Debtor.

After a hearing, the bankruptcy court approved the settlement, reserving the issue of whether Wheeling’s security interest in the Debtor’s inventory, accounts, and payment intangibles extended to the Policy and proceeds thereof, and ordering that the Settlement Payment be held in escrow in the meantime.2 Thereafter, at the bankruptcy court’s direction, the parties filed briefs in support of their respective positions on the reserved issue.

On March 13, 2014, the bankruptcy court conducted a non-evidentiary hearing on the legal issue of whether Wheeling has a perfected and enforceable security interest in the Settlement Payment. After hearing arguments from the parties, the bankruptcy court requested further briefing on two discrete issues: (1) whether there is a distinction between a “right to payment” and a “claim” under an insurance policy and if so, when does each arise; and (2) if there is such a distinction, then does the Maine UCC’s exclusion of “claims” under insurance policies from the scope of its Article 9 coverage also exclude “rights to payment” under insurance policies? Thereafter, both Wheeling and the Trustee filed supplemental briefs.

D. The Bankruptcy Court’s Decision

On April 15, 2014, the bankruptcy court issued a Decision and Order in which it ruled that Wheeling does not hold a valid and enforceable security interest in the Settlement Payment under either the Maine UCC or Maine’s common law. Specifically, the bankruptcy court held that “Wheeling did not properly perfect a security interest in the business interruption policy or its proceeds. Accordingly, the Debtor and [MMAC] are entitled to the proceeds of that policy free and clear from any claim of Wheeling.” In reaching its holding, the bankruptcy court reasoned:

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Related

In Re: PES Holdings, LLC
D. Delaware, 2021
Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co. v. Keach
799 F.3d 1 (First Circuit, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
521 B.R. 703, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wheeling-lake-erie-railway-co-v-keach-in-re-montreal-maine-atlantic-bap1-2014.