Wiscovitch-Rentas v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company

CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedNovember 19, 2019
Docket3:19-cv-01651
StatusUnknown

This text of Wiscovitch-Rentas v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (Wiscovitch-Rentas v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District 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
Wiscovitch-Rentas v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, (prd 2019).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

___________________________________ ) In re FIDDLER GONZALEZ & ) RODRIGUEZ, P.S.C. ) Debtor. ) ) NOREEN WISCOVITCH-RENTAS, as ) Chapter 7 Trustee ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) CIVIL ACTION ) NO. 19-01651-WGY LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, ) AON RISK SOLUTIONS OF PUERTO RICO, ) INC., JOSE ACOSTA-GRUBB, JOSE ) JULIAN ALVAREZ, CHARLES A. ) BIMBELA, PEDRO MANZANO-YATES, ) EDUARDO NEGRON-NAVAS, RICARDO L. ) ORTIZ-COLON, JOSE A. SILVA-COFRESI,) JOSE A. SOSA-LLORENS, VIVIAN REYES,) CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP ACOSTA-REYES, ) MARY DEAL, CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP ) ALVAREZ-DEAL, WALESKA MORA-ALDEBOL,) CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP ) BIMBELA-ALDEBOL, CARMEN JUARBE, ) CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP ) MANZANO-JUARBE, EMILY AREAN, ) CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP AREAN-NEGRON, ) MARIA SANTOS, CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP ) SANTOS-ORTIZ, JUAN C. PEREZ-OTERO, ) JANE DOE, CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP ) PEREZ-DOE, JANET NAVARRETE, ) CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP ) SILVA-NAVARETTE, DIANA LOZANO, ) CONJUGAL ) PARTNERSHIP SOSA-LOZANO, and MARIA ) I. SANTOS-RIVERA ) ) Defendants. ) ___________________________________) YOUNG, D.J. November 19, 2019

 Of the District of Massachusetts, sitting by designation. MEMORANDUM & ORDER

I. INTRODUCTION

These motions to compel arbitration arise from the bankruptcy proceeding of a Puerto Rico law firm, Fiddler, González & Rodríguez, P.S.C. The firm’s chapter 7 trustee has filed an adversary complaint against nine former directors and officers of the firm, some of whom now move to compel arbitration pursuant to an arbitration clause found in the firm’s by-laws. Because the arbitration clause does not bind the trustee with respect to creditor-derivative claims and, in any case, the clause by its own terms does not encompass any of the trustee’s claims, the Court DENIES the motions to compel arbitration. A. Factual Allegations Since this “motion to compel arbitration was made in connection with a motion to dismiss or stay,” this Court “draw[s] the relevant facts from the operative complaint and the documents submitted to the district court in support of the motion to compel arbitration.” Cullinane v. Uber Techs., Inc., 893 F.3d 53, 55 (1st Cir. 2018). The law firm Fiddler, González & Rodríguez, P.S.C. (“Fiddler”), a fixture of the Puerto Rican legal world for many decades, filed for bankruptcy in 2017 with $4,500,000 in debt. Ch. 7 Trustee’s Adv. Compl. Damages (“Adv. Compl.”) ¶ 1, ECF No. 1-3. Noreen Wiscovitch-Rentas, Fiddler’s court-appointed Chapter 7 trustee (“the Trustee”), blames Fiddler’s “stark economic decline” on mismanagement by nine defendants in this case, who are former directors and officers of the firm (“D&O Defendants”). Id. ¶ 5.1 The Trustee alleges that Fiddler’s

Managing Director, Pedro Manzano-Yates (“Manzano”), and others made a series of poor decisions that left the firm in financial distress by 2014, and then failed to take appropriate steps to right the firm’s course. Id. ¶¶ 62-109. Manzano resigned in February 2016, id. ¶ 110, and then “set up a competing firm with over $5,000,000 of Fiddler’s business” with several other Fiddler refugees (whom the Trustee calls the “Manzano Group”), id. 3.2 Following Manzano’s resignation from Fiddler, Ricardo L. Ortiz-Colón (“Ortiz”) was elected Managing Director of the firm. Id. ¶ 112. The Trustee alleges that

1 The nine D&O Defendants named in the complaint are José Acosta Grubb, José Julián Álvarez, Charles A. Bimbela, Pedro J. Manzano Yates, Eduardo Negrón Navas, Ricardo L. Ortiz-Colón, Juan C. Pérez-Otero, José A. Silva Cofresí, and José A. Sosa- Lloréns. 2 There is confusion in the adversary complaint regarding the precise members of the “Manzano Group.” In one place the group is identified as Pedro Manzano-Yates, Jose Acosta-Grubb, Eduardo Negron-Navas, Jose A. Silva-Cofresi, and Jose A. Sosa- Llorens. See Adv. Compl. 3 n.2. Elsewhere, Manzano and Acosta are not included in the group while Juan C. Pérez-Otero suddenly appears. Id. ¶ 38. To make matters worse, count IX is directed against “Defendants Acosta, Negron, Silva and Sosa (the ‘Manzano Group’)” with no mention of Manzano or Pérez-Otero. Id. 52. Ortiz and his new allies (the “Closeout Group”3) irresponsibly allowed the already-imperiled firm finally to crash. Id. ¶¶ 112-124. When the adversary complaint was filed in May 2019, two years after the initial petition, the estate had $7,650,000 in claims filed against it. Id. ¶ 125.

In addition to alleging various poor business decisions, the Trustee alleges that the nine D&O Defendants caused the insolvent Fiddler to “waste assets” by making economically unreasonable transfers. Id. ¶ 127. These transfers include authorizing Fiddler to buy back about $1,200,000 of worthless stock from retired shareholders, id. ¶ 128; $4,470,000 in car expenses and transfers, with some of the money going to the named defendants, id. ¶ 130-131; $93,327 in “dividend payments on worthless preferred stock,” id. ¶ 132; $1,941,188 for “of counsel” hires that were allegedly in violation of the D&O Defendants’ corporate authority, id. ¶ 133; and $2,595,402.63 in personal expense payments authorized by Manzano for which

Fiddler “received no value in return,” id. ¶ 134. For their part, the D&O Defendants filed ten claims against the estate totaling $940,991. Id. ¶ 135.

3 This name refers to Jose Julian Álvarez, Charles A. Bimbela, Ricardo L. Ortiz-Colón, and José A. Sosa-Lloréns. Id. at 3 n.2. B. Procedural History On May 16, 2017, Fiddler filed a petition for relief under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Puerto Rico, docketed as Bankr. Pet. No. 17-03403-MCF7. Almost two years later, on May 14, 2019, the

Trustee filed an adversary complaint in the Bankruptcy Court, docketed as Adv. Proc. No. 19-00327-EAG. In her complaint, the Trustee asserted claims against nine of Fiddler’s former directors and officers for breach of fiduciary duties, avoidable transfers, recission of transfers, and challenges to their claims as creditors. Adv. Compl. ¶¶ 202-278.4 The Trustee’s complaint concluded by demanding a jury trial and refusing consent to a jury trial before the Bankruptcy Court. Id. at 69. On September 23, 2019, the Bankruptcy Court recommended that the reference be withdrawn. ECF No. 40. This Court withdrew the reference in full following a hearing on October 7, 2019. Minute Order, ECF No. 55.

Several of the D&O Defendants filed motions to dismiss or joined the motions of others. ECF Nos. 64-37, 64-70, 64-71, 64- 72, 64-74, 64-78, 64-81. Four D&O Defendants -- José Julián

4 The Trustee also brought claims against Fiddler’s former insurance company and insurance broker related to a disputed insurance policy for director-and-officer liability, but those claims are not at issue in the present motions to compel arbitration. Álvarez, Charles A. Bimbela, Ricardo L. Ortiz-Colón, and Juan C. Pérez Otero (collectively, “Álvarez”) -- also filed or joined a motion to compel arbitration. Defs.’ R. 12(b)(6) Mot. Dismiss Alt. Compel Arbitration Dismiss Stay Proceedings (“Álvarez’s Mot. Dismiss”), ECF No. 64-70; Mot. Joinder “Defs.’ R. 12(b)(6)

Mot. Dismiss Alt. Compel Arbitration Dismiss Stay Proceedings” (“Ortiz’s Mot. Joinder”), ECF No. 64-78; Mot. Joining Co-Defs.’ Mot. Dismiss (Docket Nos. 124, 159, 163, 167) (“Pérez Otero’s Mot. Joinder”), ECF No. 64-81. The Trustee and these defendants then traded replies. Trustee’s Omnibus Response Opp’n Defs.’ Mots. Dismiss Adv. Compl. (“Trustee’s Response”), ECF No. 64-93; Defs.’ Reply Pl.’s Opp’n Mot. Dismiss (“Álvarez’s Reply”), ECF No. 65-8. At a hearing on October 18, 2019, this Court denied the ripe motions to dismiss (excepting the claims falling outside the statutory time limits) and took the motions to compel arbitration under advisement. Minute Order, ECF No. 67.5 For

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