A. G. Becker & Co. v. Gilmore (In re Financial Corp.)
A. G. Becker & Co. v. Gilmore (In re Financial Corp.)
Opinion of the Court
FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND ORDER DENYING TRUSTEE’S OBJECTIONS TO ALLOWANCE OF CLAIMS.
The claims of all the above claimants have been timely filed in these proceedings under the old Bankruptcy Act. The initial objections previously imposed by the respondent trustee and other parties have been disposed of in accordance with considerations of law and justice by this court’s prior orders. Initially, the objections which had been made by the trustee were of a general nature and, additionally, appeared satisfactorily to be answered by the facts stated in the claims and the documentation attached to the several claims. The objections initially filed by certain creditors appeared to be wholly conclusionary in character and also filed without standing to object. The court, therefore, issued its order directing the trustee to show cause why his objections should not be denied as without factual or legal merit.
No responses to those orders were filed by the respective respondents to those show cause orders. Rather, those objections were abandoned in favor of new sets of objections filed by the creditor Charles Walters, Jr., and by Eldon R. Miller, the chief stockholder and former president of the bankrupt corporation.
In the same orders, the defense which was interposed initially by the respondent Walters, that of impossibility of performance by reason of government interference, was dealt with. That issue is also now finally resolved, after full hearing, by this court’s order of December 28, 1981.
In response to this series of orders, filed by the court on February 24, 1981, or thereabouts,
In the meantime, the trustee was reinstated as the proper objecting party respondent and these claims were all the subject of the hearing abovementioned on the lone issue of impossibility of performance. As noted above, that issue has been now resolved by the order of December 28, 1981, denying that defense. Subsequently, the court required the trustee to state in writing the facts which he contended to be available to support the defenses which had previously been raised by the respondents as well as the trustee. The response filed to that order was, in total, a reiteration of
Primarily because of a claim by the trustee that his counsel had had difficulty in marshaling the facts which might be available but which had not been made available to him,
In these hearings, the trustee, through the testimony of Eldon R. Miller, the former president of the bankrupt corporation, presented certain basic contentions and calculations which could easily have been presented in written response to the court’s prior orders. In virtually all the claims of the claimants in this particular group of claims, these general contentions were the same, although the calculations pertinent to each of the cases were different. But, for the sake of efficiency, because the claims and contentions are all virtually the same and because this court deems them all to be meritless, they will all be outlined and ruled upon in this one order, rather than in several different orders. The contentions and rulings upon them are contained in the paragraphs which follow:
(1) The purchase and repurchase agreements are not really enforceable contracts, but rather only exchanges of value by means of which “merchandise” — i.e., the government securities — is exchanged for cash or credits. This contention has been offered by the trustee through the testimonial sponsorship of Mr. Miller. Extensive direct and cross examination has been employed in the respective efforts of the claimants and the trustee to prove that a contract must or could not exist. But the simple facts are that, with respect to the above mentioned claimants, the transactions involved the sale of securities by one party to the other with an agreement by the seller to repurchase the securities on a date certain in the future and of the buyer accordingly to resell the securities on that date.
(2) The claimants were entitled under the agreements to request additional security if they “felt insecure” at any time. Mr. Miller, through his testimonial statements, also advanced the contention that, under the provisions of these agreements, according to the custom and usage in the securities market, the initial purchaser of the securities had the right to request additional security at any time prior to the repurchase date. From this undenied and uncontradicted proposition, it is argued that, if there was a contract, this was the only remedy. Again, however, no evidence has or can be adduced to support the necessary proposition that this right to request additional security was intended to wipe out the obligations to repurchase and resell.
Alternatively, the trustee contends that, if the claimants did not request additional collateral as of the date that they should have reasonably felt insecure, then they must forthwith sell whatever security they have and be satisfied with the sale price. The trustee has accordingly presented evidence in respect to many of these claims, through the testimony of Mr. Miller, that there were times at which the market price was such that the claimants could have sold the securities or could have purchased securities so as to obviate their losses. This argument, however, is at least equally as sophistical as the foregoing argument. For, only if the request for additional collateral is to be regarded as the sole remedy in the transaction can the right to request additional collateral be made a basis for the reduction of the damage award. Otherwise, the contracts purport expressly to provide for repurchase and resale at expressly specified prices without reference to any meantime request for additional collateral. And, of course, when repurchase and resale is effected at the specified price, the matter of any excess amount of collateral becomes irrelevant. None of the claims at bar requests awards for the entire repurchase price undiminished by the value of the “collateral.”
(3) But, the trustee claims, through the testimonial contention of Mr. Miller, that claimants should have sold the “collateral” (i.e., the securities) or (if they were repurchasers under the particular contract) should have covered by the purchase of securities at more optimal prices than they did. To this end, Mr. Miller has testified at great length from the closing quotations for United States Government securities to show that better prices or better value could have been obtained had each of the claimants resold or covered at different times than they actually did. But Mr. Miller’s testimony was also to the effect that a closing quotation is no indication of what the market has been during that day, nor of what the prices will be upon the market’s opening on the following day.
Other objections raised to the allowance of individual claims within this group of claims are of a minor character and have been satisfactorily resolved.
It is therefore, for the foregoing reasons, concluded that the individual claims in this group should be allowed in accordance with the amounts claimed thereon and the amendments thereto. Accordingly, the amounts in which each claim is to be allowed are set out in the following marginal note.
ORDERED that the respective claims of the above claimants be, and they are hereby, allowed in the respective sums set out in marginal note 28.
.Thus, in its order of February 24, 1981, directing the trustee and “other objecting parties” (Charles Walters, Jr., Lloyd P. Armstrong, Jerald D. Veatch, Ralph Van Goethem, William V. Barton, Harold E. Cole, and Albert L. Walters) to show cause why the A. G. Becker and Company claim should not be allowed in the sum of $313,327.47, the court observed that: (1) the documentation supporting the claim appeared to be sufficient; (2) that, as to the trustee’s claim that the loss should be evaluated as of July 11, 1975, on which date the loss should have been around $112,354.00, “(i)t does not appear from the facts which are currently before the court that the claimant could have sold the treasury bills for any greater price than that which they actually commanded”; (3) that the objections of the “other objecting parties” were “wholly conclusionary and unsupported by any factual detail” and were deniable additionally “for lack of standing of the objectors”; and (4) that the claimant did not appear to seek any interest on the loss subsequent to July 10, 1975, the date of the appointment of a receiver by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in violation of the rule of Matter of Financial Corp., 1 B.R. 522 (D.C.W.D.Mo. 1979), affirmed, 634 F.2d 404 (8th Cir. 1980).
. See note 1, supra.
. This intervention was granted at the behest and instance of the trustee and his former counsel.
.“The interest which is . .. claimed is interest which is part of the loss sustained by the claimant and which has a character which is distinct from interest on the loss which Judge Hunter’s opinion dealt with in Matter of Financial Corp., 1 B.R. 522 (D.C.W.D.Mo. 1979), affirmed, 634 F.2d 404 (8th Cir. 1980). Interest of the former category appears to be allowable as a claim under the literal wording of section 63(a)(1) of the Bankruptcy Act to the following effect: ‘Debts of the bankrupt may be proved and allowed against his estate which are founded upon ... a fixed liability, as evidenced by a judgment or instrument in writing, absolutely owing at the time of the filing of the petition by or against him, whether then payable or not, with any interest thereon which would have been recoverable at that date or with a rebate of interest upon such as were not then payable and did not bear interest.” The filing date of this bankruptcy case is August 18, 1975, which is well after July 23, 1975, (the date on which the loss of the claimant was sustained). It is doubtful, given the nature of the interest sought, that the ruling in Matter of Financial Corp., supra, can be thought to abrogate the letter of the above statute. In the case relied upon, at least in part, by the objecting creditor Walters, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Miller, 495 F.Supp. 465, 467 (S.D.N.Y. 1980), it is recognized that the interest on a repurchase agreement is the actual bargained-for element and thus is the loss which is actually sustained upon breach of the repurchase agreement: ‘The parties customarily provide that any interest accruing on the securities between the dates of the initial purchase and subsequent “repurchase", remains the borrower’s property . . . (T)herefore a repo is essentially a short-term collateralized loan, and the parties to these transactions tend to perceive them as such. The element of the transaction over which the most bargaining usually occurs is the interest rate.’ Further, in his opinion in Matter of Financial Corp., supra, Judge Hunter makes his ruling explicitly applicable to ‘accrued interest’ which augments or increases the contract loss and also cites with approval Anno., Interest Pending Bankruptcy, 39 A.L.R. 457, 466, which in part relates to the allowability of interest as damages in insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings. It seems clear that Judge Hunter’s ruling applies to ‘accrued interest’ as opposed to interest awardable as damages.”
. That order should be regarded as incorporated by reference into this one, as fully as if set out herein verbatim, with respect to each of the claims of the claimants listed in the style hereof.
. The paradigm order was that issued in the matter of the claim of A. G. Becker and Company on February 24, 1981.
. The intervening respondent Eldon R. Miller, on or about June 1, 1981, filed, with respect to many of the claims in this group, a list of generalized “defenses,” among which, in addition to those discussed in the text, were the following: (1) “The Claimant has recovered all or a substantial part of its loss from others, and is, therefore, not the real party in interest entitled to recover under its claim.” (No evidence has ever been adduced to support this contention.) (2) “The Claimant is not entitled to recover, because its failure promptly to prosecute its claim and its delay from 1976 to 1981 in asking that the matter be set for hearing and obtaining a prompt hearing on the claim constitutes laches.” (No prejudice to the respondents has ever been stated or shown which would result in an inability or diminished abili
.In respect to that “defense,” this court noted that “the trustee is currently prosecuting this claim in another court. Further, it is the trustee to whom the cause of action belongs, according to the applicable authorities. See 4A Collier on Bankruptcy para. 70.28, p. 413 (1978). And it is he who will exclusively determine the court in which the antitrust action will be brought. ‘(T)he trustee, as contrasted with the creditors, alone has the power to sue on a claim belonging to the estate,’ 2A Collier on Bankruptcy para. -47.05, p. 1745 (1978), unless the creditor receives specific and express leave of court to succeed to the trustee’s exclusive right. And, further, even if the creditor could be said to have so succeeded in this case (and he has not), the bankruptcy court still has discretion to remit actions for trial to state courts (and other courts) when it would be expeditious and in the interest of justice to do so. This is so “even where jurisdiction exists in the bankruptcy court.” In re Axton, 641 F.2d 1262, 1273 (7th Cir. 1981). It would appear that, without more, the discretion should be exercised in this case to permit the antitrust claim to continue to be processed in a . . . court where it has long been lodged. This is particularly so when it does not appear from the papers which have to date been filed in this case that it can be said that the claimant, in filing an ordinary claim, can be said to have consented to summary bankruptcy court jurisdiction of a counterclaim for alleged antitrust violations. Under the most liberal of rules relating to summary jurisdiction by consent, an ordinary claimant usually is conceived to give consent only to summary jurisdiction of a counterclaim arising ‘out of the same transaction.’ 2 Collier on Bankruptcy para. 23.08, p. 558 (1976). The respondent does not state facts in his various motions and pleadings now before the court from which it can be ascertained that the counterclaim would be a compulsory, as opposed to a permissive, counterclaim. Further, if the counterclaim is already being processed in another court, it would seem, without more, only to promote unnecessary delay to require this court to adjudicate it over the summary jurisdiction objections which are now in existence by virtue of the claimant’s motion to dismiss.”
. In that order, the court quoted 3 Collier on Bankruptcy para. 57.15(3.1), pp. 256-257 (1977), to the effect that “jury trials in liquidating claims are more than ever a matter of judicial discretion and administrative experience” and that, accordingly, there is no right to a jury trial; that, further, no facts were stated on the basis of which a trier of fact by jury or otherwise was warranted; and that the demand for the jury trial was not timely filed. Later, on September 16, 1981, after being reinstated as the proper party respondent, the trustee in bankruptcy expressly withdrew any demand for a jury trial on these claims.
. Several appeals were filed, in respect of the claims listed in the style of this order, from like orders entered in respect of several of them. All the appeals were later voluntarily dismissed by the appellant.
. See note 10, supra.
.- The trustee filed an initial response by counsel on August 12, 1981, in which he primarily requested more time in which to file anything but the most generalized response. Thereafter, on September 16, 1981, the trustee, by counsel, filed a more complete factualization of the defenses which had previously been asserted in a wholly conclusionary manner by the former respondent Eldon R. Miller. See note 7, supra. Additionally, it was asserted in that response that “the sales in some instances were in self-dealing transactions with subsidiaries, insiders and affiliates, and, therefore, not arms’ length transactions representing true market value, but rather in-house transactions manufacturing paper loss, and not real loss.” The evidence which was adduced in the hearings on the claims of the above claimants, however, was insufficient to support this contention. It is also additionally stated in the response of September 16, 1981, that “the funds used by the claimants to purchase collateral from the Bankrupt were provided by unidentified affiliates or insiders, and were not from the treasury of the claimant, and that, further, the claimant’s alleged loss was abrogated or mitigated in whole or in part by its said insider or affiliate who is the real party in interest to the claim, if any claim there be.” Again, with respect to the above claimants, there was no evidence in the hearings to support this contention. Another more specifically advanced “defense” was that “the claimants’ claims are based upon contracts made with Short-Term International, Inc. and Polumbo, Inc., securities brokers; that Short-Term and Polumbo were securities brokers acting in their own right and behalf and not the agents of the Bankrupt.” But, as noted previously, in note 7, supra, the hearings disclosed no evidence except that Short-Term International, Inc., was the agent of the bankrupt. In the response of September 16, 1981, the trustee abandons the “defense” of “laches.” See note 7, supra.
.In his response of September 16, 1981, see note 12, supra, the trustee notes, with respect to all the defenses there raised that his “contentions of fact are not intended to be all inclusive but rather are averred upon information and belief acquired through initial investigation
.Additionally, it must be noted that the district court has previously determined that contracts such as are here in issue with respect to
. Insofar as a contract is “(a)n agreement, upon sufficient consideration, to do or not to do a particular thing,” Black’s Law Dictionary, p. 394 (West 1968), the agreement to repurchase or resell on a date certain and at a specified price indubitably meets the definition.
. The testimony of Eldon R. Miller to the con-clusionary effect that the transactions did not represent contracts is not supported by the facts admitted and stated in his testimony. To support the contention that the transactions were not contracts, the trustee, at the instance of Mr. Miller, sought to introduce in evidence certain depositions taken in the case of Securities & Exchange Commission v. Miller, 495 F.Supp. 465 (S.D.N.Y. 1980). For the reasons stated below in the text hereof, the depositions must be regarded as inadmissible in this matter. But, even if these depositions were to be regarded as admissible, they do not support the proposition that the repurchase agreements were not enforceable contracts. Robert M. O’Dell, Jr., in his deposition of November 28, 1977, referred to them as “agreements” (tr. 32 and 64); agreed that “the thrust of the agreement ... is that (the buyer) will eventually be able to sell those securities back at a price (the buyer) has negotiated” (tr. 53); and defined the provision that requires “selling back” of the “bills” as an “obligation.” (Tr. 23). The testimony of Sol Levin, in his deposition, to the effect that the “repurchase” provision “is not really significant other than the embarrassment if something should happen” (tr. 32), is admittedly his “personal feeling” and translation of the transactions. He further took the position that some obligations may be “terminated” under a repurchase agreement. (Tr. 53). In his deposition, William T. Hoss, calls the repurchase agreement a “gentleman’s agreement,” (tr. 44), but admits that he would not want to deal with an insolvent. (Tr. 54). And John O. Youngs, in his deposition of November 30, 1977, speaks of mutual expectations and admits that he does not know of what remedy applies if those expectations are not satisfied because he has “never seen it happen.” (Tr. 11).
.See note 16, supra. See also Matter of Financial Corp., 1 B.R. 522, 526 n.8 (D.C.W.D.Mo. 1979), affirmed, 634 F.2d 404 (8th Cir. 1980), where this issue has been decided contrary to the contentions of Mr. Miller. “Appellant also argues,” it is there noted, “that trade
. And, otherwise, construed as a contract requiring the resale or repurchase on the specified date, repurchase agreements have full mutuality of obligation and remedy.
. In all cases before the court, the claimants have either resold the “collateral” or have “covered” for “collateral” contracted to be sold to them.
. This general principle agrees with that expressed in Matter of Financial Corp., 1 B.R. 522, 527 (D.C.W.D.Mo. 1979), affirmed, 634 F.2d 404 (8th Cir. 1980), to the effect that the principle of mitigation of damages does not require “an unreasonable expectation in the realm of business judgment.” Therefore, when the evidence adduced in respect of the several claims now at bar shows (1), as noted in the text, that the market trends could not reasonably be discerned over short periods of time and (2) that all the claimants sold the securities or, as the case might be, covered for them within a reasonable time following the default. In respect of some of the claimants, the trustee has raised the contention through the testimony of Mr. Miller, that an inordinate time was taken after the date scheduled for performance in which to sell the securities or cover for them. In each of these cases, however, the evidence has demonstrated that the delay was warranted by the necessity for seeking permission from the temporary receiver appointed by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York or for other reasons, including uncertainty respecting the status of the contract or the market.
. See note 20, supra. See the court’s prior order of February 24, 1981, to this general effect.
. See note 20, supra.
. See notes 4, 7, 8, and 12, supra. See also note 20, supra.
. The applicable rule, Rule 804(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Evidence, provides that “if the declarant is unavailable as a witness” former testimony “given as a witness at another hearing of the same or a different proceeding, or in a deposition taken in compliance with the law in the course of the same or another proceeding (is not excluded by the hearsay rule) if the party against whom the testimony is now offered, or, in a civil action or proceeding a predecessor in interest, had an opportunity and similar motive to develop the testimony by direct, cross, or redirect examination.” The claimants have cited the court to the decision in Carter-Wallace, Inc. v. Otte, 474 F.2d 529, 536, 537 (2d Cir. 1972), in which it was generally held that an expert witness should not be regarded as “unavailable” within the meaning of this rule, for “even if one particular expert is unavailable, there is no need to use his previous testimony to prevent a loss of evidence, because there will usually be other experts available to give similar testimony orally.” Neither that case, however, nor Kaufman v. Edelstein, 539 F.2d 811, 819, n.9 (2d Cir. 1976), also relied upon by the claimants, involved a trustee in bankruptcy who attempted, but could not secure the voluntary attendance of the deponents who were otherwise beyond the territorial limits of the court’s subpoena power. Whether the special position of a bankruptcy trustee, with his ever-present imperative of economizing, would warrant a special exception to the rule of Carter-Wallace, supra, need not be decided in this matter, for the reasons set forth in the text hereof.
. There is some indication in the legislative history of Rule 804(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Evidence that it is doubtful whether “predecessor in interest” means “strict identity or privity,” see Notes of Advisory Committee on Proposed Rules, or whether examination, or the opportunity to examine, by one with “similar motive and interest” is sufficient. See Historical Note under Rule 804 in 28 U.S.C.A. Federal Rules of Evidence, p. 690, 692. For the reasons stated in the text, this issue need not be determined under the circumstances of this matter.
. And further, the depositions themselves do not serve to qualify the deponents as expert witnesses, as is necessary to their admissibility in evidence.
. See note 16, supra.
. The evidence, interpreted under the governing legal principles and other principles stated in this memorandum, shows that the claims of the respective claimants should be allowed in the respective amounts:
A. G. Becker and Company, Inc.$ 313,327.47
Loeb Rhoades and Company. 1,575,693.20
First Wisconsin National Bank of
Milwaukee. 804,270.42
European American Bank and Trust Company . 304,715.70
European American Banking Corporation . 690,869.42
Southeast First National Bank of Miami. 237,310.69
Michigan National Bank . 77,721.89
Sun First National Bank of Orlando . . 2,546,349.94
First National Bank of South Carolina 41,176.62
First National Bank of Minneapolis .. 133,421.71
Wells Fargo Bank. 1,996,847.66
First National Bank of Louisville .... 124,548.50
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In the Matter of FINANCIAL CORPORATION, Bankrupt. A. G. BECKER & COMPANY, INC., Loeb, Rhoades & Co., First Wisconsin National Bank of Milwaukee, European American Bank & Trust Company, European American Banking Corporation, Southeast First National Bank of Miami, First National Bank of Miami, Michigan National Bank, Sun First National Bank of Orlando, First National Bank of South Carolina, First National Bank of Minneapolis, Wells Fargo Bank and First National Bank of Louisville v. D. W. GILMORE, trustee in bankruptcy
- Status
- Published