Opinion
Case No. 16-11230-SAH Adv. Pro. 18-01029
09-06-2018
In re: POSTROCK ENERGY CORPORATION, et al. Debtors. STEPHEN J. MORIARTY as Chapter 11 Trustee of Post Rock Energy Corporation, et al., Plaintiff, v. DAVID J. KLVAC, Defendant.
The following is ORDERED:
Chapter 11
(Jointly Administered) ORDER ON DAVID J. KLVAC'S MOTION TO DISMISS WITH BRIEF IN SUPPORT AND NOTICE OF OPPORTUNITY FOR HEARING [DOC. 12]
Before the Court are the:
1. Complaint to Avoid and Recover Transfers Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 548 and 550 and to Disallow Claims Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 502 [Doc. 1], filed on March 30, 2018 (the "Complaint"), by Stephen J. Moriarty, as chapter 11 trustee ("Trustee") for PostRock Energy Corporation, et al. (collectively, the "PostRock Debtors");
2. David J. Klvac's Motion to Dismiss with Brief in Support and Notice of Opportunity for Hearing [Doc. 12], filed on July 6, 2018 (the "Motion"), by defendant David J. Klvac ("Klvac");
3. Plaintiff's Response to David J. Klvac's Motion to Dismiss with Brief in Support [Doc. 17], filed on August 17, 2018 (the "Response"), by Trustee; and
4. David J. Klvac's Reply to Trustee's Response [Doc. 17] to Klvac's Motion to Dismiss [Doc. 12] with Brief in Support [Doc. 18], filed on August 22, 2018 (the "Reply"), by Klvac.
OVERVIEW
On April 1, 2016 (the "Petition Date"), each of the six PostRock Debtors commenced a bankruptcy case by filing a voluntary petition for relief under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. On the same day, the Court entered an order authorizing joint administration of the PostRock Debtors' chapter 11 cases for procedural purposes pursuant to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 1015(b), but not consolidating the estates. Also on April 1, 2016, secured creditor Citibank, N.A. filed an Agreed Motion for Entry of an Order Appointing a Chapter 11 Trustee [Doc. 11] pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1104(a)(2). On April 7, 2016, the Court entered an order granting Citibank's Agreed Motion [Doc. 66] and, on April 8, 2016, Trustee was appointed the chapter 11 trustee in these jointly administered cases [Doc. 75].
The six debtors are PostRock Energy Corporation, the parent corporation, which owns directly, or indirectly, PostRock Energy Services Corporation, PostRock MidContinent Production LLC, PostRock Eastern Production, LLC, PostRock Holdco,LLC, and STP Newco, Inc.
Trustee filed this Complaint, and nine others similar to it, asserting causes of action under 11 U.S.C. §§ 548 and 550 to avoid and recover a certain transfer as a fraudulent transfer and under 11 U.S.C. § 502(d)&(j) to disallow claims. Klvac's Motion argues Trustee's alleged causes of action do not satisfy the "Twombly/Iqbal plausibility standard" of pleading, and thus, the Complaint should be dismissed for failure to state a claim for relief. As could be expected, the Response argues the opposite, but Trustee fails to adequately rebut the arguments that his Complaint is deficient. As discussed below, the Complaint omits critical information and makes numerous legal conclusions without facts to support them. Therefore, the Motion must be granted.
Unless otherwise indicated, hereafter all references to sections are to the Bankruptcy Code, Title 11 of the United States Code.
In light of the fact that there are ten similar complaints, the Court is disappointed that Trustee and his counsel did not take more care and pay more attention to detail in drafting them. Perhaps if they had done so, ten motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim, and ten orders by the Court granting the motions to dismiss, would not have been necessary.
JURISDICTION
The Court has jurisdiction to hear this Complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b), and venue is proper pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1409. Reference to the Court of this matter is proper pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(a), and this is a core proceeding as contemplated by 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(B) and (H).
STANDARDS GOVERNING RULE 12(b)(6) MOTIONS TO DISMISS
A plaintiff bears the burden to frame a complaint with enough factual matter to suggest that he or she is entitled to relief. Fed. R. Civ. P. 8.; Fed. R. Bankr. P. 7008; Robbins v. Oklahoma, 519 F.3d 1242, 1247 (10th Cir. 2008). Although Rule 8 does not require "detailed factual allegations," it demands more than unadorned accusations that the defendant unlawfully harmed the plaintiff. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, made applicable here pursuant to Rule 7012 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, "a plaintiff must include in the complaint 'enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.'" Barenburg v. Burton (In re Burton), 2010 WL 3422584, *2 (10th Cir. 2010) (citing Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)) (emphasis added). This standard requires that factual allegations be sufficient to raise a right to relief above mere speculation. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555. See also, The Ridge at Red Hawk, L.L.C. v. Schneider, 493 F.3d 1174, 1177 (10th Cir. 2007) (stating complaint must give the court reason to believe that the plaintiff has a reasonable likelihood of mustering factual support for the claims raised).
Bare legal conclusions and simple recitations of the elements of a cause of action do not satisfy this standard. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 568; Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 ("tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions"). A court must evaluate a motion to dismiss to determine whether the complaint alleges sufficient facts supporting all of the elements necessary to establish an entitlement to relief under the claims raised. Lane v. Simon, 495 F.3d 1182, 1186 (10th Cir. 2007). As summarized by the Tenth Circuit:
To survive dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, plaintiffs must "nudge[ ] their claims across the line from conceivable to plausible." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). While factual assertions are taken as true, legal conclusions are not. A plaintiff is "not required to set forth a prima facie case for each element, [but] is required to set forth plausible claims." Khalik, 671 F.3d at 1193. "A claim has facial plausibility when the [pleaded] factual content . . . allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009).Cook v. Baca, 512 F. App'x. 810, 821 (10th Cir. 2013).
The Tenth Circuit has interpreted the Supreme Court's use of the term "plausibility" to "refer to the scope of the allegations in a complaint" rather than to mean "likely to be true." Robbins, 519 F.3d at 1247. Thus, "if [a complaint's allegations] are so general that they encompass a wide swath of conduct, much of it innocent, then the plaintiffs have not nudged their claims across the line from conceivable to plausible." Robbins, 519 F.3d at 1247 (internal quotations omitted). "The allegations must be enough that, if assumed to be true, the plaintiff plausibly (not just speculatively) has a claim for relief." Robbins, 519 F.3d at 1247. "This requirement of plausibility serves not only to weed out claims that do not (in the absence of additional allegations) have a reasonable prospect of success, but also to inform the defendants of the actual grounds of the claim against them." Robbins, 519 F.3d at 1248. The Tenth Circuit has instructed that "the degree of specificity necessary to establish plausibility and fair notice, and therefore the need to include sufficient factual allegations, depends on context," and further, that whether a defendant receives fair notice "depends on the type of case." Robbins, 519 F.3d at 1248. In ruling on Klvac's Motion, this Court is mindful that it must construe the Complaint in the light most favorable to Trustee, taking as true all factual allegations and making all reasonable inferences in Trustee's favor that can be drawn from the pleadings. Casanova v. Ulibarri, 595 F.3d 1120, 1124 (10th Cir. 2010); Burton, 2010 WL 3422584, *3.
STATEMENT OF FACTS FROM TRUSTEE'S COMPLAINT
1. The PostRock Debtors' financial difficulties that led to the decision to file bankruptcy are attributable to a combination of factors, all of which placed significant stress on the PostRock Debtors' liquidity position in the years leading up to the Petition Date.
2. During the year preceding the Petition Date, April 1, 2015 - March 1, 2016 (the "Preference Period"), the PostRock Debtors continued to operate their business affairs.
3. During the course of their relationship, the PostRock Debtors made a certain payment to Klvac of an interest of the PostRock Debtors' property (the "Transfer"). The details of the Transfer to Klvac is:
| DATE | PAYMENT |
| 8/01/2014 | $172,154.21 |
4. Klvac was, at all relevant times, an "insider" of the PostRock Debtors, as that term is defined by Section 101(31) of the Bankruptcy Code.
5. "To the extent one or more of the Transfers was not made on account of an antecedent debt, was a prepayment for goods and/or service subsequently received, or was a transfer made by one PostRock Debtor without a corresponding transfer into the payment account by the PostRock Debtor incurring the debt, Trustee pleads in the alternative that the [PostRock] Debtor(s) making such transfer(s) did not receive reasonably equivalent value in exchange for such transfer(s)."
6. "The PostRock Debtors were insolvent as of the date of the Transfer(s), or became insolvent as a result of the Transfer(s); or [t]he Post Rock Debtors were engaged, or about to engage, in business or a transaction for which any property remaining with the Debtors or for whose benefit the Transfer(s) was made was an unreasonably small capital; or [t]he PostRock Debtors intended to incur, or believed they would incur, debts beyond their ability to pay upon maturity."
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
I. TRUSTEE'S COMPLAINT FAILS TO STATE A PLAUSIBLE CLAIM UNDER SECTION 548 OF THE BANKRUPTCY CODE.
Trustee's first claim for relief is to avoid the Transfer as a fraudulent transfer pursuant to Section 548(a)(1)(B). The purpose of Section 548 is "to prevent the debtor from depleting the resources available to creditors through gratuitous transfers of the debtor's property." Walker v. Treadwell (In re Treadwell), 699 F.2d 1050, 1051 (11th Cir. 1983). The most commonly stated elements of a constructively fraudulent transfer under Section 548(a)(1)(B) are: "(1) that the debtor had an interest in property; (2) that a transfer of that interest occurred within [two years] of the filing of the bankruptcy petition; (3) that the debtor was insolvent or was rendered insolvent as a result of the transfer; and (4) that the debtor received less than a reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the transfer." Zubrod v. Keffer (In re Keffer), 307 B.R. 731, *2 (10th Cir. BAP 2004) (citing BFP v. Resolution Trust Corp., 511 U.S. 531, 535 (1994)). However, there are three alternatives to the insolvency requirement under Section 548(a)(1)(B)(ii). Howell v. Fulford (In re Southern Home and Ranch Supply, Inc.), 561 B.R. 810, 814 (Bankr. N.D. Ga. 2016). Instead of proving insolvency, a plaintiff may prove that at the time of the transfer in question: (i) the debtor was engaging in a transaction for which it was unreasonably undercapitalized; (ii) debtor intended to or would incur debts beyond its ability to repay; or (iii) the transfer was made to or for the benefit of an insider under an employment contract not in the ordinary course of business. 11 U.S.C. § 548(a)(1)(B)(ii); Ryan v. Montoya (In re Gonzales), 2011 WL 2619609, *4 (Bankr. D. N.M. 2011). A complaint is insufficient when its allegations "simply mirror the language of Section 548(a)(1)(B)." In re AgFeed USA, LLC, 546 B.R. 318, 337 (Bankr. D. Del. 2016).
Trustee's alleged Section 548 cause of action has deficiencies. First, the Complaint does not indicate which of the six PostRock Debtors allegedly made the Transfer to Klvac. See AgFeed USA, 546 B.R. at 337.
Second, Trustee cannot meet the fraudulent transfer requirement of Section 548(a)(1)(B)(ii) with the insolvency alternative because (i) minimal allegations of insolvency, as set forth in the Complaint, are insufficient to satisfy the Twombly/Iqbal plausibility standard and (ii) there is no presumption of insolvency under Section 548. LTF Real Estate Co., Inc. v. Expert South Tulsa, LLC (In re Expert South Tulsa, LLC), 522 B.R. 634, 653 (10th Cir. BAP 2014); see also Gavin Solmonese, LLC v. Shyamsundar (In re Amcad Holdings, LLC), 579 B.R. 33, 38-39 (Bankr. D. Del. 2017) (citing Miller v. Welke (In re United Tax Grp., LLC), Adv. No. 16-50088, 2016 WL 7235622, at *3-4 (Bankr. D. Del. Dec. 13, 2016) (finding that a trustee's allegation that the debtor was balance sheet insolvent was too conclusory to demonstrate insolvency)). Under Section 101(32)(A), a corporate debtor is generally insolvent when "the sum of such entity's debts is greater than all of such entity's property, at a fair valuation." When insolvency is an element of a claim, the plaintiff should allege facts to plausibly establish that debtor's liabilities exceeded its assets at the time of the transfer through balance sheet facts. Spradlin v. Pryor Cashman LLP (In re Licking River Mining, LLC), 565 B.R. 794, 815-16 (Bankr. E.D. Ky. 2017) (citing Sarachek v. The Right Place Inc.) (In re Agriprocessors, Inc.), 2011 WL 4621741, *6-7 (Bankr. N.D. Iowa 2011)). The Complaint's allegations that financial difficulties placed significant stress on the PostRock Debtor's liquidity position in the years leading up to the Petition Date is insufficient. See Fact ¶ 1 above. Liquidity issues, in and of themselves, do not make an entity insolvent. In his Response to the Motion, Trustee argues the that "[a]ccording to their bankruptcy schedules and creditors' claims in the underlying bankruptcy case, Debtor(s) . . . were clearly insolvent at the time of transfer to [Klvac]." Response at 5. However, a debtor's bankruptcy schedules and/or its claims register are not somehow automatically incorporated as part of the Complaint. See Hunter v. Mangold (In re Mangold), 145 B.R. 16, 18 (Bankr. N.D. Ohio 1992) ("There is a distinction between insolvency as defined by the Bankruptcy Code and mere non-liquidity."). Even if the Court were to take judicial notice of them, Trustee would still be obligated to distill the information to that which sufficiently supports the allegation of insolvency in the Complaint. Pointing to a debtor's schedules and creditors' claims is also problematic because insolvency as of the Petition Date does not prove insolvency at the time the Transfer was made on August 1, 2014, over a year and a half prior to the Petition Date. Martyak v. Tioga Cnty., New York (In re Martyak), 432 B.R. 25, 37 (Bankr. N.D. N.Y. 2010) (citing Burdick v. Lee, 256 B.R. 837, 840 (D. Mass. 2001) (citing McColley v. Jacobs (In re North American Dealer Group, Inc.), 62 B.R. 423, 428 (Bankr. E.D. N.Y. 1986))). Nor are there any factual allegations whatsoever to support the alternative legal conclusions in Section 548(a)(1)(B)(ii) that the PostRock Debtors were either (i) unreasonably undercapitalized with respect to transactions they were undertaking or (ii) were intending to or incurring debts beyond their ability to repay. See Fact ¶ 6 above.
Perhaps the most glaring error in Trustee's argument is the suggestion that he is entitled to the statutory presumption of insolvency under Section 547(f) on his Section 548 fraudulent transfer claim. Response at 5.
The Court can take judicial notice of its docket and the papers on file as long as it does not accept the truth of the matters asserted in those papers. " Expert South Tulsa, 522 B.R. at 654.
Additionally, the Complaint is deficient because it does not plead sufficient facts to establish that the particular PostRock Debtor making the Transfer received less than reasonably equivalent value for the Transfer as required by Section 548(a)(1)(B)(i). Rentas v. Olavarria (In re Editorial Flash, Inc.), 2016 WL 3638471, *5 (Bankr. D. P.R. 2016). The facts of Trustee's Count I regarding this potentially fraudulent transfer under Section 548 do not allege with any specificity that no consideration was received, or that there was no antecedent debt, or that the consideration received was valued at less than the amount of the Transfer. See Fact ¶ 6 above. Without any such allegations, the Court cannot plausibly conclude that reasonably equivalent value was not received in connection with the Transfer. Licking River Mining, 565 B.R. at 815; Dershaw v. Ciardi (In re Rite Way Electric, Inc.), 510 B.R. 471, 482-83 (Bankr. E.D. Penn. 2014).
Finally, in his Response, Trustee incorrectly contends that because of his outsider status he is entitled to a less stringent standard when the sufficiency of his fraudulent transfer cause of action is being evaluated. Courts have so held when a transfer is claimed as actually fraudulent pursuant to Section 548(a)(1)(A). Picard v. Cohmad Sec. Corp. (In re Bernard L. Madoff Inv. Sec. LLC), 454 B.R. 317, 329 (Bankr. S.D. N.Y. 2011) (citing Nisselson v. Softbank AM Corp. (In re MarketXT Holdings Corp.), 361 B.R. 369, 395 (Bankr. S.D. N.Y. 2007)). But here, Trustee claims the Transfer is constructively fraudulent pursuant to Section 548(a)(1)(B) and the relaxed standard is not applicable.
A plaintiff's complaint cannot simply parrot the statutory language of Section 548(a)(1)(B) without recitation of facts supporting those legal conclusions, as doing so does not apprise the defendant of the claims made against him. Editorial Flash, 2016 WL 3638471, *5. For the most part, Trustee's alleged fraudulent transfer cause of action is little more than mindless repetition of the statutory elements.
As a result, the Complaint does not plausibly state a claim for relief under Section 548 and must be dismissed without prejudice for failing to state a claim. Trustee is granted leave to amend the Complaint within twenty (20) days of entry of this Order to include the necessary factual allegations set forth above.
CONCLUSION
Consistent with the preceding analysis, Trustee's cause of action for fraudulent transfer under Section 548 of the Bankruptcy Code fails to state a claim. Counts II and III of the Complaint for recovery of the avoided transfer under Section 550 and/or disallowance of the transferee's claims under Section 502(d) & (j) on account of the avoided transfer are dependent upon avoidance under Section 548. As a result, they must also be dismissed. Therefore, the Complaint is dismissed in its entirety, but with leave to amend. Trustee is granted twenty (20) days from the date of entry of this Order to file an amended complaint. Trustee is strongly cautioned against further pleading in a conclusory fashion, as further leave to amend will not be granted.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: September 6, 2018
/s/
Sarah A Hall
United States Bankruptcy Judge