KAREN S. JENNEMANN, Bankruptcy Judge.
The plaintiff in this adversary proceeding, reorganized debtor M. Davis Management, Inc., seeks to avoid pre-petition transfers of over $1 million from the pre-bankruptcy company to its former vice president, director, and CEO, Dennis Zink, and his wife, majority (51%) shareholder and company president, Michele Zink. The company made most of the contested transfers to Mr. Zink pursuant to numerous monthly service contracts the reorganized debtor argues were a sham device the Zinks used to take equity out of the company at a time when company revenues and profits were declining. The debtor argues both that the company (controlled by the Zinks) made the transfers to Mr. Zink with actual fraudulent intent and that the transfers were constructively fraudulent.
Both parties now move for partial or final summary judgment on numerous grounds.
This dispute is rooted in a contentious shareholder contest between the Zinks and Faith Fairbrother, the debtor's only other (49%) shareholder, and the debtor's former director, sales manager, and vice president. After a falling out between the Zinks and Fairbrother, she abruptly resigned from the company in June 2007 but retained her shares of company stock and, significantly, all rights arising under the equity agreements between the parties. The company, now under the control of the Zinks, immediately sued Fairbrother in Florida state court seeking injunctive relief and damages on numerous causes of action, including breach of restrictive covenants and breach of contract.
The company's financial health deteriorated quickly and considerably after Fairbrother's departure. From 2004 to 2006, the debtor reported annual revenues ranging from $3.1 million to $3.6 million and operating annual income from $0.9 to $1.4 million.
Despite the company's decline in revenues, the Zinks maintained their historical level of compensation, though with a twist that is the crux of this case. Immediately upon Fairbrother's departure, the Zinks began paying Dennis Zink as a contract employee and stopped making equity distributions to Michele Zink and, of course, Fairbrother. The purpose of this arrangement was for no other reason than to skirt a provision in the parties' Equity Participation Agreement, dated January 22, 1998, that entitled Fairbrother to "be paid the same amount" of all "available cash flow derived from profits...after leaving enough funding for the company to pay all of its timely obligations."
Determined not to pay a dime to Fairbrother yet simultaneously to maintain their prior income level, the Zinks instead started to pay Dennis as a "contract employee," in a disingenuous attempt to avoid the restrictions of the Equity Participation Agreement. To do this, the company began "hiring" Dennis under monthly service contracts at between $19,250 and $19,990.
The nearly identical dollar amounts Mr. Zink received under each contract can be explained by two things. First, the dollar amount of every contract—$19,250 to $19,990—falls just shy of the $20,000 amount above which any material contract entered into by the company must be unanimously approved by all three directors (i.e. the Zinks and Fairbrother) under the terms of the Equity Participation Agreement.
The fact that the service contracts were an equity substitute is convincingly shown by the amounts the Zinks received before and after Fairbrother's departure. For the time period between January 2004 and May 2007, before Fairbrother resigned, Michele Zink received annual distributions from the company of approximately $595,000 and an annual salary of approximately $120,000, while Dennis Zink received $65,000 per year in salary.
The Zink's scheme to maintain their income stream while freezing out Fairbrother caused substantial harm to the company. Mr. Zink's excessive post-2007 compensation placed a significant burden on the company's finances. In 2008, Mr. Zink received a total of $663,008 out of the company's gross receipts totaling $1,757,000, or approximately 34% of the company's earnings.
Given these facts, the primary issue in this adversary proceeding is whether the company—controlled by the Zinks—made the transfers to Mr. Zink with actual or constructive fraudulent intent. The debtor has moved for summary judgment on both fraudulent transfer theories, relying heavily on the Zinks' previous testimony before this Court on separate matters.
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, made applicable by Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7056, a court may grant summary judgment where "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law."
In determining entitlement to summary judgment, "facts must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party only if there is a `genuine' dispute as to those facts."
The Court agrees with the reorganized debtor that the pre-bankruptcy company's actual fraudulent intent is conclusively established as to the $1,030,241 transferred to Dennis Zink between June 6, 2007, and the petition date, February 24, 2009. A party moving for summary judgment under § 548(a)(1)(A) and comparable Florida Statutes has the burden to show that (1) the company "transferred an interest in property," and (2) the transfer was made "with actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud any entity to which the debtor was or became, on or after the date that such transfer was made or such obligation was incurred, indebted."
Three primary facts establish that the company, acting under the Zinks' control, acted with fraudulent intent in making the transfers to Dennis Zink. First, the Court finds the only purpose of the service contracts was to avoid paying any distributions or other compensation to Fairbrother, who is a creditor in this bankruptcy case
Second, the substantial amounts transferred to Dennis Zink at a time when the company's revenues were declining dramatically also indicate fraudulent intent. As noted above, the Examiner's Report stated "excess compensation by the officers of the company" "could challenge [the company's future financial] viability."
Third, the transfers were made to a company insider who also completely controlled the company. At the time of the transfers, Dennis Zink was the vice president and CEO of the company and Michele Zink was the president and majority shareholder. The Zinks had complete control over company financial decisions, limited only by the Equity Participation Agreement with Fairbrother, which they intentionally subverted. Dennis Zink signed the checks on behalf of the company to pay himself, and Michele Zink signed each and every faux "service contract."
The Zinks, significantly, have not rebutted the factual allegations in the reorganized debtor's summary judgment motion, arguing summary judgment is premature because they have not had the opportunity to conduct meaningful discovery. This adversary proceeding was filed on September 29, 2010. The Zinks filed their response in opposition to summary judgment on March 30, 2011. They have had ample time to conduct sufficient discovery to meet the minimal burden of proof required to rebut a motion for summary judgment, particularly when they were the very persons in charge of making the challenged distributions to Dennis Zink. Under Rule 56(c), the Zinks need merely to assert that a fact is genuinely disputed and to support the allegation with some particular materials in the record. They have not successfully done this, and summary judgment is accordingly appropriate in favor of the reorganized debtor.
In sum, the uncontested facts show the company, controlled entirely by the Zinks, made the transfers to Dennis Zink with the actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud the company's creditors—primarily Fairbrother. The Court grants summary judgment in favor of the reorganized debtor on Counts I and III as to the transfers from the company to Dennis Zink pursuant to the service contracts totaling $1,030,241.
The plaintiff, however, has failed to demonstrate that the continued salary paid to Michele Zink was inconsistent with the company's prior practices, outside the ordinary course of the company's business, or made with actual fraudulent intent. Because factual issues remain as to the transfers from the company to Mrs. Zink, the Court will deny summary judgment on Counts I and III as to any such transfers she received.
The Court also agrees with the reorganized debtor that, as to monies received by Dennis Zink, no genuine issues of material fact preclude summary judgment in favor of the reorganized debtor on the constructive fraudulent transfer claims raised under § 548(a)(1)(B) of the Bankruptcy Code (Count II). Section 548(a)(1)(B) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that a transfer is constructively fraudulent where: (1) the debtor "transferred an interest in property;" (2) the debtor received "less than a reasonably equivalent value" in exchange for such transfer; and (3)(i) was insolvent on the date that such transfer was made or such obligation was incurred, (ii) was engaged in business with an unreasonably small amount of capital, (iii) intended to incur debts beyond the debtors' ability to pay such debts, or (iv) made such transfer to or for the benefit of an insider of the debtors under an employment contract outside of the ordinary course of business.
Applying this test to these undisputed facts, the company transferred $1,030,241 to Dennis Zink in the 22-month prepetition period. Dennis Zink's own testimony establishes that the transfers were made for less than reasonably equivalent value. He previously has testified that the sole basis for the amounts he received under the service contracts was the Zinks` annualized historical earnings and equity distributions, not the value of the services he provided to the company. Before Fairbrother left the company, Dennis Zink received, at most, an annual salary of $65,000 that may have been paid directly to Michele Zink. After Fairbrother left the company, he received an average salary of $46,000 per month. Granted, Dennis Zink likely performed additional services with Fairbrother's departure; however, no evidence supports a conclusion that the additional services were worth the amount of the challenged transfers.
More to the point, significant evidence indicates the amounts Dennis Zink received bore absolutely no relation to the value of the services he provided the company. The overwhelming evidence thus establishes that Mr. Zink did not provide $1,030,241 in services to the company, and rather that the service contracts were merely a subterfuge to take equity out of the company. The alleged amount of "extra" work Dennis Zink performed for the company fails to raise a genuine issue as to whether Mr. Zink's services were reasonably equivalent in value to the extraordinary amount Mr. Zink received. They were not. Accordingly, the reorganized debtor did not receive reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the transfers to Mr. Zink.
The issue then is whether the plaintiff has shown that the company was insolvent, under-capitalized, or not paying debts timely when the challenged transfers were made to Dennis Zink. The Court would find that the plaintiff made no credible effort to establish this factually intensive prong of the constructive fraud test and, as a result, the Court cannot succeed on these points, at least by summary judgment.
The plaintiff, however, can successfully rely on a relatively new provision contained in the Bankruptcy Code at §548(a)(1)(B)(ii)(IV), but not yet in the Florida Statute §725.105(1)(b), to meet the third prong of the constructive fraud test. The new third prong allows a plaintiff to avoid a transfer as constructively fraudulent, irrespective of any insolvency analysis or actual fraudulent intent, if the transfer was "to or for the benefit of an insider...under an employment contract and not in the ordinary course of business."
In response, Dennis Zink argues he was operating as an "independent contractor," not as an employee, when he received the transfers. The defendants argue the facts support this position. The service contracts identify Dennis Zink as a "contractor." Mr. Zink was not on company payroll. The company reported Mr. Zink's compensation to the Internal Revenue Service as independent contractor payments.
The independent contractor label, however, is not conclusive as to whether he had an employment relationship with the company. Under Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals precedent, courts use a multi-factor test to determine whether a person is an employee or an independent contractor.
Despite the fact that the Zinks labeled Dennis Zink as an independent contractor, the Court finds the service agreements in reality were employment agreements for purposes of § 548(a)(1)(B)(ii)(IV). Dennis Zink was the vice president and CEO of the company. He was an insider, not a third party brought in to assist the company with sales after Fairbrother's departure. He was both the "employer" and the "employee" and cannot with any seriousness be considered an independent contractor. He signed the very checks from the company paying himself for his alleged "services," and likely determined how the company should report the transfers to the IRS. None of these actions evidence an independent contractor relationship, but instead are further indications of the level of control Dennis Zink had over his own compensation. In other words, these points underscore the argument that Mr. Zink had an employment relationship with the company.
Moreover, as explained above, these service contracts were a sham. Their only purpose was to avoid the Zinks' contractual duties to Fairbrother. Mr. Zink's duties with the company remained largely the same, yet his pay increased nearly tenfold. The contracts were clearly outside of the ordinary course of business.
The Zinks next argue plaintiff may not rely on subsection (IV) of § 548(a)(1)(B)(ii) because it did not raise this specific subsection in the complaint as a basis for relief. They cite two cases for the proposition that summary judgment is not appropriate on any matter that is not alleged in the subject complaint.
Although the original complaint may not have cited subsection (IV) specifically, the complaint alleged enough to allow the reorganized debtor to rely on subsection (IV) on summary judgment. The complaint alleges "[t]he conveyances [to Mr. Zink] were made to an insider of the Corporation and concealed from its creditors," and that Mr. Zink received the transfers as alleged "compensation/salary."
Further, the defendants' "surprise" reeks of insincerity given their insider knowledge and manipulation of the events alleged in the complaint. The defendants could not possibly have been surprised by the plaintiff's reliance on subsection (IV), and, moreover, the Zinks have had ample opportunity to rebut or contest the plaintiff's allegations and exhibits regarding subsection (IV). They simply have failed to do so persuasively. Accordingly, as to Count II, the constructive fraud count asserted under §548(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, the Court will grant summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff as to the $1,030,241 received by Dennis Zink, an insider, finding that the debtor transferred the monies to him for less than reasonably equivalent value pursuant to an employment contract made outside the ordinary course of business.
The Court, however, will deny the plaintiff's motion for summary as to Count IV, brought under §726.105(1)(b) of the Florida Statutes. Florida's constructive fraud statute mimics the Bankruptcy Code in most respects, but does not include any equivalent to §548(a)(1)(B)(ii)(IV). Given that the Court relies on this specific subsection in entering summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff and that the plaintiff has failed to establish the third prong under the comparable Florida law, i.e, that the debtor was insolvent, under-capitalized, or not paying its bills timely, the Court must deny summary judgment as to Count IV. Similarly, the Court will deny the plaintiff's motion as to any transfers made to Michele Zink, insofar as disputed material facts exist as to whether she provided "reasonably equivalent value" for the continued salary she received.
Turning to the Zinks' motion for summary judgment, they contest the plaintiff's ability to bring this lawsuit at all because there is no benefit to the bankruptcy estate. As to only Count V, asserting director liability claims under §607 of the Florida Statutes, the defendants again argue the plaintiff lacks standing and also that the plaintiff failed to retain the right to bring the claim under the Plan and the Confirmation Order.
As to the challenge to the plaintiff's overall standing, the defendants argue that, under the terms of the Plan, only Fairbrother will benefit and not the estate as required under § 550 of the Bankruptcy Code. Section 550 of the Bankruptcy Code authorizes recovery of avoided transfers only if the recovery is "for the benefit of the estate." Here, any recovery in this adversary proceeding would "benefit the estate."
The confirmed Plan describes Fairbrother's Class 8 claim as follows:
Under § 7.02 of the Plan, the reorganized debtor will fund required payments, at least in part, from the litigation proceeds in this adversary proceeding, among other sources. At least one class of creditors, the Class 4 claimant (the Orange County Tax Collector), is entitled to receive monthly payments through February 2014. Although the Court cannot determine if the reorganized debtor instead has "pre-paid" this creditor,
Moreover, even if Fairbrother is the only creditor to receive a plan payment from any recovery in this adversary proceeding, such potential recovery still provides a benefit to the estate for purposes of § 550. Creditors, including Fairbrother, voted in favor of this plan knowing her right to plan payments is entirely contingent upon the success of this adversary proceeding. In other words, no other creditor's claim was reduced by Fairbrother's claim because she agreed to accept a contingent payout. The estate and other creditors therefore benefit, even if indirectly, from this arrangement, and in turn from this adversary proceeding.
As to Count V, defendants again assert that the plaintiff lacks standing, arguing that the debtor did not retain the right to pursue the director liability claims in the Confirmation Order or in the Plan or Disclosure Statement. The Confirmation Order, however, gives the reorganized debtor the express authority "to pursue any Chapter 5 claim or cause of action."
The Zinks next argue that § 1125 of the Bankruptcy Code required the debtor to specifically disclose in the Plan or Disclosure Statement the possibility that it might pursue a director liability claim against the Zinks. This argument also fails for two reasons. First, the Bankruptcy Code does not require a proposed plan of reorganization to "specifically identify each and every claim or interest belonging to the debtor that may be subject to retention and enforcement."
The Zinks' argument wrongly assumes the Bankruptcy Code is concerned with providing notice to defendants of potential law suits, rather than providing adequate information to creditors. The purpose of the disclosure requirements in §§ 1123 and 1125 is to allow creditors to cast an informed vote for or against a plan of reorganization. As one court has stated, "[c]reditors have the right to know of any potential causes of action that might enlarge the estate—and that could be used to increase payment to the creditors."
In summary, the Court grants partial summary judgment in favor of the reorganized debtor on Counts I, II, and III as to the transfer made to Dennis Zink in the amount of $1,030,241. The plaintiff's motion for summary judgment
DONE AND ORDERED.