HENRY J. BOROFF, Bankruptcy Judge.
Pending before this Court is a complaint (the "Complaint") filed by Tera Xtal Technology Corporation ("TXT") against GT Advanced Technologies Limited ("GTAT Ltd."), one of several debtors in these jointly administered Chapter 11 proceedings (the "Debtors"). In its Complaint, TXT asks this Court to rule that its claim against GTAT Ltd. arising from a monetary award issued in prepetition arbitration proceedings is not merely a general unsecured claim in this bankruptcy case. TXT instead would have the Court determine either that GTAT Ltd. holds a sum of money in trust for TXT's benefit, which should be immediately returned to TXT, or, in the alternative, that TXT has a lien on certain of the Debtors' assets. GTAT Ltd. has moved to dismiss the adversary proceeding on grounds that the arbitration bars the relief sought in the Complaint under principles of res judicata.
In early 2011, GTAT Ltd.
After receipt of the Delivered Furnaces, however, a dispute arose between the parties, based, inter alia, on TXT's assertion that the Delivered Furnaces failed to meet the performance criteria set forth in the Supply Agreements. The relationship between the parties soured and TXT eventually declined to purchase the Undelivered Furnaces. GTAT Ltd. believed that TXT had wrongfully terminated the contract and, in November 2012, commenced an arbitration proceeding against TXT through the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (the "Tribunal"; the "Arbitration"). In the Arbitration, GTAT Ltd. asserted that TXT had wrongfully breached the Supply Agreements and accordingly sought full payment of the contractual balance due, including payment for the Undelivered Furnaces. TXT counterclaimed, demanding a refund of the amounts paid for the underperforming Delivered Furnaces, a return of the Deposit made on the Undelivered Furnaces, and consequential damages.
In August 2014, the Tribunal issued a written decision in turn accepting and rejecting various of the parties' claims against each other (the "Decision"). Material to the dispute before this Court, the Tribunal ultimately concluded that: (1) TXT was entitled to a refund for 10 of the Delivered Furnaces because they failed to meet the contractual performance criteria; (2) TXT had accepted the remaining 20 Delivered Furnaces and was obligated to GTAT Ltd. for the contractual balance due on those units; (3) GTAT Ltd., and not TXT, had repudiated the contract and TXT therefore had no obligation to pay GTAT Ltd. for the Undelivered Furnaces; and (4) GTAT Ltd. was obligated to return the Deposit made on the Undelivered Furnaces. After accounting for the various offsets, the Tribunal ordered GTAT Ltd. to pay TXT a total of $20,967,450 plus interest (the "Final Award").
On August 30, 2014, the parties entered into a settlement agreement for payment of the award (the "Settlement Agreement"). The Settlement Agreement provided that GTAT Ltd. would satisfy the Final Award by, inter alia, paying TXT a total of $24,493,318 in two installments: $7,000,000 on September 2, 2014 and the remaining $17,493,318 on September 29. And in the event that GTAT Ltd. defaulted, the Settlement Agreement provided that TXT could enforce the Final Award by filing an action in the New York state courts to obtain a judgment by confession
GTAT Ltd. made the first payment due under the Settlement Agreement, but failed to timely pay the remaining amount due on the Final Award. And on October 6, 2014, GTAT Ltd. and several of its affiliates commenced voluntary Chapter 11 cases (now jointly administered) under the United States Bankruptcy Code.
In its five-count Complaint, TXT relies on a variety of legal theories to justify its claims that TXT is entitled to either a return of the Deposit or possession of (or a lien on the proceeds from) certain furnaces. In support of its primary contention that it is entitled to an immediate return of the Deposit, TXT argues that the Deposit is not property of the bankruptcy estate because the Deposit is held by GTAT Ltd. in either an express, resulting, or constructive trust for the benefit of TXT.
In its Motion to Dismiss, GTAT Ltd. responds in detail to each count of the Complaint, asserting that, on the legal merits, each count should be dismissed. At the fore of its many arguments, however, is GTAT Ltd.'s assertion that the Adversary Proceeding should be dismissed in its entirety because all of TXT's claims are barred by the res judicata effect of the Tribunal's Decision and Final Award. GTAT Ltd. argues that the claims asserted by TXT in this Adversary Proceeding all arise from the same underlying facts that gave rise to TXT's claims in the Arbitration. Applying New York law (which, GTAT Ltd. says, governs the present dispute), GTAT Ltd. would have the Court conclude that all the issues raised by TXT, including the appropriate form of relief, cannot be relitigated here. The only remedy contemplated by the Decision, GTAT Ltd. maintains, is an award of monetary damages; the Tribunal's ruling did not impose or create any trust or lien over the Deposit or specific furnaces. Further, GTAT Ltd. notes that the Settlement Agreement similarly contemplates only the payment of monetary damages and also does not impose or create any trust or lien over the Debtors' property, even in the event of GTAT Ltd.'s default. Accordingly, GTAT Ltd. says that TXT is bound by the Tribunal's Decision and is entitled only to payment of the Final Award, a claim which is now nothing more than a general unsecured claim in the Debtors' bankruptcy case.
TXT concedes that the Tribunal's Decision and the Final Award constitute a final judgment on the merits of the dispute between the parties, but argues that res judicata does not bar the relief it seeks from this Court. Under TXT's reading of relevant case law, only those issues actually decided by the Tribunal have res judicata effect on subsequent litigation between the parties. TXT posits, therefore, that this Court has jurisdiction and authority to determine whether GTAT Ltd. holds the Deposit in trust for TXT and/or whether TXT can assert a valid lien over the Debtors' furnaces. In addition, TXT maintains that GTAT Ltd.'s failure to return the Deposit, its default under the Settlement Agreement, and GTAT Ltd.'s eventual bankruptcy filing all constitute subsequent conduct that is not subject to the res judicata effect of the Final Award.
Dismissal is appropriate under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), made applicable to adversary proceedings by Fed. Rule of Bankr. P. 7012(b), if the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In evaluating the Complaint, this Court "must accept the complaint's allegations as true, indulging all reasonable inferences in favor of [TXT]."
New York law governs the issues sub judice. The Supply Agreements provided that the legal relations between the parties would be governed by New York law, the Tribunal applied New York law in the Arbitration proceedings (which were conducted in New York), and the Settlement Agreement also provided that New York law would govern its interpretation and enforcement. As this Court has previously noted, "[c]ontractual stipulations concerning choice of law clauses ordinarily are honored;" "[b]ankruptcy courts have . . . upheld choice of law provisions so long as the law was reasonably chosen by the parties" and the application of the chosen law does not seriously conflict with public policy.
Under New York law, arbitration awards, even those not judicially confirmed, have the same preclusive effect on subsequent litigation as do final court judgments.
In determining which issues "were or could have been litigated," the New York Court of Appeals has stated that:
Here, each count of the Complaint is based on the same facts that were presented to the Tribunal in the Arbitration. TXT attempts to take the claims outside the relevant underlying series of transactions by bolstering its arguments with reference to statements made by the Tribunal in the Decision in support of the Final Award. But all the counts of the Complaint ultimately require reference to and reliance upon the same facts that formed the basis for the claims submitted by TXT to the Tribunal — i.e., the parties' execution of the Supply Agreements, the payment of the Deposit, the ultimate failure of the Delivered Furnaces to adequately perform, and GTAT Ltd.'s failure to refund any amounts paid to TXT despite GTAT Ltd.'s breach of contract. And based on those facts, the Tribunal issued the Final Award, requiring GTAT Ltd. to pay TXT over $24 million in damages. Nowhere in the Decision does the Tribunal indicate that other forms of relief were granted to TXT; the Tribunal does not declare that the Deposit is held in a trust of any sort, nor does it suggest that, in lieu of GTAT Ltd. paying money damages, TXT could assert a lien over furnaces owned by GTAT Ltd. or any of the affiliated Debtors.
While TXT has argued that the relief requested in the Complaint can be granted based on "subsequent events" that are not subject to preclusion,
It is unclear whether TXT requested alternative forms of recovery during the Arbitration, but the answer is immaterial. Regardless of whether TXT requested any remedies apart from a monetary award and was denied those remedies by the Tribunal or whether TXT failed to request alternative remedies at all, the point is that the alternative forms of relief now sought from this Court could have been raised during the Arbitration. Because all of TXT's claims raised in this Adversary Proceeding "`aris[e] out of the same factual grouping' as those . . . advanced in the [Arbitration], and [the] present suit merely asserts `different legal theories' to obtain `additional relief' from the very same defendant," they are barred under the doctrine of res judicata.
For all the foregoing reasons, this Court finds and rules that each count of the Complaint is precluded by the res judicata effect of the Tribunal's Decision and Final Award. Accordingly, the Motion to Dismiss will be GRANTED. An order in conformity with this Memorandum shall issue forthwith.