BILL PARKER, Bankruptcy Judge.
On this date the Court considered the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by the Defendant, Athol W. Packer ("Defendant"), in the above-referenced adversary proceeding (the "Motion"), the amended response in opposition filed thereto by the Plaintiff, Judgment Factors, L.L.C. (hereafter the "Response"), and the Defendant's reply thereto (hereafter the "Reply"). The complaint filed by the Plaintiff objects to the entry of any discharge order in favor of the Defendant pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(2)(A), § 727(a)(3), § 727(a)(4)(A) and § 727(a)(5). This Motion for Summary Judgment by the Defendant contests all of those § 727 claims. Upon due consideration of the pleadings, the proper summary judgment evidence submitted by the parties, and the relevant legal authorities, the Court concludes that the Defendant has met his burden to demonstrate that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact as to the Plaintiff's § 727 claims, that judgment should be granted as a matter of law to the Defendant on each of the § 727 claims as asserted in the Plaintiff's Complaint, and that a discharge order should be therefore entered in favor of the Defendant in case no. 13-41304. This disposes of all issues currently before the Court.
The Defendant, Athol W. Packer, has been involved in the building of custom homes in the Dallas area for a number of years. In the mid-2000s, the Defendant formed Parthenon Development Partners, LLC with two partners, Dr. Henry Allen and Dr. David Allen (the "Partners") to develop a residential development in Prosper, TX. The LLC and/or the individuals borrowed approximately $4,000,000.00 from Washington Federal Savings & Loan Association (the "Bank") to finance the project. The Defendant and the Partners guaranteed the Bank note. After the development proved unsuccessful, the Bank later foreclosed upon the real property, filed suit against the Defendant and the Partners, and subsequently obtained a deficiency judgment of approximately $5.9 million. In November 2009, Jane Carol Puckett and Fariba "Faye" Payervand, the wives of the Partners, created the Plaintiff, Judgment Factors, L.L.C., and, under its auspices, acquired the judgment against the Defendant and the Partners from the Bank.
After significant efforts by Judgment Factors to collect the judgment solely against him, the Defendant Packer filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code in this Court on May 22, 2013, the Hon. Brenda T. Rhoades, presiding. Ms. Linda Payne was appointed as the Chapter 7 Trustee. Case administration in the main Chapter 7 case is continuing. The Trustee has filed no adversary proceeding to date.
However, on August 13, 2013, Judgment Factors timely filed this adversary proceeding in an attempt to prevent the entry of a Chapter 7 discharge order for the benefit of the Defendant-Debtor. After completion of the discovery period, the Defendant filed the present Motion on August 8, 2014, asserting that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that, under such uncontested facts, he is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law which denies all of the Plaintiff's claims for relief under 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(2)(A), § 727(a)(3), § 727(a)(4)(A) and § 727(a)(5), respectively.
Before reaching the merits of the summary judgment motion, and the evidence tendered in regard thereto, the Court must first address the propriety of Count V of the Plaintiff's Complaint under which the Plaintiff seeks a declaration to erase the legal distinctions between the ownership of assets by the Defendant as an individual and the ownership of assets by various companies
However, any evidence presented to support the alleged failure of the Defendant to observe corporate formalities or otherwise to maintain an identity separate from any of the companies, as a prelude to maintaining Count V, must be disregarded and Count V must be dismissed sua sponte since the Plaintiff has no standing to prosecute any such claims.
The Defendant brings his Motion for Summary Judgment in this adversary proceeding pursuant to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7056. That rule incorporates Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, which provides that summary judgment shall be rendered "if the movant shows that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." FED. R.CIV.P. 56(a).
The party seeking summary judgment always bears the initial responsibility of informing the court of the basis for its
FED.R.CIV.P. 56(c).
The manner in which the necessary summary judgment showing can be made depends upon which party will bear the burden of persuasion at trial. If, as in this instance, the burden of persuasion rests on the non-moving party, the party moving for summary judgment may satisfy Rule 56's burden of production in either of two ways. First, the moving party may submit affirmative evidence that negates an essential element of the non-moving party's claim. Secondly, the moving party may demonstrate to the Court that the non-moving party's evidence is insufficient to establish an essential element of the nonmoving party's claim. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322-323, 106 S.Ct. 2548 (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)) (internal citations omitted); Stults v. Conoco, Inc., 76 F.3d 651, 655 (5th Cir.1996).
If the motion is supported by a prima facie showing that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, a party opposing the motion may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials in its pleadings, but rather must demonstrate in specific responsive pleadings the existence of specific facts constituting a genuine issue of material fact for which a trial is necessary. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 256-57, 106 S.Ct. 2505; Bayle v. Allstate Ins. Co., 615 F.3d 350, 355 (5th Cir.2010). "A fact is material only if its resolution would affect the outcome of the action...." Wiley v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 585 F.3d 206, 210 (5th Cir.2009); accord Poole v. City of Shreveport, 691 F.3d 624, 627 (5th Cir.2012). Accordingly, a genuine issue of material fact is presented and a trial is required only if the non-movant with the ultimate burden of proof is able to produce summary judgment evidence sufficient to sustain a finding in its favor on that issue. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 256-57, 106 S.Ct. 2505 [requiring "evidence from which a jury might return a verdict in its favor"]; see also Apache Corp. v. W & T Offshore, Inc., 626 F.3d 789, 793 (5th Cir.2010); Terry v. BP Amoco Chem. Co., 2014 WL 2916414, at *6 (5th Cir. June 27, 2014). "Unsubstantiated assertions, improbable inferences, and unsupported speculation are not sufficient to defeat a motion for summary judgment." Brown v. City of Houston, 337 F.3d 539, 541 (5th Cir.2003). "If the evidence is merely colorable or is not significantly probative, summary judgment may be granted." Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (citations omitted).
The summary judgment record is viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986), "but only where there is an actual controversy, that is, when both parties have submitted evidence of contradictory facts." Boudreaux v. Swift Transp. Co., 402 F.3d 536, 540 (5th Cir.2005) (emphasis added). The Court will not weigh the evidence nor evaluate its credibility; however,
Subject to certain evidentiary rulings of the Court regarding the submitted summary judgment evidence issued by separate order, the Defendant has established a prima facie case for summary judgment that requires a response by the Plaintiff. Though he has submitted affirmative evidence, through his sworn declaration, certain deposition excerpts, and discovery responses, that negates certain elements of the Plaintiff's claims, the Defendant has successfully utilized his motion and his tendered summary judgment evidence to establish a prima facie case that the Plaintiff's evidence on each count under § 727(a) is insufficient to establish an essential element of its claims.
The complaint filed by the Plaintiff seeks the denial of the Defendant-Debtor's discharge under various subsections of § 727(a). The Defendant's Motion seeks summary judgment on all of those counts based upon the asserted failure of the Plaintiff, as the party bearing the ultimate burden of proof, to tender probative summary judgment evidence sufficient to sustain a finding in its favor on each essential element under each subsection of § 727(a) pled by the Plaintiff. The Court has carefully examined (a) the arguments of the Plaintiff, and (b) the source and nature of the summary judgment evidence tendered in support thereof, in order to determine whether a genuine issue of material fact exists for which a trial is necessary. The Court concludes that there is not.
Even the Plaintiff concedes that its contentions under § 727(a) are essentially based upon the validity of its alter ego/veilpiercing claims, and particularly upon one uncontested fact: the Debtor-Defendant's continued use of the bank account of his single-member LLC, P Custom Homes, LLC ("PCH"), from which he has admittedly paid for personal expenses.
However just the Plaintiff's ultimate goal might seem, equitable principles cannot be legitimately used to sidestep the clear requirements of the Bankruptcy Code and to ignore the protections of state law in order to establish an artificial evidentiary foundation upon which to deny the Defendant's discharge. It must first be acknowledged that, in light of the Plaintiff's lack of standing to bring its reverse veil-piercing claims under Count V, and the fact that the organizational integrity of those various entities, including PCH, will not be compromised as a result of this adversary proceeding, any summary judgment evidence submitted by the Plaintiff to establish that the assets of any independent company should be treated as the assets of this bankruptcy estate, or in support of the proposition that the Defendant can somehow be sanctioned for his failure to schedule those corporate assets as his own, must be disregarded. There was simply no legal basis upon which the Defendant was required to list the bank accounts, existing contracts, or to account for other assets of those corporate organizational entities in his personal bankruptcy schedules.
In regard to the Defendant's involvement with those entities, there is equally no issue for trial. The summary judgment record indisputably establishes that the Defendant has not concealed material information regarding the means by which he has been conducting his financial affairs within the requisite time period. He disclosed the existence of his
As for the propriety of the Defendant's net valuation of those membership interests in his schedules, his claim that the membership interests actually have no value to the estate cannot be legitimately described as meritless. It may not even be debatable. It certainly is not fraudulent, notwithstanding any ongoing business operations of PCH that involves the receipt of construction funds with the corresponding obligation to disseminate the vast majority of those funds to expectant subcontractors. The Court must further note that there is no competent summary judgment evidence presented that indicates the Defendant was anything less than cooperative with the Trustee or the bankruptcy process in general. Further, there is no competent summary judgment evidence that contradicts the entity valuations proffered by the Defendant. There is certainly no summary judgment evidence that the Trustee thought those values were erroneous, much less fraudulent. Indeed, in approving a sale of one of the related entities back to the Defendant for $17,000, Judge Rhoades made an express finding that such entity had "negative equity" and "negligible, if any, value."
The summary judgment record establishes that the Trustee had ample opportunity to examine the Defendant regarding those entities and to take appropriate action against those entities for the benefit of the bankruptcy estate if the Trustee thought that the Defendant was improperly utilizing the related organizations for fraudulent or dishonest purposes. No such action was taken and, again, no summary judgment evidence has been presented which indicates that the Trustee was dissatisfied with the level of disclosure and cooperation from the Defendant in this case. That is the key to this summary judgment motion. There was disclosure by the Defendant in this case—providing the bankruptcy estate with an opportunity to take informed actions. The schedules contained proper disclosures of the Defendant's personal assets and he provided additional information as requested. While a discharge may be properly denied for con-cealment when a debtor places assets beyond the legitimate reach of creditors or withholds vital information to which creditors are entitled, that did not occur in this case. Instead there was disclosure and the opportunity for the bankruptcy estate to take appropriate action as advisable. That is the quid pro quo for a bankruptcy discharge. The fact that the Trustee evaluated the information and elected to forego any action to bring the assets of any of the affiliated entities into the bankruptcy estate does not change that evaluation.
Thus, for the purposes of § 727(a), the legal integrity of each affiliated entity remains intact, the Plaintiff's contention that all assets owned by these companies constitute assets of this bankruptcy estate must be legally rejected, and the Defendant cannot be properly subjected to the denial of his discharge for any failure to schedule all of those assets as his personal assets. The Court therefore concludes that the Plaintiff has failed, with regard to three of the § 727(a) subsections upon which its claims rest solely upon its veilpiercing allegations, to present summary judgment evidence necessary to sustain a finding in its favor as to each of the following elements:
Accordingly, summary judgment must be rendered for the Defendant on the Plaintiff's claims under those three subsections.
§ 727(a)(4)(A): False Oaths.
With regard to the Plaintiff's failure to present summary judgment evidence necessary to sustain a finding in its favor regarding the existence of a false oath under § 727(a)(4)(A), more explanation is necessary since the Plaintiff offers summary judgment evidence regarding scheduling errors that are unrelated to its unauthorized veil-piercing allegations. As this Court has recently observed:
First United Bank & Trust Co. v. Buescher (In re Buescher), 491 B.R. 419, 432 (Bankr.E.D.Tex.2013). In the present context, the Plaintiff must present sufficient summary judgment evidence to create a fact issue with regard to the following elements: (1) the debtor made a statement under oath; (2) the statement was false; (3) the debtor knew the statement was false; (4) the debtor made the statement with fraudulent intent
However, the Plaintiff offers the existence of two errors contained in the Defendant's schedules and statements which it contends should result in the denial of the Defendant's discharge under § 727(a)(4)(A). The first error arises from Item19 on Defendant's Statement of Financial Affairs wherein the Defendant answered that he had no bookkeeper or accountant within two years. This was
Secondly, the Plaintiff notes that the omission of any insurance policy. Though the Plaintiff did not provide any proof that any such insurance policy exists, it did note that the Defendant listed a monthly expenditure for life insurance in his Schedule J. Even if one presumes the existence of any such policy, nothing is known about its type or value, or whether the policy is actually owned by the Defendant or one of the affiliated entities.
With regard to each omission, there is arguably summary judgment evidence supporting the Plaintiff's case regarding three of the five elements required by § 727(a)(4)(A).
Whether a false statement was made with a fraudulent intent requires the demonstration of an actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud creditors—a constructive intent is insufficient. FNFS, Ltd. v. Harwood (In re Harwood), 404 B.R. 366, 384 (Bankr.E.D.Tex.2009). However, in most circumstances only the debtor can testify directly concerning his or her intent and "rare will be the debtor who willingly provides direct evidence of a fraudulent intent." Neary v. Darby (In re Darby), 376 B.R. 534, 541 (Bankr.E.D.Tex. 2007). Instead, the existence of a fraudulent intent is most often betrayed by an examination of a course of conduct. First Tex. Savings Assoc. v. Reed (In re Reed), 700 F.2d 986, 991 (5th Cir.1983). Thus, "[f]raudulent intent may be proved by showing either actual intent to deceive or a reckless indifference for the truth." Neary v. Hughes (In re Hughes), 353 B.R. 486, 504 (Bankr.N.D.Tex.2006); see also, Sholdra v. Chilmark Fin., LLP (In re Sholdra), 249 F.3d 380, 382-83 (5th Cir. 2001). There is no summary judgment evidence to support a contention that either of these omissions occurred with an actual intent to deceive by the Defendant or that they reveal a degree of carelessness that constitutes a reckless indifference to the truth.
A false statement or omission is material "if it bears a relationship to the debtor's business transactions, or if it concerns the discovery of assets, business dealings, or the existence or disposition of the debtor's property." Andra Group, L.P. v. Gamble-Ledbetter (In re Gamble-Ledbetter), 419 B.R. 682, 692 (Bankr. E.D.Tex.2009) (citing Cadle Co. v. Duncan, 562 F.3d at 695). In this context,
The Bankruptcy Code requires that a debtor be granted a discharge unless one of the statutory grounds for denial of that discharge is proven. 11 U.S.C. § 727(a). The denial of a debtor's discharge is considered an extreme remedy. Pher Partners v. Womble (In re Womble), 289 B.R. 836, 845 (Bankr.N.D.Tex.2003) (citing Rosen v. Bezner, 996 F.2d 1527, 1531 (3d Cir.1993)). "Courts should deny discharge only for very specific and serious infractions." Martin Marietta Matl's Southwest, Inc. v. Lee (In re Lee), 309 B.R. 468, 476 (Bankr.W.D.Tex.2004) (citing Ichinose v. Homer Nat'l Bank (In re Ichinose), 946 F.2d 1169, 1172 (5th Cir.1991)). It is to be imposed only upon those debtors who have not been honest and forthcoming about their affairs and therefore have not fulfilled the duties of full disclosure required of a bankruptcy debtor. Buckeye Retirement Properties v. Tauber (In re Tauber), 349 B.R. 540, 545 (Bankr. N.D.Ind.2006) ["The denial of a debtor's discharge is akin to financial capital punishment. It is reserved for the most egregious misconduct by a debtor."]. Speculation and surmise about such activities are insufficient. Probative evidence must be presented. In accordance with the statutory policy, the provisions of § 727(a) are construed strictly against parties seeking to deny the granting of a debtor's discharge. Laughlin v. Nouveau Body & Tan, L.L.C. (In re Laughlin), 602 F.3d 417, 421 (5th Cir.2010); Melancon v. Jones (In re Jones), 292 B.R. 555, 559 (Bankr. E.D.Tex.2003). In the face of a debtor's summary judgment challenge to a § 727(a) complaint, a plaintiff is thus compelled to demonstrate the existence of admissible evidence upon which a factfinder could base an affirmative finding for that plaintiff regarding each and every element required under any § 727(a) subsection. In this instance, the Plaintiff has failed to fulfill that responsibility. In the absence of such evidence, summary judgment for the debtor is mandated.
For the reasons set forth in this memorandum, the Court concludes that the motion for summary judgment filed by the Defendant, Athol W. Packer, in the above-referenced adversary proceeding should be granted and that such Defendant is entitled to a summary judgment that all relief sought by the complaint filed by the Plaintiff, Judgment Factors, L.L.C., pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 727(a)(2)(A), (a)(3), (a)(4)(A), and (a)(5), respectively, must be denied. An appropriate order and judgment will be entered which is consistent with this opinion.
Similarly, as a relatively new creature under state law, an LLC is purposefully designed to provide the limited personal liability afforded under corporate law while providing the pass-through taxation benefits of a partnership. McNamee v. Dept. of the Treasury, 488 F.3d 100, 107 (2d Cir.2007). Therefore, the singular fact that the owner of a single-member LLC may elect through the IRS' check-the-box regulations for the LLC to be disregarded as a separate taxable entity for the purposes of federal income taxation, see 26 C.F.R. 301.7701-1 (2011), should have no bearing on the veil-piercing analysis.
See Pavy v. Chastant (In re Chastant), 873 F.2d 89, 90 (5th Cir.1989).
"Individuals who desire the privilege of a discharge are required to provide their creditors with enough information to ascertain the debtor's financial condition and track his financial dealings with substantial accuracy for a reasonable period past to present. Section 727(a)(3) is intended to allow creditors and/or the trustee to examine the debtor's financial condition and determine what has passed through a debtor's hands." Neary v. Guillet (In re Guillet), 398 B.R. 869, 888 (Bankr. E.D.Tex.2008) (citations and internal quotations omitted). However, the Plaintiff has an initial burden to demonstrate that financial records were not preserved. Martin Marietta Matl's Southwest, Inc. v. Lee (In re Lee), 309 B.R. 468, 477 (Bankr.W.D.Tex.2004) (citing Robertson v. Dennis (In re Dennis), 330 F.3d 696, 703 (5th Cir.2003)).
Section 727(a)(5) mandates that the plaintiff identify which assets have been lost. Lowry v. Croft (In re Croft), 500 B.R. 823, 859-60 (Bankr.W.D.Tex.2013).