In re Corona Care Convalescent Corp.
MEMORANDUM DECISION ON: (1) MOTION OF UNITED STATES TRUSTEE UNDER
Pending before the court in the jointly administered cases of bankruptcy debtors Corona Care Convalescent Corporation and Corona Care Retirement, Inc. are: (1) the Motion of the United States Trustee under
The parties had reached a settlement between the debtors, their insiders, Felici-dad and Renato Ferrer, the creditors’ committee, and creditor HCF Insurance Agency, which was memorialized in a stipulation and order in the jointly administered cases formally entered in the lead bankruptcy case of Pasadena Adult Residential Care, Inc., which resulted in the dismissal of the four Pasadena facility bankruptcy cases and the continuation of the two Corona facility cases. However, the parties are unable to consummate the settlement, as the remaining debtors, Corona Care Convalescent Corporation and Corona Care Retirement, Inc., have defaulted on settlement provisions requiring them to file and obtain confirmation of reorganization plans by certain dates. Al
In light of these subsequent developments, there have been some changes in the litigation positions of the parties. In the UST Motion, the United States Trustee originally recommended dismissal of the bankruptcy cases, but now recommends appointment of a Chapter 11 trustee. The Creditors’ Committee has not changed its position in support of its motion that a trustee should be appointed and concurs with the United States Trustee’s current position recommending this. Debtors originally filed an opposition to the UST Motion, but now take the position that the motion to dismiss the cases should be granted. Debtors’ Response to the United States Trustee’s Motion Under
Other interested parties have also expressed their positions on the motions. Corona-Cal Associates, LP, the landlord of the premises on which debtors conduct their business operations, filed a declaration of its representative stating that the landlord supports appointment of a trustee and will not execute further extensions for the debtors to assume or reject debtors’ leases unless there is a Chapter 11 trustee in place. ECF 157. Joseph Rodrigues, the Patient Care Ombudsman appointed in these cases, filed a declaration stating that he supports the appointment of a trustee. ECF 158.
At the conclusion of the hearing on the motions on March 5, 2015, the court set a further hearing for March 6, 2015 at 3:30 p.m. to announce a ruling on the motions. The court now takes the motions under submission, issues this memorandum decision as its ruling and vacates the further hearing as unnecessary in light of this written ruling. For the reasons stated herein, the court grants the UST Motion under
The UST Motion is based on
Here, the court finds that the United States Trustee has demonstrated cause under
The United States Trustee further argues that this evidence as well as other evidence shows that debtors are unable to reorganize internally, and thus, the absence of a reasonable likelihood of rehabilitation. The United States Trustee points to the Declaration of Gary Kading, president of K & Y Corona, Inc., the General Partner of Corona-Cal Associates LP (“Landlord”) describing the lack of confidence the landlord has in debtors’ current management, stating “By early 2015,1 had begun to seriously doubt Ms. Ferrer’s abil
The United States Trustee also points out the proof of claim the IRS filed in the Corona Care Convalescent Corporation case for prepetition taxes totaling $2.7 million, including $1.9 million in priority unsecured taxes. See Claim 1-4. Providing for payment of this claim is necessary for any reorganization under Chapter 11.
Based on the foregoing evidence, the court finds that the United States Trustee has shown by a preponderance of the evidence the absence of a reasonable likelihood of rehabilitation of debtors in these cases.
As previously noted, the United States Trustee, the Creditors’ Committee and other parties urge the court to grant the motions and appoint a Chapter 11 trustee for these cases under
1. for cause, including fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, or gross mismanagement of the affairs of the debtor by current management, either before or after the commencement of the case, or similar cause ...; or
2. if such appointment is in the interests of creditors, any equity security holders, and other interests of the estate....
The parties seeking appointment of a Chapter 11 trustee under
As discussed herein, the court determines that it is in the best interest of creditors to appoint a Chapter 11 trustee in these cases under the circumstances as requested by the United States Trustee and the Creditors’ Committee under
The court notes that there is a slight difference in the statutory language between
In determining which option is in the best interest of creditors, the court evaluates the prospects for collection and payment of the claims of creditors. As argued by the Creditors’ Committee and the United States Trustee, a sale of the debtors’ businesses offers some prospect of pay
The settlement has been partially executed in that the cases of the Pasadena entities have been dismissed, some claim payments under the settlement have been made, and the debtors in the Corona entities have had time to devise, propose and confirm reorganization plans. It is now evident that debtors are in default under the agreement because they have not and cannot propose reorganization plans based on the deadlines agreed to in the settlement. Rather than complying with the default provisions of the settlement, debtors and their insiders want to avoid the consequences of their default and repudiate their settlement by supporting dismissal of the cases through the motion of the United States Trustee to convert, dismiss or appoint trustee. It is evident that they are no longer willing to abide by the settlement, and are now arguing that it was a “corrupt deal,” even though they voluntarily and willingly negotiated and signed the settlement with the advice and assistance of counsel, the settlement was reviewed by the court and the order approving the settlement is now final and nonappealable. However, debtors and their insiders, the Ferrers, offer no meaningful alternative to the settlement to pay creditors. They say that they will restructure and pay creditors by continuing to operate the businesses and by locating new financing or investors to provide the funds to pay creditors and also argue that creditors have nonbankruptcy remedies to collect on their
While there may be some merit to debtors’ argument, the United States Trustee and the Creditors’ Committee make the better argument based on the record before the court. Debtors and their insiders, in seeking dismissal, essentially propose more of the same. Based on the evidence before the court, this has not, and will not work. As shown by the evidence before the court, these debtors are continuing to rack up losses postpetition, and their post-petition efforts to obtain new financing or investors have not succeeded. ECF 154 at 88, 92, 225, 229. The creditors, as represented by the Creditors’ Committee and HCF, negotiated in good faith a deal with debtors and their insiders to give them some time to obtain new financing and investors to propose and confirm reorganization plans, and debtors and their insiders were unable to do this as agreed. While the parties did not agree to the appointment of a trustee as part of their settlement, they did agree to commit to an asset sales process by agreeing to the employment of a broker to sell the assets of the estates. Dismissing the cases now without enforcing the settlement or providing for meaningful payment of creditor claims is not in the best interests of creditors because this would undermine the settled expectations of interested parties, including creditors and vendors, such as debtors’ landlord, which has granted extensions of debtors’ right to assume or reject the lease under
In terms of patient safety, the court is persuaded that, at the very least, appointment of a Chapter 11 trustee will not harm the patients. The court takes note of the declaration of Patient Care Ombudsman Joseph Rodrigues, which stated the Ombudsman’s support of the appointment of a Chapter 11 trustee. ECF 158. Although the Ombudsman’s declaration did not explain or give much reason for his support, the court determines that, in the discharge of the duties of his office, the Ombudsman would not support the appointment of a trustee if doing so would endanger patient safety. The court discounts the self-serving declarations of AJ Rana and Felicidad Ferrer (ECF 163), as insiders and equity holders of the debtors, and determines that a Chapter 11 trustee chosen by the United States Trustee should be reasonably able to manage the facilities without the services of the Ferrers and vendors of therapist services such as represented by AJ Rana for the brief and limited period of time necessary to conduct and complete an asset sale process.
The Creditors’ Committee also argued that it is not in the best interests of creditors to dismiss the cases because this would restore the parties to the prepetition “race to the courthouse” to collect on claims and seeks appointment of a Chapter 11 trustee for an orderly liquidation of assets and payment of claims. The court agrees that the evidence supports this argument because debtors were given the opportunity in the bankruptcy process through the automatic stay to see what they could do to restructure and reorganize before creditors took action outside of bankruptcy. Debtors, their insiders, and their creditors reached a bargain in the settlement to allow this to happen, but unfortunately debtors were not able to succeed. Now that they have failed in their restructuring efforts in the bankruptcy cases, it would be in the best interest of creditors to go forward with an asset sale process based on the settlement of the parties rather than returning the creditors to the prepetition status quo where they have to fend for themselves after being delayed for over 19 months in these bankruptcy cases,
The Creditors’ Committee also pointed out that appointment of a Chapter 11 Trustee may make available to creditors other sources of potential recovery of value for creditors if the bankruptcy cases continue. Specifically, Committee pointed to the existence of a potential malpractice claim against debtors’ previous attorneys in a state court action brought by creditor HCF Insurance Agency (“HCF”) in which HCF was awarded almost $4 million, jointly and severally, against debtors based on an original claim which was much less. See Claim 5-2. This potential malpractice claim was listed as an asset on debtors’ bankruptcy schedules, but never pursued. ECF 154 at 10, Schedule B. A Chapter 11 trustee may attempt to enforce this potential claim where debtors’ current manage
For the foregoing reasons, the court finds that the United States Trustee has met his burden of proving cause by a preponderance of the evidence to grant his motion to convert, dismiss or appoint a trustee under
Final orders granting the UST Motion and appointing a Chapter 11 trustee in these cases will be separately entered.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Notes
. Because these cases were jointly administered, there is the possibility of some confusion over reference to docket entries. Any reference to a docket entry in this decision refers to case number 2:13-bk~28497-RK, as the lead case in the remaining bankruptcy cases, unless otherwise noted.
. A dispute over ownership of 49% equity interests in debtors exists between Vision West, LLC, and its principals, Bobby Singh and AJ Rana, on one hand, and the Thekkeks on the other. The court does not resolve this particular dispute with respect to the pending motions, and need not resolve such dispute at this time.
. The United States Trustee also argues that his motion under
. Assuming arguendo that the court would rule on the Committee Motion, the court would likely determine that the factors to appoint a trustee would be much the same under