In re Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Decision Date29 December 2005
Docket NumberNo. 05-1881.,05-1881.
Citation432 F.3d 507
PartiesIn re ARMSTRONG WORLD INDUSTRIES, INC., Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Gregory S. Coleman (Argued), Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, Austin, TX, Stephen Karotkin, Debra A. Dandeneau, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, New York, NY, Mark D. Collins, Rebecca L. Booth, Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A., Wilmington, DE, for Appellant Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Mark E. Felger, Jeffrey R. Waxman, Cozen & O'Connor, Wilmington, DE, Stephen J. Shimshak (Argued), Andrew N. Rosenberg, Curtis J. Weidler, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, New York, NY, for Appellee Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Marla R. Eskin, Campbell & Levine, LLC, Wilmington, DE, Elihu Inselbuch, Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered, New York, NY, Peter Van N. Lockwood, Nathan D. Finch, Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered, Washington, D.C., for Appellee Official Committee of Asbestos Claimants of Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

James L. Patton, Jr., Sharon M. Zieg, Edwin J. Harron, Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, LLP, Wilmington, DE, Michael J. Crames, Andrew A. Kress, Kaye Scholer, LLP, New York, NY, for Appellee Dean M. Trafelet, Legal Representative for Future Asbestos Personal Injury Claimants of Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Before SLOVITER and FISHER, Circuit Judges, and THOMPSON,* District Judge.

OPINION OF THE COURT

ANNE E. THOMPSON,* District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Armstrong Worldwide Industries, Inc.'s ("AWI") appeal of the District Court's decision to deny confirmation of AWI's bankruptcy reorganization plan. In its decision, the District Court concluded that the plan could not be confirmed because the distribution of warrants to AWI's equity interest holders over the objection of the class of unsecured creditors violated the absolute priority rule, as codified in 11 U.S.C. § 1129(b)(2)(B). AWI filed a timely appeal, contending that (1) the issuance of warrants does not violate the absolute priority rule, and (2) an equitable exception to the absolute priority rule applies. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the District Court.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

AWI designs, manufactures, and sells flooring products, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, and ceiling systems. Due to asbestos litigation liabilities, AWI and two of its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on December 6, 2000. The United States Trustee for the District of Delaware appointed two committees to represent AWI's unsecured creditors: (1) the Official Committee of Asbestos Personal Injury Claimants ("APIC"), and (2) the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors ("UCC"). The Bankruptcy Court appointed Dean M. Trafelet as the Future Claimants' Representative ("FCR").

After holding negotiations with APIC, UCC, and FCR, AWI filed its Fourth Amended Plan of Reorganization (the "Plan") and Amended Disclosure Statement with the Bankruptcy Court in May 2003. Under the Plan, AWI's creditors were divided into eleven classes, and AWI's equity interest holders were placed into a twelfth class. Relevant to this appeal are Class 6, a class of unsecured creditors; Class 7, a class of present and future asbestos-related personal injury claimants; and Class 12, the class of equity interest holders who own AWI's common stock. (App. at 1146-47, 1151.) The only member of Class 12 is Armstrong Worldwide, Inc. ("AWWD"), the parent company of AWI, which is in turn wholly owned by Armstrong Holdings, Inc. ("Holdings"). Classes 6 and 7 hold equal priority, and have interests senior to those of Class 12. (App. at 0019.) All three are impaired classes because their claims or interests would be altered by the Plan. 11 U.S.C. § 1124.

The Plan provided that AWI would place approximately $1.8 billion of its assets into a trust for Class 7 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 524(g). (App. at 1147-49.) Class 7's members would be entitled to an initial payment percentage from the trust of 20% of their allowed claims. (App. at 1177.) Meanwhile, Class 6 would recover about 59.5% of its $1.651 billion in claims. (App. at 1146-47.) The Plan would also issue new warrants to purchase AWI's new common stock, estimated to be worth $35 to $40 million, to AWWD or Holdings (Class 12). If Class 6 rejected the Plan, then the Plan provided that Class 7 would receive the warrants. (App. at 1149.) However, the Plan also provided that Class 7 would automatically waive receipt of the warrants, which would then be issued to AWWD or Holdings (Class 12).

The Bankruptcy Court set September 22, 2003 as the deadline for voting on the Plan and for the parties to object to the Plan's confirmation. Because the Plan would distribute property to AWI's equity interest holders without fully paying off the unsecured creditors' claims, all impaired unsecured creditor classes were required to approve the Plan under 11 U.S.C. § 1129(a)(8). If any impaired class objected to the Plan, then the Plan could only be "crammed down" if it was "fair and equitable" to the objecting class. See 11 U.S.C. § 1129(b)(1).

UCC represented all of the classes of unsecured creditors, including Class 6, during the negotiations that led to the Plan. Although UCC initially approved of the Plan in May 2003, it later filed a conditional objection to the Plan's confirmation on September 22, 2003 based on (1) the greater potential distribution to creditors that would result if federal asbestos legislation was passed (namely, the FAIR Act), and (2) the possible applicability of the absolute priority rule, as codified in 11 U.S.C. § 1129(b), if the Plan was not accepted by all classes.

As indicated in its conditional objection, UCC's reservations about the Plan were prompted in part by the proposal of the FAIR Act, which was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2003.1 If passed, the FAIR Act would remove asbestos-related personal injury claims from the courts and absolve asbestos defendants of liability in return for mandatory contributions to a federally supervised trust. (App. at 0017-18.) AWI's contribution to the FAIR Act trust was estimated to range from $520 to $805 million, far less than the $1.8 billion it would put in trust for the Class 7 asbestos claimants under the Plan. Thus, if the FAIR Act passed, approximately $1 billion could be freed up for distribution among AWI's other creditors, including the class of unsecured creditors.

In response to UCC's concerns about the FAIR Act, the Bankruptcy Court extended the final deadline for voting to October 31, 2003. (App. at 0018.) To accept the Plan, class members holding at least fifty percent of the number of claims and two-thirds of the amount of the claims would need to vote for the Plan. See 11 U.S.C. § 1126(c). Although 88.03% of Class 6 claim holders voted for the Plan, only 23.21% of the amount of the claims voted to accept the Plan. (App. at 1456.) As a result, Class 6 rejected the Plan. Classes 7 and 12 accepted the Plan, but Class 12's acceptance was rescinded under the Plan due to Class 6's rejection. (App. at 0020.)

Following a hearing on November 17 and 18, 2003, the Bankruptcy Court recommended confirmation of the Plan to the District Court in its December 19, 2003 Proposed Findings and Conclusions. (App. at 1430.) The Bankruptcy Court found that the absolute priority rule, as codified in section 1129(b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code, was satisfied because the warrants were distributed to the holder of equity interests because of the waiver by Class 7, citing In re Genesis Health Ventures, Inc., 266 B.R. 591 (Bkrtcy. D.Del.2001), and In re SPM Mfg. Corp., 984 F.2d 1305 (1st Cir.1993). In addition, the Bankruptcy Court found that UCC had waived its right to object to the Plan when it "entered into a consensual plan encompassing" the Plan provisions. (App. at 1502-03.) Because the Plan included a channeling injunction under section 524(g) of the Bankruptcy Code, the District Court was required to affirm the Bankruptcy Court's Proposed Findings and Conclusions before the Plan could go into effect. (App. at 1468.)

UCC filed objections to the Bankruptcy Court's Proposed Findings and Conclusions with the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. The District Court held a hearing on the objections on December 15, 2004 and issued a memorandum and order on February 23, 2005 denying confirmation of the Plan. The District Court found that (1) the issuance of warrants to the equity interest holders violated the absolute priority rule, and (2) no equitable exception to the absolute priority rule applied. In re Armstrong World Indus., Inc., 320 B.R. 523 (D.Del.2005).

AWI now appeals the District Court's decision, and is joined by Appellees APIC and FCR, who jointly submitted a brief adopting and supporting AWI's arguments.

II. DISCUSSION
A. Jurisdiction

This Court has jurisdiction to hear appeals of "all final decisions of the district courts." 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (emphasis added); Conn. Nat'l Bank v. Germain, 503 U.S. 249, 253, 112 S.Ct. 1146, 117 L.Ed.2d 391 (1992). In bankruptcy cases, finality is construed more broadly than for other types of civil cases. In re Marvel Entm't Group, Inc., 140 F.3d 463, 470 (3d Cir.1998). Because bankruptcy proceedings are often protracted, and time and resources can be wasted if an appeal is delayed until after a final disposition, our policy has been to quickly resolve issues central to the progress of a bankruptcy. See In re Owens Corning, 419 F.3d 195, 203 (3d Cir.2005). We consider four factors to determine whether a district court's decision in a bankruptcy case is final: (1) the impact on the assets of the bankruptcy estate; (2) the need for further fact-finding on remand; (3) the preclusive effect of a decision on the merits; and (4) the interests of judicial economy. See id. (citing ...

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