Blackhawk Network, Inc. v. Alco Stores, Inc. (In re Alco Stores, Inc.)

• Decision Date: 24 July 2015
• Docket Number: CASE NO. 14–34941–SGJ–11,ADVERSARY NO. 15–03005
• Parties: In re: Alco Stores, Inc., Debtor. Blackhawk Network, Inc., and Blackhawk Network California, Inc., Plaintiffs, v. Alco Stores, Inc., Defendant.
• Court: United States Bankruptcy Courts. Fifth Circuit. U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Northern District of Texas

536 B.R. 383

In re: Alco Stores, Inc., Debtor.

Blackhawk Network, Inc., and Blackhawk Network California, Inc., Plaintiffs

v.Alco Stores, Inc., Defendant.

CASE NO. 14–34941–SGJ–11

ADVERSARY NO. 15–03005

United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Texas, Dallas Division.

Signed July 24, 2015

Beauchamp M. Patterson, Louis J. Price, McAfee & Taft, PC, Oklahoma City, OK, for Plaintiffs.

Vincent P. Slusher, DLA Piper LLP U.S., Dallas, TX, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEBTOR–DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT [DE # 6]

Stacey G.C. Jernigan, United States Bankruptcy Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

“Just as medieval alchemists bent all their energies to discovering a formula that would transmute dross into gold, so too do modern creditors' lawyers spend prodigious amounts of time and effort seeking to convert their clients' general, unsecured claims against a bankruptcy debtor into something more substantial.”¹

The above words, penned by Judge Carolyn King more than twenty years ago, seem fitting today in the above-referenced adversary proceeding (the “Adversary Proceeding”).

The subject of this Adversary Proceeding is stored value cards (“SVCs”) that can be purchased by consumers at retail establishments. In other words, either (a) debit cards issued by financial institutions, or (b) gift cards issued by third-party retailers, which consumers select off a display rack at a retail establishment (a “Retail Store”), request the store cashier to load with a specific monetary amount (with the customer paying such amount to the cashier), and then later redeem (i.e., use the value stored thereon) at a retail establishment that participates in the particular card redemption program (a “Participating Vendor”). The relevant parties in this dispute are: (1) a Retail Store (which filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case and happened to be indebted to a secured bank lender with a perfected, valid lien on all of the Retail Store's assets), and (2) a distributor of the SVCs (which distributor served in a sort of “middleman” role between the Retail Store and Participating Vendors). To be clear, the gift cards at issue in this Adversary Proceeding were not for usage at the Debtor's Retail Stores; the Debtor was merely a seller of these SVCs at its various Retail Store locations and, when a customer purchased an SVC, it was acquiring value (a) to be used at the location of a third party Participating Vendor (e.g., Bed Bath & Beyond or Kohl's) or (b) that was being provided by a financial institution unrelated to the Debtors. The distributor did not get paid by the Retail Store for a large number of SVCs that the Retail Store sold prepetition (more than $800,000 worth). The legal question presented in this Adversary Proceeding is two-fold and pertains to so-called “state money transmitter statutes ” (which the parties agree apply to all of the SVCs involved in this dispute). The state money transmitter statutes, which are similar, in pertinent part, from state-to-state: (a) not only appear to impose an express trust in favor of a distributor of SVCs on sale proceeds attributable to the SVCs, but (b) also purport to expand the trust res to other property of the seller of SVCs, whenever SVC sale proceeds are commingled with other assets of the Retail Store. The distributor argues that the money transmitter statutes create a floating trust concept—imposing a floating trust or lien on all general assets of the Retail Store/seller (not merely the commingled batch of assets), until the distributor is paid in full. Moreover, the distributor argues that the state money transmitter statutes dispense with the need for any tracing. The distributor analogizes the state money transmitter statutes to the federal Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (“PACA”)² and the Packers and Stockyards Act (“PASA”)³ statutes, which have a similar concept of a floating lien or trust—which applies at least to assets that were commingled with or derivative from assets delivered to a debtor—and which have been widely interpreted by courts as dispensing with the need for tracing.

Thus, the first legal issue with which the court is confronted is whether these state money transmitter laws really result in a floating trust or lien on all general assets of a Retail Store (here, the Debtor) when there has been commingling of SVC sale proceeds or merely on a commingled hatch of assets? This court interprets the state money transmitter statutes to only create a floating trust or lien as to assets in a commingled batch (i.e., the trust would have attached only to the SVC sale proceeds and the other funds in the commingled account into which the SVC funds were deposited)—not on all of the general assets of the Retail Store.

Second, even if the state money transmitter statutes do create a floating trust or lien on a wider pool of general assets, the statutes cannot be applied in bankruptcy so as to dispense with the need for tracing. The concept of tracing, when constructive or express trusts are involved in bankruptcy cases, is generally necessary, so as not to contravene the Bankruptcy Code's priority provisions. Congress has specifically mandated how bankruptcy estate assets will be distributed to creditors. The general rule in bankruptcy, with regard to trusts, is that the beneficiary of the trust must be able to prove a particular fund is, in fact, its trust corpus/res (and, in the case of commingling, this requires tracing and application of the lowest intermediate balance rule). This ensures that non-trust assets will be distributed in accordance with the Bankruptcy Code's priority system. Courts should only deviate from the requirement of tracing when legislatures and reality make it clear that tracing is practically impossible or undesirable—such as in the case of mutating goods (i.e., perishable produce that gets mixed in a batch and processed with that of many growers; poultry and meat that get carved up into an unrecognizable state and packaged; raw milk that gets transmuted into cream and condensed milk; grapes transformed in the wine-making process, etc. ). Monetary funds collected by a retail store are not a mutating product. Because the commingled batch of assets no longer even existed at the time this Adversary Proceeding was commenced (i.e., a bank account into which SVC sale proceeds were deposited was dissipated down to $0 long before this Adversary Proceeding was ever filed), the distributor's trust corpus was exhausted. The end result here is that the distributor is entitled to no more than unsecured creditor status in the above-referenced bankruptcy case.

II. JURISDICTION, PARTIES, PROCEDURAL POSTURE AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTS

1. Bankruptcy subject matter jurisdiction exists in this Adversary Proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334. This is a statutory core proceeding, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(A), (B), and (O) ; thus, the bankruptcy court has statutory authority to enter a final order. Moreover, the court has determined that it has Constitutional authority to enter a final order in this matter as well, since it involves a dispute that can only arise in a bankruptcy case (i.e., a determination as to whether property should be declared property of the bankruptcy estate). Additionally, the parties in this matter have both consented to entry of a final order by this court.⁴ Finally, venue is proper before this court, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1408 and 1409.

2. The Adversary Proceeding was filed on January 22, 2015—approximately three months after the entity known as Alco Stores, Inc. (“Alco,” the “Debtor,” or the “Defendant”) and its wholly owned subsidiary ALCO Holdings, LLC (collectively, the “Debtors”) each filed voluntary petitions for relief under chapter 11 of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”). The Debtors filed their Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, which were administratively consolidated (the “Bankruptcy Case”), on October 12, 2014 (the “Petition Date”).

3. The Debtor was founded in the year 1901 in Abilene, Kansas, and was a general merchandising retailer (offering consumables and commodities, electronics, furniture, hardware, housewares, clothing, sporting goods, toys, health and beauty aids, etc. ). It operated approximately 198 Retail Stores in 23 states (32 of which Retail Stores were in Texas) as of the date that it filed Chapter 11.

4. The Plaintiffs in this Adversary Proceeding are Blackhawk Network, Inc. and Blackhawk Network California, Inc. (collectively, “Blackhawk”). Blackhawk is essentially a middleman-distributor of the SVCs, described earlier. Some of the SVCs at issue are in the nature of debit cards issued by third-party financial institutions. Others of the SVCs are in the nature of “gift cards” issued by various third party retailers—which Alco customers, as mentioned earlier, could select off of display racks at the Debtor's Retail Stores, request the store cashier load with a specific monetary amount (paying such amount to the Debtor), and then later redeem with a Participating Vendor. To reiterate, these were not “Alco” gift cards; the Debtor was a seller of these SVCs at its various Retail Store locations and, when a customer purchased an SVC, it was acquiring value (a) to be used with some other retail establishment (e.g., Bed Bath & Beyond or Kohl's) or (b) that was being provided by a financial institution unrelated to the Debtors.

5. This Memorandum Opinion is the ruling on a Motion for Summary Judgment now pending before the court that was filed by the Debtor, arguing that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on all counts of Blackhawk's Adversary Complaint.⁵

6. As later explained in more detail, the Debtor entered into various prepetition agreements with Blackhawk, which, among other things, required the Debtor to account for all SVC sales and card activations, and then remit the sale proceeds, less the Debtor's service or commission fees, to Blackhawk. Two of the prepetition agreements...