In re Duracraft Products, Inc., Bankruptcy No. 1-82-00342.

• Decision Date: 23 December 1982
• Docket Number: Bankruptcy No. 1-82-00342.
• Parties: In re DURACRAFT PRODUCTS, INC., Debtor.
• Court: United States Bankruptcy Courts. Sixth Circuit. U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Southern District of Ohio

26 B.R. 92 (1982)

In re DURACRAFT PRODUCTS, INC., Debtor.

Bankruptcy No. 1-82-00342.

United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Ohio, W.D.

December 23, 1982.

George K. Fogg, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Alcan Aluminum Corp.

James C. Cissell, Cincinnati, Ohio, for trustee.

Charles E. Reynolds, Cincinnati, Ohio, for debtor.

DECISION AND ORDER

BURTON PERLMAN, Bankruptcy Judge.

Debtor in this Chapter 7 case was in the business of manufacturing awnings, canopies, and the like. The trustee in the case has come into possession of a check made payable to two payees, debtor being one of them, and Alcan Aluminum Corporation ("Alcan") the other. The amount of the check is $3,500.00. Alcan has filed the present motion requesting that the payees be ordered to endorse the check, and that of the proceeds, $3,150.00 be paid to Alcan.

The facts are not in dispute. Debtor bid on a job for installation of an aluminum canopy at Windsor School, operated by the Cincinnati Board of Education. Debtor turned to Alcan to provide the materials which would be required for debtor to install the aluminum canopy. Alcan agreed to provide the material for the job if, for payment purposes only, it was treated by the Board of Education as a joint vendor. The parties have stipulated that the amount due to Alcan for the materials provided in connection with the job is $3,150.00.

That is the extent of the record in this case. The written Stipulation filed by the parties, contains, so far as documentation is concerned, only documents of the Board of Education. There are no written agreements between the parties or affidavits bearing on oral agreements between the parties. We must decide the question of entitlement to the fund represented by the check entirely upon the facts above stated and such inferences as may be reasonably drawn therefrom.

The position stated by Alcan, movant, is that the check is property of the estate pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 541(a)(1), but only to the extent of the interest of debtor therein, the remaining interest belonging to Alcan because Alcan is also a payee on the check. Alcan contends that because the parties have stipulated that the amount due Alcan for materials is $3,150.00, this court should recognize an equitable interest of Alcan in the check to that extent. The remaining amount, $350.00, of course, would belong to the bankruptcy estate. Trustee, on the other hand, contends that Alcan is simply a general creditor of debtor and the entire amount represented by the check in the property of the estate. He...