In re Texas General Petroleum Corp.
| Decision Date | 28 February 1986 |
| Docket Number | Bankruptcy No. 83-01132-H3-5,Adv. No. 83-2598-H2. |
| Parties | In re TEXAS GENERAL PETROLEUM CORP., Debtor. TEXAS GENERAL PETROLEUM CORP., Plaintiff, v. S.B. EVANS, Jr., et al., Defendants. |
| Court | United States Bankruptcy Courts. Fifth Circuit. U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Southern District of Texas |
Donald F. Hawbaker, Winstead, McGuire, Sechrest & Minick, Houston, Tex., for plaintiff.
Joseph S. Cohen, Hirsch & Westheimer, Houston, Tex., for defendants.
Before the Court are two motions. S.B. Evans, Jr., Sabine Uplift Mineral Corporation, Richard H. Evans, and Teri L. Evans ("Defendants"), have filed a motion to dismiss claims by intervenor Marmid Energy Corporation for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Marmid Energy Corporation ("Intervenor") has filed a motion for judgment. The Court will first address the defendants' motion to dismiss.
On January 20, 1983, judgment ("Judgment") was rendered by the 11th Judicial District Court, DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, against Texas General Petroleum Corporation ("TGP"), the debtor herein, and in favor of the defendants for the sum of $96,315.76, plus interest and attorneys fees. TGP thereafter voluntarily filed for relief as a debtor under Chapter 11, Title 11 of the United States Code on March 14, 1983. In due course, a plan was negotiated, confirmed, and a distribution was made thereunder.
In December, 1983, TGP filed a complaint for voidance of preferences and unauthorized post-petition transfer, seeking to set aside as voidable transfers a judgment and notice of writ fieri facias previously recorded in several Louisiana parishes pursuant to the judgment obtained by defendants in connection with certain mineral leases ("mineral interests"), wherein defendants are the owners and lessors under those leases and debtor was the lessee.
On June 19, 1984, Marine Midland Bank, N.A. (the "Bank") filed its motion to modify stay in the TGP main bankruptcy proceedings. An agreed order modifying the stay ("Agreed Order") was signed on July 18, 1984, requiring TGP to assign and convey to the Bank, its nominee or assigns, all of its mineral interests, claims, and causes of action as debtor, debtor-in-possession, or trustee.
On July 25, 1984, TGP executed assignments of its mineral interests to Marmid Energy Co. ("Marmid"), as nominee and assignee of the Bank, which were duly recorded. Thereafter on March 6, 1985, TGP transferred all of its claims, causes of action, and rights to Marmid. Marmid then filed its application for leave to file complaint in intervention on August 28, 1984, which was granted on December 9, 1984. A motion to dismiss was filed by the defendants on December 10, 1985, objecting to Marmid's standing to pursue its claims before this Court.
As a result of the Agreed Order entered on July 18, 1984, and the actual execution of the assignments by TGP on July 25, 1984, the mineral interests which are the subject of this adversary proceeding were transferred out of and eliminated from debtor's estate. Because the debtor retained neither legal nor equitable title in and to the mineral interests, Marmid, the then...
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