Case ID: f-appx_143/html/0292-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

In re: James Bronce HENDERSON, III, Debtor. James Bronce Henderson, III, Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Appellant, v. Van Buren Industrial Investors, L.L.C., Defendant-Counter-Claimant-Appellee.
    No. 05-12464
    Non-Argument Calendar.
    D.C. Docket Nos. 03-00537-CV-FTM-33-SPC and 02-16887-9P1.
    United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.
    Sept. 12, 2005.
    Asher Rabinowitz, Ruden, Mcclosky, Smith et. ah, Tampa, FL, for Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Appellant.
    
      Annette Marie Lang, Carlton Fields, P.A., Saint Petersburg, FL, Hywel Leonard, Tampa, FL, for Defendant-Counter-Claimant-Appellee.
    Before BIRCH, DUBINA and BARKETT, Circuit Judges.
   PER CURIAM:

DCT Incorporated, an automotive sub-component supplier, entered into a ten year lease with the appellee, Van Burén Industrial Investors, L.L.C. (‘Van Burén”), for a 345,000 square foot industrial building located in metropolitan Detroit, effective December 1, 1999. The debt- or/appellant, James Bronce Henderson, III, was DCT’s principal officer and guaranteed DCT’s obligations under the lease. In February 2002, DCT’s creditors placed the company in involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and DCT stopped paying rent for the building. In August 2002, Henderson filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Subsequently, Van Burén filed a claim (Claim No. 71) in Henderson’s bankruptcy proceedings for unpaid rent and other charges due under the lease as guarantor. The bankruptcy court allowed Van Buren’s claim, but applied the one year cap under 11 U.S.C. § 502(b)(6). The district court then affirmed. Henderson appeals, and we also affirm.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 158(d). “[W]e independently examine the factual and legal determinations of the bankruptcy court and employ the same standards of review as the district court.” In re Int’l Admin. Servs., Inc., 408 F.3d 689, 698 (11th Cir.2005). Specifically, we review the district court’s and bankruptcy court’s factual findings for clear error, In re Cox, 338 F.3d 1238, 1241 (11th Cir.2003), and the legal conclusions de novo. In re Int’l Admin. Servs., Inc., 408 F.3d at 698.

After an evidentiary hearing, the bankruptcy court concluded that Henderson’s objections lacked merit and correctly found that: Henderson is bound by the plain terms of the lease and is liable to Van Burén as guarantor; the amount of rent specified in the lease provided evidence of the fair market value for the building space; Van Burén satisfied its duty to mitigate its damages caused by the breach; and judicial estoppel does not apply. Upon review, the district court agreed with these findings. We too have reviewed the record and find no clear error. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court, which affirms the judgment of the bankruptcy court.

AFFIRMED.