United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 98-1154

___________

In re: Gateway Pacific Corp., *

*

Debtor. *

_____________________ *

*

Official Plan Committee, formerly *

known as Official Unsecured Creditors *

Committee, *

* Appeal from the United States

Appellee, * Bankruptcy Appellate Panel.

*

Gateway Pacific Corp., doing business *

as Buffalo Tool, *

*

v. *

*

Expeditors International of Washington, *

Inc., *

*

Appellant. *

___________

Submitted: June 8, 1998

 Filed: September 1, 1998 

___________
The HONORABLE GARY A. FENNER, United States District Judge for the 1

Western District of Missouri, sitting by designation.

The Honorable Barry S. Schermer, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the

2

Eastern District of Missouri.

-2-

Before WOLLMAN and MURPHY, Circuit Judges, and FENNER, District Judge. 1

___________

WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (Expeditors) appeals from the

decision of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel affirming the bankruptcy court’s decision 2

that certain payments made by Gateway Pacific Corporation (Debtor) to Expeditors

were avoidable under the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. § 547. We affirm.

I.

Debtor was engaged in the business of selling tools, most of which were

imported from Asia. Expeditors contracted to act as Debtor’s freight forwarder and

customs broker. As part of these services, Expeditors procured shipment of the goods

through air and shipping lines, advanced customs duties for Debtor’s shipments, and

secured customs clearance for the goods.

Debtor and Expeditors began their business relationship in the summer of 1993.

Expeditors extended Debtor a $25,000 credit line, which was later increased to

$60,000. On October 5, 1993, Debtor submitted a credit application to Expeditors that

included the following provision: “[Expeditors] shall have a general lien on any and all

property . . . of [Debtor] in its possession, custody or control or en route, for all claims

for charges, expenses or advances incurred by [Expeditors] in connection with any

shipments of [Debtor].” The agreement further provided that Debtor would make

payment to Expeditors within fifteen days of the date of any invoice.
-3-

Expeditors and Debtor continued their business relationship for approximately

two years. During that time, Expeditors generally made two to three shipments to

Debtor per week. Each shipment was accompanied by an invoice containing a fifteenday payment term and a lien provision similar to the conditions of the credit agreement.

Nevertheless, Debtor almost never paid within these terms. As it did with all of its

slow-paying customers, Expeditors made regular telephone calls to Debtor seeking

payment. In seeking payment, however, Expeditors assessed no interest or late

charges, started no collection actions, and made no threats to withhold goods.

Eventually, the parties developed a practice whereby Expeditors would release goods

to Debtor after payment of a prior invoice. The amount of goods released generally

exceeded the amount of payment.

On August 30, 1995, Debtor filed a petition seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy

protection. At the time of the filing, Debtor still owed Expeditors more than $40,000,

a sum that Expeditors sought as an unsecured claim in the bankruptcy. The United

States Trustee appointed an unsecured creditor’s committee, which brought this action

pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 547(b) to recover $96,797.30 in transfers made from Debtor

to Expeditors during the ninety-day period preceding the bankruptcy filing.

In response, Expeditors asserted three defenses: (1) ordinary course of business

(11 U.S.C. § 547(c)(2)); (2) contemporaneous exchange (11 U.S.C. § 547(c)(1)); and

(3) new value (11 U.S.C. 547(c)(4)). The parties stipulated that all of the payments

were preferential under 11 U.S.C. § 547(b) and that $42,661.71 was protected from

avoidance by the new value defense. That left the ordinary course of business and

contemporaneous exchange defenses for trial.

The bankruptcy court rejected Expeditors’ contemporaneous exchange defense

and found that four of the twenty-eight preferential transfers were made in the ordinary

course of business. See Official Unsecured Creditors Comm. v. Expeditors Int’l of

Wash. Inc. (In re Gateway Pacific Corp.), 205 B.R. 164, 167-69 (Bankr. E.D. Mo.
-4-

1997). Accordingly, the court entered judgment against Expeditors for $40,577.31. As

indicated above, the judgment was affirmed by the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel. See

Official Plan Comm. v. Expeditors Int’l of Wash. Inc. (In re Gateway Pacific Corp.),

214 B.R. 870, 877 (B.A.P. 8th Cir. 1997).

II. Ordinary Course of Business

Applying the same standards as the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, we review the

bankruptcy court’s findings of fact for clear error and its conclusions of law de novo.

See Hartford Underwriters Ins. Co., v. Magna Bank, N.A. (In re Hen House Interstate,

Inc.), No. 97-3859, slip op. at 4 (8th Cir. July 27, 1998).

Section 547(b) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that transfers made by the

debtor during the ninety-day period preceding the filing of a petition for bankruptcy may

be avoided in bankruptcy as a “preference.” See 11 U.S.C. § 547(b). Avoidance may

be prevented, however, if the transfer was:

 (A) in payment of a debt incurred by the debtor in the ordinary course

of business or financial affairs of the debtor and the transferee;

 (B) made in the ordinary course of business or financial affairs of the

debtor and the transferee; and 

 (C) made according to ordinary business terms[.]

11 U.S.C. § 547(c)(2). To prevail on this issue, Expeditors must prove the existence

of the three statutory elements by a preponderance of the evidence. See 11 U.S.C. §

547(g); Jones v. United Sav. & Loan Ass’n (In re U.S.A. Inns of Eureka Springs,

Arkansas, Inc.), 9 F.3d 680, 682 (8th Cir. 1993). Because the parties agree that

Expeditors has met the first and third requirements of this defense, we need decide only
-5-

whether the bankruptcy court erred in finding that the transfers were not made in the

ordinary course of business.

“‘There is no precise legal test which can be applied’ in determining whether

payments by the debtor during the 90-day period were ‘made in the ordinary course of

business’; ‘rather, the court must engage in a ‘peculiarly factual’ analysis.’” Lovett v.

St. Johnsbury Trucking, 931 F.2d 494, 497 (8th Cir. 1991) (quoting In re Fulghum

Constr. Corp., 872 F.2d 739, 743 (6th Cir. 1989)). The controlling factor is whether the

transactions between the debtor and the creditor, both before and during the ninety-day

period, were consistent. See Lovett, 931 F.2d at 497. “[T]he analysis focuses on the

time within which the debtor ordinarily paid the creditor’s invoices, and whether the

timing of the payments during the 90-day period reflected ‘some consistency’ with that

practice.” Id. at 498. 

The record reflects that during the time preceding the preferential period, as well

as during the preferential period itself, Debtor consistently made tardy payments with

company checks, paid the invoices in full, and was not penalized for its slow payments.

When late payments were the standard course of dealing between the parties, they are

also the ordinary course of business during the preference period. See id. at 498; In re

of Tolona Pizza Prods. Corp., 3 F.3d 1029, 1032 (7th Cir. 1993) (“[A] ‘late’ payment

really isn’t late if the parties have established a practice that deviates from the strict

terms of their written contract”). After a detailed examination of Debtor’s payment

history, however, the bankruptcy court concluded that a major portion of the transfers

made during the ninety-day period were not within the ordinary course of business. The

stipulated evidence established that during the nine months preceding the preference

period, the median time that elapsed between the date of invoice and the date of

payment was thirty-five days. During the preference period this number increased to

fifty-four days, or a 54% increase.
-6-

The bankruptcy court noted that during the nine months preceding the preference

period, only nine of approximately 155 payments were more than fifty days old, while

twenty-four of the twenty eight payments during the preference period were at least fifty

or more days old. The court concluded from this fact that any payments made during

the preference period that were at least fifty days old were not made within the ordinary

course of business.

Expeditors contends that the other consistencies within the relationship are

sufficient to overcome the inconsistent payment intervals. We do not agree. The

bankruptcy court did not, as Expeditors argues, arbitrarily create a “bright line” test of

fifty days. Rather, carefully following the analytical framework set forth in Lovett, the

bankruptcy court noted the significant change in the Debtor’s payment pattern and

concluded that the irregular payments were not within the section 547(c)(2) exception.

We find no error in the bankruptcy court’s decision.

III. Contemporaneous Exchange

Expeditors also maintains that the transfers are protected by the contemporaneous

exchange exception found in 11 U.S.C. § 547(c)(1). As noted above, Expeditors

eventually began the practice of delaying the release of Debtor’s shipments until it

received payment on prior invoices. Expeditors contends that this practice, the general

lien provisions of both the credit agreement and the invoices, and general principles of

commercial law created a security interest in the goods. Arguing that it released the

security interest in exchange for payment, Expeditors maintains that the transaction was

a contemporaneous exchange for value.

Section 547(c)(1) provides:

The trustee may not avoid under this section a transfer --
-7-

(1) to the extent that such transfer was --

 (A) intended by the debtor and the creditor to or for whose benefit such

transfer was made to be a contemporaneous exchange for new value given

to the debtor; and

 (B) in fact a substantially contemporaneous exchange[.]

Id. 

To establish its contemporaneous exchange defense, Expeditors must

demonstrate that: (1) both Debtor and Expeditors intended the release of the alleged

security interest to be a contemporaneous exchange; (2) the exchange was in fact

contemporaneous; and (3) the exchange was for new value. See Tyler v. Swiss Am.

Sec., Inc. (In re Lewellyn & Co., Inc.), 929 F.2d 424, 427 (8th Cir. 1991). 

“‘The critical inquiry in determining whether there has been a contemporaneous

exchange for new value is whether the parties intended such an exchange.’” Id. at 428

(quoting In re Spada, 903 F.2d 971, 975 (3d Cir. 1990)). The existence of

contemporaneous intent is a question of fact, the determination of which we review for

clear error. See In re Lewellyn & Co., Inc., 929 F.2d at 428.

The court rejected Expeditor’s section 547(c)(1) defense after crediting the

testimony of Robert Lawson, Debtor’s former president, chief operating officer, and

chief financial officer, who testified that Expeditors had not discussed any claimed

security interest with him.

Characterizing Lawson’s testimony as “irrelevant,” Expeditors argues that the

bankruptcy court erroneously credited his testimony and disregarded the documents and

the conduct of the parties. We do not agree. Lawson’s lack of knowledge regarding

a contemporaneous exchange shows the absence of any intent on the parties’ part to
-8-

create a contemporaneous exchange. Moreover, Expeditors made a weak showing of

its own intent. It did not assert the alleged security interest in the bankruptcy

proceedings, but rather sought to establish its claim as an unsecured creditor.

Accordingly we conclude that the bankruptcy court did not err in finding that Expeditors

failed to demonstrate contemporaneous intent. 

The judgment is affirmed.

A true copy.

Attest:

CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.