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Timestamp: 2019-04-21 20:08:19+00:00

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filed as corrected: December 5, 1991.
This appeal requires that we consider issues relating to an alleged "conflict of interest" of a trustee and his counsel arising in the context of bankruptcy proceedings involving a corporation and two of its principals. The core issue is the test to be applied in determining a disqualifying conflict where a single trustee and trustee's counsel represented the corporation and the principals in three related Chapter 7 proceedings. The bankruptcy court held that the trustee's filing of a claim on behalf of the corporation's bankruptcy estate against the estates of the principals created a conflict of interest requiring that the trustee be removed and trustee's counsel be disqualified from performing services on behalf of the principals; the district court affirmed. Although the reasoning underlying our decision differs from that applied by the district court, we conclude that the district court reached the proper result. We will, therefore, affirm the order of the district court.
The historical facts are not in dispute. This matter grows out of the Chapter 11 filing in April, 1986 on behalf of BH&P, Inc., a concern engaged primarily in the manufacture of credit cards. A substantial portion of BH&P's business during the relevant period was conducted pursuant to a contract with AT&T. During the period of its relationship with AT&T, BH&P was extremely profitable.
During the period of its operation, BH&P was organized as a subchapter S corporation whose principals were Philip Alan Herman and Bruce Berkow. With income generated by BH&P in 1984, Herman and Berkow invested in a number of real estate limited partnerships designed to serve as tax shelters for the income which the two received as shareholders of BH&P. Under the terms of these partnership agreements, the two were required to and did transfer substantial sums of money into these tax shelters.
In July, 1985, BH&P, Herman and Berkow suffered a devastating reversal of fortune when AT&T announced plans to terminate its contract with BH&P. As a result of financial difficulties flowing from the termination of the AT&T relationship, BH&P sought Chapter 11 protection in April, 1986. The firm of Ravin, Greenberg & Zackin ("RGZ") was retained as counsel to the Official Creditors' Committee.
In October 1986, because BH&P closed its business operations and sold a significant portion of its assets, the United States Trustee filed a motion to convert the BH&P proceedings to a Chapter 7 liquidation. This motion was granted.
The United States Trustee appointed Carmen Maggio as the interim trustee in the BH&P Chapter 7 proceeding.*fn1 Maggio's application to retain RGZ as counsel for the trustee was approved by the bankruptcy court.
During the pendency of the BH&P proceedings, BH&P principal Herman filed a voluntary Chapter 7 petition.*fn2 The United States Trustee appointed Maggio as trustee for Herman and recommended to the bankruptcy court that RGZ be appointed to serve as counsel to Maggio in the Herman matter as well as in the BH&P matter.*fn3 His recommendation was approved.
In July, 1987, the bankruptcy court entered an order authorizing joint administration of the BH&P and Herman proceedings. Shortly thereafter, Berkow, the remaining BH&P principal, also filed a Chapter 7 petition.*fn4 The United States Trustee again appointed Maggio as trustee of Berkow's estate and upon the United States Trustee's recommendation, the bankruptcy court entered an order authorizing RGZ to act as counsel to Maggio in this proceeding as well.*fn5 The Trustee sought and the bankruptcy court granted joint administration of the BH&P, Herman, and Berkow estates.
Action on behalf of the BH&P estate, alone, became necessary as a result of the bankruptcy court's establishing deadlines or bar dates applicable to the filing of proofs of claim and nondischargeability complaints in the Herman and Berkow proceedings. In order to avoid forfeiting BH&P's right to assert a claim against the other estates arising from potentially voidable transfers to the real estate tax shelters, Maggio filed proofs of claim on behalf of BH&P. Maggio also filed nondischargeability complaints pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(4), charging Herman and Berkow personally with "fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity." The purpose of these complaints was to secure a declaration that any claim that BH&P might have against Herman or Berkow would not be discharged in the related proceedings.
In February, 1989, Maggio and RGZ filed applications seeking interim fees in the BH&P proceeding. The Bank of New York, BH&P's primary secured lender, objected to the payment of any compensation to Maggio or RGZ on the ground that the trustee and the professionals representing him were guilty of a conflict of interest.*fn7 In order to investigate these allegations, the bankruptcy court denied the interim fee applications without prejudice, ordered that the issue be briefed, and scheduled oral argument.
Following the submission of briefs and certifications of fact relating to the alleged conflict of interest and three days of hearing, the bankruptcy court, on July 19, 1989, issued an order from the bench disqualifying and removing Maggio and RGZ from further involvement in the Herman and Berkow proceedings. The order also contained provisions vacating the orders which had consolidated the BH&P, Herman, and Berkow proceedings, directing that new trustees be appointed in the Herman and Berkow matters, denying compensation and reimbursement to Maggio, RGZ, and the other professionals for services rendered in the Herman and Berkow matters, and staying further fee applications in the BH&P matter for ninety days following the hiring of new trustees in the Herman and Berkow proceedings. Both Maggio and RGZ appealed from this order.
On August 11, 1989, the bankruptcy court filed a memorandum opinion in which it held that Maggio and Berkow had knowingly and intentionally failed to make required disclosures in the Herman and Berkow matters; that Maggio, as a "creditor," had failed to meet the requirement of disinterest established by the terms of 11 U.S.C. § 701(a)(1) and was, therefore, removable for "cause" pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 324. The court held that RGZ and the other professionals assisting Maggio should also be disqualified in the Herman and Berkow cases, reasoning that these professionals also failed to qualify as "disinterested persons" in that they represented both a debtor corporation and the individual shareholder against whom the corporation had asserted claims. The bankruptcy court also denied interim fees to Maggio on the ground that Maggio had failed to disclose to the court his status as creditor and failed to comply with the court's order to disclose communications with others regarding conflicts at the commencement of the Herman and Berkow cases. The court held that "each of these facts is in itself sufficient cause to deny Maggio compensation . . . ." In re BH&P, Inc., 103 B.R. 556, 568 (Bankr. D.N.J. 1989). RGZ was denied compensation on similar grounds. Because the bankruptcy court concluded that full disclosure of all facts relevant to the conflict of interest had not been made, the court also vacated the orders authorizing joint administration of the three estates.
(e) one estate has claims against the other.
Id. at 574. This presumption was held to be rebuttable only in the case of "a potential conflict of interest, [where] no other competent fiduciary or professional is available, or the possibility that the conflict will become actual is remote and circumstances make use of a common fiduciary and professionals particularly compelling." Id.
On September 13, 1990, the district court filed an order and opinion affirming in part, and reversing and remanding in part, the order of the bankruptcy court. While the district court declined to adopt the bankruptcy court's conclusion that Maggio held the status of a "creditor" as defined in 11 U.S.C. § 101(13)(A), it affirmed the bankruptcy court's conclusion that Maggio was not a disinterested party because he held a "materially adverse" interest within the meaning of 11 U.S.C. § 101(13)(E).*fn8 The district court also affirmed the bankruptcy court's conclusion that RGZ, too, failed to qualify as a disinterested party within the meaning of 11 U.S.C. §§ 101(13) and 327 due to the presence of an actual conflict of interest. The district court's only major departure from the bankruptcy court's analysis involved the bankruptcy court's finding that Maggio and RGZ had "knowingly and intentionally" breached a duty of disclosure. While the district court agreed that Maggio and RGZ had breached a duty to disclose, it reversed the bankruptcy court's finding that the breach had been knowing and intentional. Because of this difference with respect to disclosure, the district court remanded the matter to the bankruptcy court for a reevaluation of the issue of interim compensation. The district court reasoned that the bankruptcy court might have awarded compensation in connection with the Herman and Berkow proceedings had it found that the duty to disclose had been breached unintentionally.
This timely appeal followed. On appeal, Maggio and RGZ challenge their respective removal and disqualification from the Herman and Berkow matters, arguing that the district court erred in finding that an "actual conflict of interest" arose when BH&P filed claims against the individual bankruptcy estates. Maggio and RGZ also challenge as clearly erroneous the district court's finding that Maggio and RGZ breached a duty to disclose with respect to the alleged conflict of interest.
"As an appellate court twice removed from the primary tribunal, we review both the factual and the legal determinations of the district court for error." Universal Minerals, Inc. v. C.A. Hughes & Co., 669 F.2d 98, 101-02 (3d Cir. 1981). Our vantage point is identical to that of the district court, "so we review the bankruptcy court's findings by the standards the district court should employ to determine whether the district court erred in its review." Id. at 102. Thus, in reviewing the district court's review of the bankruptcy court's factual findings, we, like the district court, employ the "clearly erroneous" standard. . . . The district court's legal determinations receive no presumption of correctness. Resyn Corp. v. United States, 851 F.2d 660, 664 (3d cir. 1988) (citations omitted), quoted in In re Marcus Hook Development Park, Inc., No. 91-3025, slip op. at 7 (3d Cir. Aug. 19, 1991). We will refer to the appellants (Maggio and RGZ) as "the trustees."
In order for us to reach the merits of the issues raised on appeal, the procedural posture of this case requires that we resolve a threshold jurisdictional question.
28 U.S.C. § 158(d) provides that courts of appeals have jurisdiction over appeals in bankruptcy matters where the district courts have entered "final decisions, judgments, orders, and decrees." In this case, the district court, in resolving the conflict of interest issue with respect to Maggio and RGZ, remanded the issue of interim compensation to the bankruptcy court. We must determine whether this remand renders non-final the order appealed from, depriving us of jurisdiction.
In approaching this finality question, we recognize that "the unique characteristics of bankruptcy cases have led us to 'consistently consider finality in a more pragmatic and less technical way in bankruptcy cases than in other situations.'" F/S Airlease II, Inc. v. Simon, 844 F.2d 99, 103 (3d Cir. 1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 852 (1988) (quoting In re Amatex Corp., 755 F.2d 1034, 1039 (3d Cir. 1985)). "Bankruptcy cases frequently involve protracted proceedings with many parties participating. To avoid the waste of time and resources that might result from reviewing discrete portions of the action only after a plan of reorganization is approved, courts have permitted appellate review of orders that in other contexts might be considered interlocutory." In re Amatex, 755 F.2d at 1039.
In F/S Airlease, we enunciated several factors to be analyzed in determining the finality of a district court's order in bankruptcy proceedings. These factors "included the impact of the matter on the assets of the bankruptcy estate, the preclusive effect of a decision on the merits, and whether the interests of judicial economy will be furthered." F/S Airlease, 844 F.2d at 104.
We then applied those factors to a case which is, in many respects, similar to the one now before us. In the bankruptcy proceedings involving F/S Airlease, objection was made to a broker's application for payment of administrative expenses on the grounds that the broker was not a qualified professional whose employment had been approved by the court in a timely manner and that the amount of compensation sought was unreasonable. The bankruptcy court approved the broker's employment nunc pro tunc, concluding that the broker was a disinterested party within the meaning of 11 U.S.C. § 327, that circumstances warranted approval of the appointment, and that the compensation requested was reasonable and necessary. The district court affirmed the findings of the bankruptcy court but remanded the question of the amount of compensation to that court for a more thorough assessment.
We recognize that the issues in F/S Airlease are not identical to those before us now. Nonetheless, our reasoning in F/S Airlease, that a district court's remand for further inquiry into allowable compensation does not affect the finality of that portion of its order addressing the qualifications of an applicant for employment, applies here and dictates that the district court order in this matter be considered final for purposes of appeal.
First, the issues centering upon the bankruptcy court's disqualification and removal of Maggio and RGZ could well affect assets in the three on-going Chapter 7 proceedings. The disqualification and removal were imposed, in part, in order to ensure that conflicts of interest would not affect the viability of BH&P's contested claims against Herman and Berkow. Furthermore, the court's ruling has the more remote but no less real effect of increasing the estates' administrative costs by requiring that separate trustees and professionals be retained in each case.
The remaining F/S Airlease factor favoring a finding of finality, the preclusive effect of a decision on the merits and furtherance of judicial economy, are also present in this case. Resolution of the issues raised on appeal will eliminate the need for further consideration of conflict of interest issues, freeing the bankruptcy court to adjudicate the more substantive issues relating to the estates in question. Further delay attendant to the conflict of interest dispute will be curtailed.
In this matter, as in F/S Airlease, In re Meyertech Corp., and Universal Minerals, we are satisfied that "the judgment of the district court conclusively determined the question presented by this appeal." Universal Minerals, 669 F.2d at 101. Based upon the foregoing analysis, we conclude that the district court's order removing Maggio as trustee and disqualifying RGZ as counsel in the Herman and Berkow matters due to an actual conflict of interest was final. We turn, therefore, to the merits of this appeal.
The trustees urge that we reverse the district court's decision removing Maggio as trustee from the Herman and Berkow estates. They argue that the district court's finding of a conflict of interest requiring Maggio's removal is unsupported by the facts of this case or under applicable caselaw.
An interim trustee appointed by the United States Trustee must, under the terms of the Bankruptcy Code, be a "disinterested person." 11 U.S.C. § 101(14).*fn10 For purposes of this appeal, we are concerned only with those disinterest provisions set forth in sections 101(14)(A) and 101(14)(E). The bankruptcy court found that Maggio failed to qualify as a "disinterested person" under each of these provisions.
if an estate holds a claim against another person, such claim is an asset of the estate under [Bankruptcy] Code § 541(a)(1), and the trustee is the person who holds it as the estate's representative and is authorized to prosecute it. A trustee of an estate which holds a claim against another estate is therefore a "creditor" of the latter estate as defined by Code § 101(9). See In re Enercons Virginia, Inc., 812 F.2d 1469, 1472 (4th Cir. 1987).

References: § 523
 § 701
 § 324
 § 101
 § 101
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 § 158
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 § 327
 § 101
 § 541
 § 101