Opinion ID: 748192
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Value of the Seeds

Text: 24 The Trustee then argues that the value of the seed was worth in excess of the $4.00 per bag which OMI received. However, this $4.00 per bag figure was calculated by using $240,201.04 and not $309,884.92. The bankruptcy court concluded that the posted market price plus the $1.20 premium was a reasonable payment to expect for the transaction. In re Ostrom-Martin, 191 B.R. at 131. The district court recognized that the bankruptcy court did not place a numerical value on the beans Golden Seed received, but stated that it was comfortable equating the Bankruptcy Court's approval of this formula for the contract price with approval of the payments received. In re Ostrom-Martin, Inc., No. 96-1118, Slip Op. at 9-10. Accordingly, the district court interpreted the bankruptcy court's decision as approving of $309,884.92 as payment for 60,022 bags of beans, or $5.16 per bag. Id. at 9-10 (footnote omitted). 25 In further support of his argument, the Trustee asserts that the grain value of the soybean seed alone is $4.87 per bag and that the cleaning and bagging of the seed increased the value by $.80 for a total minimum value of $5.67. The Trustee continues to argue that the seed had a retail value of $13.75 per bag and further explains that his expert testified that the seed was worth between $9.00 and $11.00 on the wholesale market. 26 However, the Trustee's discussion of what the soybean seed would have been worth on the retail or wholesale market is useless because the only value which matters in this case is the basic market value of the soybeans as determined by the contract between Golden Seed and OMI. Neither the wholesale nor the retail market was available to OMI. The bankruptcy court stated that [t]his case cannot be determined based on what might have occurred, but on what occurred. In re Ostrom-Martin, 191 B.R. at 130. The district court similarly rejected the Trustee's attempt to argue that the soybean seeds would have had a greater value on either the retail or wholesale market. 27