In re Express Grain Terminals, LLC

In re Express Grain Terminals, LLC

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER FINDING THE INDIVIDUAL GRAIN CONTRACTS ARE SEVERABLE AND ARE NOT CONTRACTS FOR FINANCIAL ACCOMMODATIONS UNDER 11 U.S.C. § 365

This matter came on for hearing on November 12, 2021 on the request of the Debtor, Express Grain Terminals, LLC ("Express Grain"). On November 12, 2021, Express Grain requested a brief status conference to address procedural issues surrounding the status of executory contracts to be accepted or rejected pursuant to the Court's prior Order Establishing General Procedures (Dkt. #177). During the status conference, the parties raised two issues surrounding the executory contracts: first, whether the Master Trade Agreement ("MTA") was the single executory contract to be assumed or rejected or whether each individual executory contract under the MTA are those to be assumed or rejected; and second, whether such executory contract(s) is a "financial accommodation" under 11 U.S.C. § 365(c)(2)¹.

On November 15, 2021, the Court [*2]  held a hearing on the Motions to Assume Lease or Executory Contracts, during which the Court instructed the parties to submit simultaneous briefs concerning one or both ancillary legal issues. The Court entered an Order Setting Deadlines and Establishing Briefing Schedule for Ancillary Legal Issues (Dkt. #1146) on the same day. The deadline to submit briefs concerning these two issues was November 22, 2021. In total, four briefs were submitted to the Court by the following parties: Farm Group I² (Dkt. #1177); the Farm Group (Dkt. #1179); Express Grain (Dkt. #1181); and UMB Bank (Dkt. #1182). The Court will address the parties' arguments in more detail below.

I. JURISDICTION

Full case includes Shepard's, Headnotes, Legal Analytics from Lex Machina, and more.