Parks v. Dittmar (In re Dittmar)
- Summarized by Laura Bartell , Wayne State University Law School
- 14 years 4 months ago
- Citation:
- (10th Circuit, Dec 31,1969)
- Tag(s):
-
- Ruling:
- Debtors' stock appreciation rights under an equity participation program that was required to be established by a collective bargaining agreement ratified prepetition, but actually established postpetition and under which a payment event occurred postpetition, are part of estate under section 541.
- Procedural context:
- Appeal from decision of10th Circuit BAP affirming decision of bankruptcy court that found stock appreciation rights were not part of debtors' estates.
- Facts:
- Debtors were former employees of Boeing Company who became employees of Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. when Spirit acquired Boeing's Wichita, Kansas plant. At the time of the sale, Debtors' union ratified collective bargaining agreements with Spirit that stated that the parties "agree to establish an [equity participation program]" for employees. Under the program, which was described in some detail to employees prior to ratification, Spirit was to contribute stock appreciation rights tot he program if certain payment events occurred. After Debtors filed for bankruptcy, Spirit memorialized the equity participation program in a plan document which defined eligibility and the stock appreciation rights the employees were to receive. A payment event subsequently occurred, and the trustees in bankruptcy sought turnover of the distributions received from the stock appreciation rights. The bankruptcy court held that the distributions were not part of the estate and the trustees appealed. The 10th Circuit BAP affirmed. The Court of Appeals reversed.
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