Ronald Alan Davidson

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO
In re:
Ronald Alan Davidson,
Debtor. 	No. 13 - 04-18262 - SA
MEMORANDUM OPINION ON CONFIRMATION, NORFOLK & WHEI’S
MOTION FOR RELIEF FROM AUTOMATIC STAY, AND ON NORFOLK &
WHEI’S APPLICATION FOR TREATMENT OF RENT AS A
PRIORITY ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSE and ORDERS DENYING SAME
This matter came before the Court for hearings on
Confirmation of Debtor’s Chapter 13 Plan and objections thereto,
Creditor Norfolk & Whei, L.L.C.’s (N&W’s) Motion for Relief from
the Automatic Stay, and N&W’s Application for Treatment of Rent
Owed by Debtor as a Priority Administrative Expense. 	Debtor
appeared through his attorneys Steven K. Eisenberg and Jeffrey A.
Goldberg. 	N&W appeared through its attorney Jeffrey Trespell.
The Chapter 13 Trustee appeared through her attorney Annette
DeBoise. 	Creditors Bungay appeared through their attorney George
Moore. 	At the hearing on the stay motion and administrative
expense motion Debtor questioned the identity/standing of N&W to
appear before the Court. 	The Court issued an interim Order (doc
63) directing the parties to brief the identity/standing issues.
For the reasons set forth below, the Court finds that N&W
has standing, that the plan should not be confirmed, that the
automatic stay should be terminated and that N&W is not entitled
to an administrative priority expense. 	This is a core
proceeding. 	28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(A), (B) and (L).
Case 04-18262-s13 Doc 174 Filed 08/11/06 Entered 08/11/06 10:39:02 Page 1 of 11

Page -2-
FACTS
1. 	N&W is a New Mexico limited liability company that was
organized on May 27, 1998.
2. 	There is no entity called Norfolk & Whei Corporation
organized under or registered with the state of New Mexico.
3. 	On or about October 19, 2000, John and Barbara Bungay
entered a lease with “Norfolk & Whei Corporation” for space
at 717 Coal Avenue SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 	The lease
was executed by William Ferguson, “President, Norfolk & Whei
Corporation” and John Bungay. 	A copy of the lease appears
as Exhibit A to docket #30.
4. 	On or about May 1, 2002, “Norfolk & Whei Corporation”
entered a sublease with the Debtor for a portion of 717 Coal
Avenue SE. 	The sublease was executed by Ron Davidson,
individually and d/b/a T&T Management and by William
Ferguson, Norfolk & Whei Corporation. 	The notarized
acknowledgement states that the sublease was executed by W.
Ferguson of Norfolk & Whei, “a LLC corporation.”
5. 	At trial, William Ferguson testified that Norfolk & Whei,
LLC entered the lease with Bungay and the sublease with
Debtor.
6. 	Debtor last paid rent in May, 2004.
7. 	Debtor claims he was constructively evicted from the
subleased space due to pollution, and claims no rent is due.
Case 04-18262-s13 Doc 174 Filed 08/11/06 Entered 08/11/06 10:39:02 Page 2 of 11

Page -3-
Debtor notified both N&W and Bungay of the condition before
the bankruptcy was filed.
8. 	The sublease calls for monthly rent of $2,250 from May 1,
2004 through October 31, 2009 if options are exercised to
extend the sublease past April 30, 2005.
9. 	Debtor filed this Chapter 13 proceeding on November 12,
2004.
10. 	Debtor has a pending lawsuit (“Lawsuit”) in the United
States District Court for the District of New Mexico against
N&W and others for claimed damages relating to the
pollution. 	The Lawsuit is valued in Debtor’s Chapter 13
plan as having a value in excess of $3 million. 	Debtor
presented no expert testimony on the probability of success
of the Lawsuit or the probable value of the Lawsuit. 	From
the limited evidence presented to this Court, the Court
finds that any value is speculative.
11. 	Debtor seeks to remain in possession of the subleased
premises to preserve evidence for the Lawsuit.
12. 	At trial, the Court did not recognize Mr. Ferguson as an
expert witness on lease rates in Albuquerque or on
commercial transactions that deal with lease rates in
Albuquerque. 	The Court therefore cannot find the value, if
any, of the space or the space’s benefit to the estate.
Case 04-18262-s13 Doc 174 Filed 08/11/06 Entered 08/11/06 10:39:02 Page 3 of 11

Page -4-
13. 	Mr. Ferguson testified that the lease had a value to N&W,
but Mr. Ferguson was not qualified as an expert and could
not testify as to that value. 	N&W’s lease obligation to
Bungay is about $500 less per month than Debtor’s obligation
to N&W. 	Mr. Ferguson also testified that he could relet the
space at $3,500 per month. N&W’s lease with Bungay ends in
2010. 	Therefore, the lease is a depreciating asset.
14. 	Subsequent to the hearings on confirmation and N&W’s stay
motion and application for administrative expense the
Bungays sought and obtained relief from the automatic stay
on the 717 Coal property (doc 139).
15. 	Whether the Debtor was constructively evicted or damaged by
the pollution is the subject of the hotly litigated lawsuit.
For the purposes of this bankruptcy case, however, the Court
finds by a slim preponderance of the evidence that the
Debtor was constructively evicted by the pollution. 	The
Court also finds that N&W and/or the Bungays failed to
provide a habitable space and/or failed to provide for
Debtor’s quiet enjoyment of the property.
16. 	Debtor failed to provide sufficient evidence for the Court
to find the value of the inventory stored in the subleased
space. 	There is also an unresolved question in the record
over whether the estate even owns 100% of the inventory, or
Case 04-18262-s13 Doc 174 Filed 08/11/06 Entered 08/11/06 10:39:02 Page 4 of 11

Page -5-
whether it is owned by a joint venture in which Debtor
participates.
17. 	According to the documents in evidence, N&W has a continuing
rent obligation to Bungay.
18. 	As adequate protection, Debtor’s plan proposes to assume the
sublease “outside the plan” but pay prepetition arrearages
through the plan. 	The plan also provides that until the
premises are “habitable” no rent is due to N&W. 	Debtor
additionally intends to turn over 5,000 books entitled “the
Crow” with a claimed retail value of $25.00 per book (but a
$10.00 wholesale value per book) to provide adequate
protection. 	Debtor’s plan also states that N&W will retain
its prepetition landlord’s lien on the inventory or on the
insurance claims on the inventory.
19. 	Mr. Ferguson is an attorney and there was no evidence
presented that he would be able to realize any amount on the
books if turned over.
20. 	The Court finds that value of the books is speculative and
that the value of a lien on an insurance claim is
speculative.
21. 	The Court has taken judicial notice of the Debtor’s
Schedules filed in this case, and finds that Debtor listed
“Norfolk & Whei Corporation” on Schedule F as an unsecured
creditor, Attn: Will Ferguson, at the Albuquerque address
Case 04-18262-s13 Doc 174 Filed 08/11/06 Entered 08/11/06 10:39:02 Page 5 of 11

Page -6-
that appears on the motions in this case as Mr. Ferguson’s
law office. 	Schedule G also lists the sublease as an
executory lease with “Norfolk & Whei Corporation” at the
same address.
22. 	The Court finds that Debtor has not shown by a preponderance
of the evidence that his Chapter 13 plan is feasible.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. 	N&W’s standing.
The first issue for the Court to determine is whether N&W is
the proper party to bring the stay motion and the motion for an
administrative claim. 	Debtor claims that, since there is no
Norfolk and Whei Corporation licensed to do business in the state
of New Mexico, it must be an unregistered foreign corporation and
therefore unable to avail itself of this state’s courts.
A business can use an assumed name. 	Spain Management Co. v.
Pack’s Auto Sales, Inc., 54 N.M. 64, 68, 213 P.2d 433, 435
(1950). 	See also 6 Fletcher Cyclopedia of the Law of Private
Corporations (hereafter, “Fletcher”) § 2442 (“[A] corporation has
the same freedom as an individual to adopt and use an assumed or
fictitious name in conducting its business.”) 	Therefore, N&W
could use the name Norfolk & Whei Corporation to conduct
business.
The New Mexico statutes do not preclude N&W’s use of the
name Norfolk & Whei Corporation. 	Section 53-19-3 only prohibits
Case 04-18262-s13 Doc 174 Filed 08/11/06 Entered 08/11/06 10:39:02 Page 6 of 11

Page -7-
an LLC from having a name indistinguishable from other entities
“existing under the laws of the state.” 	There is no existing
entity named Norfolk & Whei Corporation.
Even if N&W should not have used that name, a slight
discrepancy in a corporate name does not invalidate a contract.
State v. Regents of University of New Mexico, 32 N.M. 428, 431,
258 P. 571, 572 (1927). 	The evidence at trial demonstrated that
there was a slight discrepancy in the name used on the sublease.
Therefore, the sublease is still valid. 	See also 6 Fletcher §
2444:
[T]he misnomer of a corporation generally will not be
treated by the courts as material, if the identity of
the corporation is reasonably clear or can be
ascertained by sufficient evidence. 	In other words,
slight departures from the name used by the
corporation, such as the omission of a part of its name
or the inclusion of additional words, generally will
not affect the validity of contracts or other business
transactions as long as the identity of the corporation
can be reasonably established from the evidence.
(Footnotes omitted.) 	Accord Wyandot, Inc. v. Gracey Street
Popcorn Co., Inc., 208 Conn. 248, 255, 544 A.2d 180, 183 (1988):
It is a general rule that in case of a misnomer of a
corporation in a grant, obligation or written contract,
if there is enough expressed to show that there is such
an artificial being and to distinguish it from all
others, the corporation is sufficiently named although
there is a variation of words and symbols.
(Quoting Seaboard Comm. Corp. v. Leventhal, 120 Conn. 52, 54-55,
178 A. 922 (1935).)
Case 04-18262-s13 Doc 174 Filed 08/11/06 Entered 08/11/06 10:39:02 Page 7 of 11

Page -8-
Furthermore, it is proper for the Court to consider the
evidence presented at trial about the identity of the sublessor.
In other words, the parol evidence rule does not apply when there
is a question about who the parties are to a contract. 	See
DeCordova v. Korte, 7 N.M. 678, 684, 41 P. 526, 528 (1895),
aff’d. sub nom Naeglin v. DeCordoba, 171 U.S. 638 (1898)
(Evidence outside the document can be used to establish identity
of the parties, but not to defeat the document’s operation); and
Ellis v. Stone, 21 N.M. 730, 742, 158 P. 480, 484 (1916) (Court
looks to “evidence aliunde the instrument” to identity the real
parties.) 	Accord Patton v. Bearden, 8 F.3d 343, 348 (6 th Cir.
1993) (“Under Tennessee law, parol evidence is ordinarily
admissible to establish the identities of the parties to a
contract or other legal instrument.”) (Citation and internal
punctuation omitted.); Affordable Elegance Travel, Inc. v.
Worldspan, L.P., 774 A.2d 320, 327 (D.C. Ct. App. 2001) (The
parol evidence rule applies only to the actual terms of the
contract itself, not to the preliminary determination of who the
contracting parties are.)
Even if the parol evidence rule applied in this case, under
New Mexico law the Court can hear parol evidence of the
circumstances surrounding the making of a contract to determine
whether a term of the contract is unclear. 	Bogle v. Summit
Investment Co., LLC, 137 N.M. 80, 86, 107 P.3d 520, 526 (Ct. App.
Case 04-18262-s13 Doc 174 Filed 08/11/06 Entered 08/11/06 10:39:02 Page 8 of 11

Page -9-
2005)(Citing Mark V., Inc. v. Mellekas, 114 N.M. 778, 781-82, 845
P.2d 1232, 1235-36 (1993) and C.R. Anthony Co. v. Loretto Mall
Partners, 112 N.M. 504, 510, 817 P.2d 238, 244 (1991).) 	In this
case, the parol evidence indicates that the lessor was N&W.
Finally, New Mexico law favors a reasonable rather than
unreasonable interpretation of a contract. 	State ex. rel. Udall
v. Colonial Penn Ins. Co., 112 N.M. 123, 130, 812 P.2d 777, 784
(1991). 	In this case, the Court has a choice of construing the
lease as one between N&W, who is before the Court seeking relief,
and Debtor or as one between Debtor and an unidentified and
unregistered foreign corporation that has not received rent in
over one year, is not listed on Debtor’s schedules as a creditor,
and is not before the Court. 	The Court finds that the former is
more reasonable.
Therefore, the Court finds that the identity of the
sublessor is N&W and N&W has standing to bring these motions.
2. 	Stay relief.
On April 19, 2006, the Court ordered that the automatic stay
would be terminated on the 717 Coal property. 	N&W’s motion is
therefore denied as moot. 	See also 11 U.S.C. § 362(b)(10).
3. 	Administrative claim.
The Court finds that rent was abated on N&W’s leased
premises from before the bankruptcy was filed through the date
the automatic stay was terminated and, presumably, Debtor left
Case 04-18262-s13 Doc 174 Filed 08/11/06 Entered 08/11/06 10:39:02 Page 9 of 11

Page -10-
the premises and the sublease was terminated. 	See Restatement 2d
Property: Landlord & Tenant § 5.4. 	Therefore, no administrative
rent is due.
Alternatively, N&W had the burden of proof of establishing
that it was entitled to an administrative expense priority.
General American Transportation Corp. v. Martin (In re Mid Region
Petroleum, Inc.), 1 F.3d 1130, 1132 (10 th Cir. 1993). 	There must
be a real benefit to the estate from the transaction for which an
administrative expense priority is given. 	Id. at 1133.
Potential benefit does not satisfy the requirement. 	Id. 	N&W did
not meet its burden of proof. 	N&W did not establish the value
(if any) of the premises to the estate.
4. 	Confirmation.
To confirm a plan, a debtor must show that the plan complies
with 11 U.S.C. § 1325. 	Section 1325(a)(6) requires a finding
that the debtor will be able to make all payments under the plan
and to comply with the plan. 	Debtor failed to meet his burden of
demonstrating this feasibility. 	Confirmation will be denied.
THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED:
A. 	Confirmation of Debtor’s Chapter 13 plan is denied;
B. 	Norfolk & Whei’s Motion for Relief from Automatic Stay is
denied as moot; and
C. 	Norfolk & Whei’s Application for Treatment of Rent as a
Priority Administrative Expense is denied.
Case 04-18262-s13 Doc 174 Filed 08/11/06 Entered 08/11/06 10:39:02 Page 10 of 11

Page -11-
Honorable James S. Starzynski
United States Bankruptcy Judge
copies to:
Jeffrey A Goldberg
PO Box 254
Albuquerque, NM 87103-0254
Jeffrey S. Trespel
1720 Louisiana Blvd NE Ste 100
Albuquerque, NM 87110-7069
George M Moore
PO Box 216
Albuquerque, NM 87103-0216
Steven K Eisenberg
410 The Pavilion
Jenkintown, PA 19046-3722
Ronald Alan Davidson
PO Box 51744
Albuquerque, NM 87181
Kelley L. Skehen
625 Silver Avenue SW
Suite 350
Albuquerque, NM 87102-3111
Case 04-18262-s13 Doc 174 Filed 08/11/06 Entered 08/11/06 10:39:02 Page 11 of 11