Virtus Capital LP v. Allied Holding, No. 07-14974 (11th Cir. 2008)

Annotate this Case

Download PDF

[DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 07-14974 ________________________ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT Aug. 27, 2008 THOMAS K. KAHN CLERK D. C. Docket Nos. 07-01455-CV-WSD-1 05-12515-BKC-CR In Re: ALLIED HOLDING, INC., Debtor. VIRTUS CAPITAL LP, HAWK OPPORTUNITY FUND, L.P., Plaintiffs-Appellants, versus ALLIED HOLDING, INC., TEAMSTERS NATIONAL AUTOMOBILE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE, YUCAIPA AMERICAN ALLIANCE FUND I, LP, YUCAIPA TRANSPORT, LLC, Defendants-Appellees. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia _________________________ (August 27, 2008) Before WILSON and PRYOR, Circuit Judges, and MIDDLEBROOKS,* District Judge. PER CURIAM: Allied Holding filed for voluntary bankruptcy pursuant to Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. § 301, on July 31, 2005. Virtus Capital and Hawk Opportunity Fund are shareholders of Allied, whose shares were deemed worthless by Allied s Plan of Reorganization (the Plan ). The bankruptcy court confirmed the Plan on May 18, 2007. Three days later, Virtus and Hawk appealed the bankruptcy court s order to the district court. They did not seek a stay with the bankruptcy court until June 25, 2007. The stay was denied, and Virtus and Hawk failed to request a stay with the district court. On September 29, 2007, the district court dismissed their appeal as equitably moot, finding that the Plan had been substantially consummated and that third parties had acted in substantial reliance on it. Upon careful review of the record and the * Honorable Donald M. Middlebrooks, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, sitting by designation. 2 parties briefs, and after hearing oral argument, we affirm. Considering all the circumstances, we agree with the district court that the Plan has been so substantially consummated that effective relief is no longer available. Several major transactions have already been executed pursuant to the Plan. If Virtus and Hawk were granted cash or shares in the reorganized Allied, or if the Plan s release provision were invalidated, such relief would undermine the reasonable expectations of the stockholders and creditors who carefully negotiated and relied on the deal struck by the Plan. Accordingly, Virtus and Hawk s appeal is equitably moot. See In re Club Assocs., 956 F.2d 1065, 1069 (11th Cir. 1992). AFFIRMED. 3

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.