PATRICIA WILLIAMS, Chief Judge, Bankruptcy
THIS MATTER CAME BEFORE THE COURT on July 30, 2004 at 2:00 p.m. on Western United Life Assurance Company's ("WULA") Motion for Relief from the Automatic Stay to Allow Setoff (the "Motion"). The Court, having considered the Notice of Motion and Motion, the Memorandum of Points and Authorities filed in support of the Motion, the Declarations filed in support of the Motion, the Objections to the Motion filed by Metropolitan Mortgage Securities Co., Inc. ("Metro"), Metro's Creditors' Committee and James K. Hayner on behalf of Laufer, Grabhorn, McCaskill, Smith, and Carey, et al., the arguments of counsel and the files and records herein, hereby finds that:
A. The Motion requests relief from stay for the limited purpose of allowing WULA to book on its own books and records an offset of approximately $20.4 million in prepetition claims of WULA against Metro against prepetition claims of Metro against WULA;
B. WULA is a legal entity separate and distinct from Metro and is not a debtor in these bankruptcy cases;
C. Any accounting entry or entries that WULA chooses to make on its own books and records including, without limitation, booking an offset or netting claims to effectuate an offset involving Metro, does not implicate the automatic stay;
D. By booking an offset on its own books and records, WULA is not seeking to obtain possession of property of the estate or to exercise control over property of the estate;
E. WULA is not required to seek this Court's approval before making accounting entries in its own books and records; and
F. An order of this Court is not necessary to authorize the relief sought by WULA in the Motion.
NOW, IT IS THEREFORE:
ORDERED that the automatic stay does not preclude WULA from making accounting entries on its own books and records to, among other things, book an offset or net claims to effectuate an offset involving Metro;
ORDERED that the relief granted herein is without prejudice to (i) any claim, action, defense, or right of any party herein and (ii) the right of any party herein to object to any claim or liability underlying any offset asserted by any party herein, which rights are specifically preserved;
ORDERED that no further hearings or proceedings on this Motion are necessary; and
ORDERED that, for the foregoing reasons, the Motion was not necessary and is, therefore, denied.