Hitt Ex Rel. All American Bottled Water Corp. v. Ng (In Re All American Bottled Water Corp.)

MEMORANDUM

The trustee appeals from the district court’s order affirming the bankruptcy court’s dismissal of a motion to avoid certain transfers made by the debtor to defendants Bar K and Ng, on the grounds that the transfers allegedly ran afoul of state fraudulent transfer laws and federal bankruptcy law. See Wash. Rev.Code §§ 19.40.041, 19.40.051; 11 U.S.C. § 544 (b). We affirm.

We review de novo a district court’s decision on appeal from a bankruptcy court. Greene v. Savage (In re Greene), 583 F.3d 614, 618 (9th Cir.2009). We review the bankruptcy court’s conclusions of law de novo and its factual findings for clear error. Id. We may affirm the bankruptcy court’s decision on any ground fairly supported by the record. Wirum v. Warren (In re Warren), 568 F.3d 1113, 1116 (9th Cir.2009).

The bankruptcy court noted that the challenged transfer — the payment of points to Bar K and Ng — was part of an overall plan to provide the debtor with short-term funding needed to complete a purchase and begin the development of a water bottling plant. It found that all steps of the plan, including the payments to the defendants, involved transactions that were “integral to consummating [the]…