All posts in Judges Corner

Absent Reaffirmation is a Post-bk Ipso Facto Repo Wrongful? Can bk judge enter a final order?

I think the answers are yes and yes.  Here is why.

Post-discharge and case closure, while debtor remains current on the payment and hasn’t otherwise defaulted under the contract terms, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision In re Parker still applies and the ipso facto clause is unenforceable as a matter of law.

While Stern v. Marshall restricts Bankruptcy Courts from entering final orders in traditional common law matters not necessary to resolve allowance of claims in the case, it does not prohibit the Bankruptcy Court from entering a final order in an action involving a right derived exclusively from the Bankruptcy Code despite that it relates to a traditional commonly law contract creating other “private rights” that are not governed by the Bankruptcy Code.

I.   Wrongfulness of Repossession Based Upon Ipso Facto Clause After Debtor Satisfies 521 Requirements, Despite That Court Does Not Approve The Reaffirmation Agreement

This conclusion that Parker still applies to prevent a creditor from repossessing a debtor vehicle, after entry of a Chapter 7 discharge, only based upon a default consisting of the debtor filing the bankruptcy, is supported by the recent case In re Chim, 381 B.R. 191 (Bankr. D. Maryland 2008), see reasoning at page 7:

“Prior to the enactment of BAPCPA, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held in Home Owners Funding Corp. v. Belanger (In re Belanger), 962 F.2d 345 (4th Cir. 1992) that an individual Chapter 7 debtor's actions with respect to a secured debt and its corresponding collateral were not confined to those options enumerated then in place 11 U.S.C. § 521(2). 12 Id. at 348. [*199] Specifically, the Court held that a debtor was not required to reaffirm a debt securing property, or redeem or surrender the same. Instead, the Court agreed with those courts that follow the ride-through approach,  [**21] and held that a debtor who is current on the payments under the loan agreement may retain the property without reaffirming the debt which it secures. Id. In reaching this conclusion, the Court expressly rejected the holding in In re Bell, 700 F.2d 1053 (6th Cir. 1983) which held that an ipso facto clause becomes effective when the trustee abandons the collateral. Id. at 1058. Following its own precedent, the Belanger Court held that “…a default-on-filing clause in an installment loan contract was unenforceable as a matter of law.” Belanger, 962 F2d at 348 (citing Riggs Nat'l Bank v. Perry, 729 F2d 982, 984-85 (4th Cir. 1984)).” (emphasis added in bold)

and,

There is no reason to conclude that the rationale of Belanger should not apply with equal vigor to post-BAPCPA cases where a debtor complies with Section 521(a)(2) but the Court rejects the reaffirmation agreement. To be sure, the creditor relief provisions of Sections 362(h), 521(a)(6), and 521(d) may impact upon a debtor's option of having a credit agreement ride through the bankruptcy case in certain circumstances where the debtor fails to comply with Section 521(a)(2). However, where a court rejects a reaffirmation agreement that was timely entered into by a debtor, the debtor is left in the same position as a  [**23] debtor who elected to have the loan contract ride through bankruptcy prior to the adoption of the creditor relief provisions in BAPCPA, and the rationale of Belanger continues to apply.” (emphasis added in bold).

and based upon In re Dumont 581 F.3d 1105 (9th Cir. 2009) (which involved a vehicle purchase contract), see page 7:

Read more…

Central District News from the last cdcbaa Meeting

Central district news and interesting tidbits from cdcbaa President Keith Higginbotham:

-The next four cdcbaa meetings will be held on 2/4/12; 3/3/12; 4/21/12; 5/19/12.

– Hon. Ellen Carrol is retiring on February 6, 2012 and Hon. Robert Kwan will move to the Los Angeles Division to fill the vacancy.  Hon. Catherine Bauer will move to the Santa Ana Division and take over Judge Kwan’s calendar.

– There is a new judge in the Riverside Division, Judge Mark Houle.

– The U.S. Trustee’s Office in Downtown is moving to 915 Wilshire Blvd., Wilshire and the 110 Freeway. The move will happen in July or August of this year.

 – Tip for “Lam” Motions — attach a printout from the F.D.I.C.’s website to show that you have served the correct address for the bank whose lien you are trying to “strip.”

– Judges are starting to consider sanctioning attorneys who file both the RARA and the Statement of Limited Scope in chapter 13 cases.

Absolute Priority Rule Roundup

The absolute priority rule is one of the foundations of bankruptcy.  The debtor receives a discharge if he turns over all property that the creditors have the right to seize anyway.  The debtor can keep property as long as he pays the value of the property to his creditors.  Another way of saying this is that the plan must be “fair and equitable” to creditors.   Of course, this is “unless otherwise agreed,” meaning that the rule does not apply if the unsecured class votes for the plan.

BAPCPA apparently changed this basic rule in sction 1129(b)(2)(B) which provides that the debtor may keep “property included in the estate under section 1115.”  Property included in section 1115 is all property under section 541 and wages earned postpetition.

The argument that new 1129(b)(2)(B) did not change the apr is that apr is so foundational that if Congress is going to get rid of it, Congress should say so clearly.  The argument that it is gone is that the new language says the individual debtor can keep his stuff and anyway, Congress tried to make individual chapter 11s work like chapter 13s and there is certainly no apr in chapter 13.

Court opinions are all over the place on the issue.  In the 9th Circuit, the BAP is considering the issue in In re Friedman, No. 11-1149 (9th Cir. BAP) argued on January 18, in Phoenix.  Other cases addressing this issue that are currently in the courts include: In re Maharaj, 2011 WL 1753795 (Bankr. E.D. Va. May 9, 2011)(No. 11-217 (4th Cir.)); In re Kamell, 2011 WL 1760282 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. May 4, 2011)(No. 11-1246 (9th Cir. BAP)); In re Stephens, No. 11-29 (10th Cir. BAP); and In re Cobb, No. 09-25620 (Bankr. C.D. Cal.); SPCP Group LLC v. Biggins et al., 2011 WL 4389841 (M.D. Fla., Tampa Div. Sept. 21, 2011)(apr is gone); In re Gelin, 437 B.R. 435 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2010)(apr still applies).

Read more…

Automatic Stay in Second Cases

Reswick or Rinard? It looks like we have some direction on this issue from the Los Angeles Chapter 13 Judges:   Judge Zurzolo – Rinard: there is a stay for the bankruptcy estate in the 2nd filing;

Judge Klein – Reswick: there is no stay for the bankruptcy estate in the 2nd filing if no order extending the stay is entered;

Judge Bason – leaning heavily toward Reswick and he will probably decide the issue for himself at the special hearing on 1/31/12;

Judge Brand – unknown. Does anyone have any information on Judge Brand’s position?

Aki Koyama

Judicial Practices Survey — January 6, 2012

A Judicial Practices Survey with detailed information about each of the judges’ specific judicial practices (such as calendaring hearings, tentative rulings, motions practice, format of papers presented to the Court, chapter 11 and 13 procedures, etc.) is now available on the Court’s website and here.

Judges Neal Bason and Sandy Klein on Automatic Stay in Second Case

Dear Colleagues!

For those that keep track, Judge Bason has just announced that he follows In re: Reswick in that in a 2nd case, failure to file a timely motion to extend the stay will result in there being no automatic stay as to the debtor AND as to the bankruptcy estate.

KEITH HIGGINBOTHAM
2012 cdcbaa President

Judge Sandy Klein has the same view.  JH

2011 Honor Roll of Pro Bono Volunteers

Honor Roll from Chief Judge Peter Carroll.

Hi everyone,  Happy New Year!

 I wanted to thank you for generously donating your time volunteering with Public Counsel’s Debtor Assistance Project.  In recognition of your volunteer work, the United States Bankruptcy Court recognized your contribution on the 2011 Honor Roll of Pro Bono volunteers.  The Honor Roll is posted on the bankruptcy court website at www.cacb.uscourts.gov.

I am also attaching a copy of the 2011 Honor Roll of Pro Bono Volunteers for your convenience.   Thank you!   Also, Public Counsel has launched a new video and I wanted to take this opportunity to share it with you.

As you know, Public Counsel continues to provide desperately needed legal assistance to thousands of pro se debtors every year.  This couldn’t have been possible without your support.  I hope you will share this video with anyone who would like more information about Public Counsel.

 Wishing you all the best in 2012!

Best,

Magdalena Reyes Bordeaux
Senior Staff Attorney
Public Counsel
Consumer Law Project & Debtor Assistance Project

9th Circuit News: New Federal Bankruptcy Judges Appointed in California

“Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit announced today the appointment of new judges for three federal bankruptcy courts in California.

Attorney Mark D. Houle, 45, was appointed to serve as a judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. He will fill a judgeship to be vacated by Bankruptcy Judge Ellen Carroll, who plans to retire on February 16, 2012. He will be sworn into office on February 17, 2012, and will maintain chambers in Riverside.”

Read the news release here.

Judge Ted Albert Tentative on Interest Rates in Chapter 11 Cramdown

“Commercial real estate cases are very different from Chapter 13s involving used trucks.  Till cannot be properly read for the proposition that a debtor gets away with an unreasonable discount just because some courts, as noted in Till, have used a 1-3% adjustment over prime rate.  North Valley Mall, 432 B.R. at 831.  Instead, in the commercial real estate context the court favors the approach used in Pacific First Bank v. Boulders on the River, Inc. (In re Boulders on the River, Inc.), 164 B.R. 99, 105 (9th Cir BAP 1994).  As explained in the North Valley Mall opinion, a cramdown rate can be imputed by reference to market data and then “built up” or “blended.”  One starts by survey comparison to a “market” rate representing what real lenders in the loan markets are doing on similar properties for similar terms.  Usually this represents only say 65% of the value of the collateral, as seldom will new loans be made at 100% of value.  The remaining 35% is then blended from mezzanine rates and hypothetical equity return rates to yield an overall blended rate that more nearly represents compensation for the degrees of risk inherent in the transaction. Debtor’s analysis contains none of these elements, nor, frankly, do creditors’.  But the court is quite certain that 2.25% -2.97% over Index, [which is around 2.5%-3% if .26%, the current one year treasury average, is used as the Index] interest only, for a period of five years, and then reverting to a rate of 4.57% per annum fixed for a thirty year term [as is suggested in the plan] is way too low, probably on the order of 300-350 basis points too low.  It should be noted that even in this environment of historically low (probably artificially low) interest rates, 4.57% without points would be somewhat low even for a conforming loan, much less an extremely leveraged and risky transaction as is proposed here. Cramdown at such a low rate in effect shifts uncompensated risk to the dissenting lenders and results in a “present value” well less than the value of the collateral/secured claim.  This is not permitted under §1129(b)(2)(A).”

Thanks to Dennis McGoldrick for this heads up.

Brown Bag Seminar

Dear Colleagues!

Judge Tighe shall be conducting a Brown Bag Seminar on the topic of Self Represented Debtors. Judge Tighe is asking for cdcbaa’s participation in providing guidance and input to be able to forewarn potential debtors in the risks of attempting to filing their own cases and when it is appropriate to seek out the guidance of an attorney. Please mark your calendars for January 9th @ 12:00 in the Roybal Federal Building.

KEITH HIGGINBOTHAM 2012 cdcbaa President

See flyer here.