Aheong v. Mellon Mortgage Co. (In Re Aheong)

276 B.R. 233, 48 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1187, 2002 Daily Journal DAR 4293, 2002 Bankr. LEXIS 363, 2002 WL 642711
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMarch 29, 2002
DocketBAP No. HI-01-1315-MoRyB. Bankruptcy No. 99-00320-LK
StatusPublished
Cited by65 cases

This text of 276 B.R. 233 (Aheong v. Mellon Mortgage Co. (In Re Aheong)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aheong v. Mellon Mortgage Co. (In Re Aheong), 276 B.R. 233, 48 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1187, 2002 Daily Journal DAR 4293, 2002 Bankr. LEXIS 363, 2002 WL 642711 (bap9 2002).

Opinions

OPINION

MONTALI, Bankruptcy Judge.

Debtor Althea Kehaulani Aheong (“Debtor”) appeals from the bankruptcy court’s orders reopening her previously-dismissed chapter 13 case (the “Reopening Order”) and annulling the automatic stay of Section 3621 (the “Order Annulling Stay”) as to foreclosure proceedings of secured creditor Mellon Mortgage Company, a Colorado company (“Mellon”).2

Debtor claims the bankruptcy court had no jurisdiction to enter the Order Annulling Stay without issuing the Reopening Order, and no jurisdiction to enter the Reopening Order without first setting aside the order dismissing her chapter 13 case (the “Dismissal Order”). We disagree, and rule that Debtor lacks standing to challenge the Reopening Order. Her appeal from that order will be DISMISSED.

Debtor argues in the alternative that Mellon did not show adequate cause for the bankruptcy court to annul the automatic stay, primarily because Mellon did not move for such relief until over two years after it learned of the chapter 13 case. • We rule that the bankruptcy court did not abuse its discretion and that the Order Annulling Stay will be AFFIRMED.

I. FACTS

Debtor and her late husband, Cecil Aheong, executed a promissory note, dated May 3, 1990, in the principal amount of $137,200 secured by a mortgage on Debt- or’s residence in Kahului, Maui, Hawaii (the “Residence”). Mellon filed a foreclosure complaint in state court on March 12, 1998, and moved for summary judgment and an interlocutory decree of foreclosure in accordance with Hawaii law (the “State Court Motion”). On January 26, 1999, the day before a scheduled hearing on the State Court Motion, Debtor filed her chapter 13 case pro se (Case No. 99-00320, the “Bankruptcy Case”). Debtor listed only one creditor, Mellon, in her creditor matrix. She filed no schedules, statements, or chapter 13 plan, nor did she notify the state court dr Mellon that she had filed a bankruptcy petition, nor appear at the hearing on the State Court Motion. On January 27, 1999, the state court orally granted the State Court Motion.

On February 17, 1999, the bankruptcy court ordered Debtor to file her schedules, statements, and chapter 13 plan within 15 days or the Bankruptcy Case would be dismissed. On February 25, 1999, Debtor herself moved to dismiss her Bankruptcy Case, and on March 1, 1999, the Dismissal Order was entered pursuant to that request.

The Dismissal Order provided that the bankruptcy court would retain jurisdiction to receive and review the final account of the chapter 13 trustee, enter an order discharging the trastee and the trustee’s surety, and make such orders as might be necessary and proper to close the case. [237]*237On June 25, 1999, the bankruptcy court entered an order entitled “Order Approving Final Report, Discharging Trustee and Closing Estate in Chapter 13 Case Dismissed Before Confirmation.”

Mellon proceeded with its foreclosure action and on October 11, 1999, the state court entered a written order that, like its oral ruling during the Bankruptcy Case, granted the State Court Motion. Debtor filed two subsequent bankruptcy petitions, first under chapter 13 and then chapter 7. On January 17, 2001, Debtor received her chapter 7 discharge but the foreclosure proceeding continued and on April 12, 2001, a deputy sheriff served Debtor with a writ of possession of the Residence.

On April 17, 2001, Debtor moved in state court for an emergency stay of the writ of possession, asserting that the order granting the State Court Motion was void as having been obtained in violation of the automatic stay under Section 362 in the Bankruptcy Case. The state court granted a stay to allow the parties time to seek clarification from the bankruptcy court and on May 4, 2001, Mellon moved to reopen the Bankruptcy Case for the limited purpose of considering its motion to annul the automatic stay (the “Motion to Annul the Stay”) and to reclose the Bankruptcy Case when that matter was concluded.

At a hearing on May 23, 2001, on Mellon’s motions the bankruptcy court stated:

This is a motion to reopen the first of the Debtor’s three bankruptcy cases, each of which was filed ... [on] the eve or within a few days of something about to happen in the state court.3 It’s at least alleged and I think not denied that the State court and the creditor [Mellon] were not advised of the filing of the petition.
[W]hen petitions are filed, the [debtors are given by the clerk’s office copies of our General Order No. 14 which advises them of their responsibilities to advise opposing parties in the State court of their responsibility to give notice and warns that failure to comply may constitute [cause for] nullification of the automatic stay. So granting the motion — these motions would constitute standing by our general order.
... These appear to be filings just for the cause of delay. If there are truth-in-lending claims [against Mellon], fine, let them be resolved in the State court if they are in fact unresolved.

On June 15, 2001, the bankruptcy court granted both motions and entered the Reopening Order and the Order Annulling Stay, with a ten-day stay of the latter. On June 25, 2001, Debtor filed a notice of appeal of both orders and filed with the [238]*238bankruptcy court a motion, later granted, to stay the foreclosure action pending Debtor’s appeal.

II.ISSUES

1. Whether Debtor has standing to challenge the Reopening Order.

2. Whether the bankruptcy court had jurisdiction to consider the Motion to Annul the Stay.

3. Whether the bankruptcy court erred in issuing the Order Annulling Stay.

III.STANDARD OF REVIEW

Standing is a legal issue reviewed de novo. Loyd v. Paine Webber, Inc., 208 F.3d 755, 758 (9th Cir.2000). The bankruptcy court’s jurisdiction is also a legal issue reviewed de novo. Ferm v. U.S. (In re Crowe), 243 B.R. 43, 47 (9th Cir. BAP 2000), aff'd, 246 F.3d 673, 2000 WL 1843841 (9th Cir.2000) (table). A bankruptcy court’s decision whether to reopen a bankruptcy case is reviewed for abuse of discretion. Elias v. U.S. Trustee (In re Elias), 188 F.3d 1160, 1162 (9th Cir.1999). A bankruptcy court’s decision whether to annul the automatic stay is reviewed for abuse of discretion. Palm v. Klapperman (In re Cady), 266 B.R. 172, 178 (9th Cir. BAP 2001); Ung v. Boni (In re Boni), 240 B.R. 381, 384 (9th Cir. BAP 1999).

IV.DISCUSSION

1. Standing

The parties have not raised Debtor’s standing as an issue on this appeal, but we have an independent duty to consider standing. Gen. Elec. Capital Auto Lease, Inc. v. Broach (In re Lucas Dallas, Inc.), 185 B.R. 801, 804 (9th Cir. BAP 1995). Appellate standing in bankruptcy is determined under the “person aggrieved” test, under which “[o]nly one who is directly and adversely affected pe-cuniarily has standing to appeal a bankruptcy court’s order.” Menk v. LaPaglia (In re Menk), 241 B.R. 896, 917 (9th Cir. BAP 1999); Fondiller v. Robertson (In re Fondiller),

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276 B.R. 233, 48 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1187, 2002 Daily Journal DAR 4293, 2002 Bankr. LEXIS 363, 2002 WL 642711, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aheong-v-mellon-mortgage-co-in-re-aheong-bap9-2002.