Bank of America, N.A. v. Lakhani (In Re Lakhani)

583 F. App'x 896

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Decided: November 19, 2014
• Docket: 14-12749
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Bank of America, N.A. appeals the district court’s summary affirmance of the bankruptcy court’s order voiding a wholly unsecured second priority lien on residential property owned by a Chapter 7 debtor.

The bankruptcy court granted Debtor’s request to “strip off’ the unsecured junior lien, based on this Court’s binding prece dent in McNeal v. GMAC Mortg., LLC (In re McNeal), 735 F.3d 1263 (11th Cir.2012) (citing Folendore v. United States Small Bus. Admin. (In re Folendore), 862 F.2d 1537 (11th Cir.1989)). In McNeal, we concluded that a Chapter 7 debtor is allowed to “strip off’ a second priority lien on his home, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 506(a) and (d), when the first priority lien exceeds the value of the property.

Bank of America acknowledges that this panel is bound by the Court’s decisions in McNeal and Folendore but reserves the right to seek reconsideration of the issue by the en banc Court. Cf. United States v. Smith, 122 F.3d 1355, 1359 (11th Cir.1997) (“Under the prior panel precedent rule, we are bound by earlier panel holdings ... unless and until they are overruled en banc or by the Supreme Court.”).

AFFIRMED.