Blakey v. Pierce (In Re Blakey)

76 B.R. 465
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 16, 1987
Docket19-11318
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 76 B.R. 465 (Blakey v. Pierce (In Re Blakey)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blakey v. Pierce (In Re Blakey), 76 B.R. 465 (Pa. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

DAVID A. SCHOLL, Bankruptcy Judge.

A. INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The instant Adversary proceeding involves primarily an issue of fixing the valuation of the residence of the Debtor and secondarily a determination of relative priorities of lienholders in order to make a determination of certain secured creditors’. interests in the interest of the Debtor’s estate in the premises, per 11 U.S.C. § 506(a).

*466 In reaching our decision, we note that the Debtor is competent to provide testimony about the value of her own home. We also note that a Liquidation Report prepared by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (hereinafter referred to as “HUD”) which was, in pre-trial Requests for Admissions, admitted to be genuine and authentic by certain parties, thereby is conclusively established to be part of the record in the case against those parties. Weighing this evidence with the testimony of two experts, we conclude that the fair market value of the premises, at the crucial date of Confirmation of the Debtor’s Plan, was coincidentally the same as that set forth in the HUD Liquidation Report, i.e., $12,000.00.

On the issue of priority of the parties’ liens, we received very little guidance. However, we will accept what is basically a stipulation of the participating parties that the Mortgagee’s liens are entitled to priority over the liens of the City of Philadelphia, totalling $6,670.94, in determining the secured" status of the Mortgagee. Therefore, we hold that the lien of the Mortgagee is reduced to $12,000.00. However, we are compelled to issue our Order with a caveat that, while we are ruling that the Mortgagee’s claims are prior to those of the City for purposes of the § 506(a) determination, we are not rendering a decision either way regarding the avoidability of the liens of the City of Philadelphia totalling $6,670.94, because the parties presented no evidence or argument on this issue and because we believe that at least some of those liens are statutory liens which cannot be avoided, per 11 U.S.C. § 545, irrespective of their secondary priority vis-a-vis the Mortgagee.

The Debtor filed this Chapter 13 bankruptcy case on January 3, 1986. She commenced the instant Adversary proceeding on March 5, 1986, ultimately naming as defendants SAMUEL R. PIERCE, JR., Secretary of HUD, which agency was the original mortgagee on a mortgage of May 31, 1974, against the Debtor’s premises at 1057 South 50th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19143 (hereinafter referred to as “the premises”); LOMAS AND NETTLETON COMPANY, the assignee of the HUD mortgage as of February 28, 1983 (hereinafter referred to as “the Mortgagee”); and the CITY OF PHILADELPHIA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE (herein referred to as “the City”).

Due to the unexplained failure of either the Mortgagee or the City to file timely Proofs of Claim, per Bankruptcy Rule (hereinafter referred to as “Bankr.R.”) 3002(c), the Debtor filed Proofs of Claim on behalf of the Mortgagee and the City “consistent with her Plan” on June 23, 1986, 1 and thereby was able to obtain confirmation of her Plan at the Confirmation Hearing on June 26, 1986.

Although these developments had the happy effect of expediting the main case, the permanent benefits to the Debtor were short-lived. On July 18,1987, the Mortgagee, pursuant to Bankr.R. 3004, filed a Proof of Claim asserting a secured claim of $13,-057.57 for arrears and a total balance of $21,739.52, and the Debtor’s Brief advises that the City apparently filed a secured claim in the amount of $6,670.94 for real estate taxes ($2,453.84), water and sewer charges ($2,475.13), and nuisance abatement ($1,741.97). 2 Therefore, the Debtor was compelled to litigate the Adversary proceeding if she wished her Plan to remain viable. The City, HUD, and the Mortgagee filed Answers to the Complaint on April 11,1986; April 22,1986; and July 21, 1986, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Debtor engaged in pretrial discovery, most notably by sending to each defendant an identical, nine-paragraph “Second Request for Admissions,” pursuant to Bankr.R. 7036, which incorporates Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (hereinafter referred to as “F.R.Civ.P.”) 36. The *467 City and the Mortgagee, but not HUD, filed Answers. Most pertinent are the following responses: (1) Both admitted that the Mortgagee had a judgment in the amount of $21,739.52 against the Debtor; (2) The City only admitted that the fair market value of the premises was $13,-200.00; and (3) The Mortgagee only admitted that a HUD Liquidation Report, listing an appraisal of the premises at $12,000.00 as of May 29, 1981, was “genuine and authentic.”

The hearing on the Complaint, continued pending discovery, was scheduled for trial on May 28,1987. On that date, counsel for the Debtor, HUD, and the Mortgagee (but not the City) appeared. The Debtor called realtor Edward Y. Graham as an expert, and he testified that the value of the premises, as of January, 1986, was $10,000.00. The Debtor testified that the home had numerous defects including the absence of heat and hot water for four years and five years, respectively, and that she believed the value to have been between $8,000.00 and $9,000.00 as of January, 1986, and to be $7,500.00 at present. The Mortgagee also called a realtor, Barry J. Grife, as an expert, and he testified that the value of the premises, as of June, 1986, was $21,-000.00.

On May 29, 1987, consistent with our statements at the close of the hearing, we allowed the Debtor to file an opening Brief on or before June 18,1987; the Defendants to file Briefs on or before July 9,1987; and the Debtor to file a Reply Brief on or before July 16, 1987. Among the Defendants, only the Mortgagee filed a Brief. 3

Since the factual determination of the value of the premises is crucial to the case and this is an Adversary proceeding governed by Bankr.R. 7052, we are obliged to present our decision in the form of Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and a Discussion.

B. FINDINGS OF FACT

1.The opinion of neither expert witness can be totally accepted, although the opinion of both are worthy of some consideration in the valuation process. Both must be weighted for bias. Neither indicated that he had a clear recollection of the particular characteristics of the premises. While we accept Mr. Graham’s explanation that his original written appraisal, based primarily on comparable sales data, contained errors which were properly corrected, these errors are indicative of performance of his engagement in less than a careful manner. Mr. Grife, the Debtor’s expert appraiser, putting aside his own relatively minor errors, appeared to have been even less careful in his first-hand inspection of the premises and superficial in his analysis than Mr. Graham. His opinion was based solely upon comparable sales data.

2.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
76 B.R. 465, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blakey-v-pierce-in-re-blakey-paeb-1987.