Eastern Savings Bank, FSB v. Toor (In re Toor)

477 B.R. 299, 2012 WL 3711507, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86937
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedJune 22, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 3:11-CV-1813 (JCH)
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 477 B.R. 299 (Eastern Savings Bank, FSB v. Toor (In re Toor)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eastern Savings Bank, FSB v. Toor (In re Toor), 477 B.R. 299, 2012 WL 3711507, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86937 (D. Conn. 2012).

Opinion

[301]*301RULING ON APPEAL

JANET C. HALL, District Judge.

Debtor-appellee, Shaftuga S. Toor, filed a Chapter 11 Petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut after having two prior filings dismissed within the previous year. She named appellant Eastern Savings Bank (“ESB”) as a creditor. ESB appeals from an Order of the Bankruptcy Court (Shiff, J.) granting Toor’s Motion to Impose the Automatic Stay, contending that the Bankruptcy Court erred by imposing an automatic stay retroactively and by ruling that Toor had filed the instant Petition in good faith. For the reasons discussed below, the Order of the Bankruptcy Court is affirmed.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

In July 2007, appellee Shaftuga S. Toor and her husband, Muhammad J. Toor, executed a mortgage granting appellant ESB a security interest in the property at 8-10 Sunshine Avenue, Greenwich, Connecticut. ¶ 4.1 The original principal of the promissory note secured by that mortgage was $1,360,000. ¶ 3. The loan has been in default since September 2008. ¶ 6.

Since 2009, Toor has filed for bankruptcy a total of four times. On December 23, 2009, she filed under Chapter 7, and was granted a discharge on April 22, 2010. ¶ 7. She filed under Chapter 13 on July 25, 2010, which case was dismissed without prejudice on October 25, 2010. ¶ 8; Order Dismissing Case, Appendix to Appellant’s Br. at A4. On February 27, 2011, Toor filed under Chapter 11, which case was dismissed upon her motion on June 14, 2011, ¶ 9.

ESB commenced a foreclosure in the Superior Court for the Judicial District of Stamford. ¶ 12. On May 2, 2011, the Superior Court found that Toor’s total debt to ESB was $1,835,789.26, and the fair market value of the property was $1,040,000. ¶ 12. The Superior Court also set the last law day for July 12, 2011. ¶ 12.

On July 8, 2011, Toor filed the instant Chapter 11 Petition. ¶ 1. On July 10, she filed a Motion to Impose an Automatic Stay. ¶ 14. The Bankruptcy Court held a hearing on Toor’s Motion on July 26, 2011, and determined that an evidentiary hearing would be necessary to establish whether clear and convincing evidence showed that Toor’s fourth bankruptcy had been filed in good faith. See Tr. Hr’g held July 26, 2011 (Doc. No. 1-35) at 14-15. The Bankruptcy Court imposed a stay until the evidentiary hearing could be held. See Tr. Hr’g held July 26, 2011 at 17.

An evidentiary hearing was held on Toor’s Motion on October 5, 2011. See Tr. Hr’g held Oct. 5 Hearing (Doc. No. 1-35). Mr. Toor, the debtor-appellee’s husband, was the only witness to testify. Id. He testified that his son, who lives at the house at 8 Sunshine Avenue, had become a doctor of internal medicine and earns about $250,000 per year. Id. at 48, 51. He also testified that the unimproved lot at 10 Sunshine Avenue had last been assessed at around $400,000. Id. at 50. After hearing testimony, the Bankruptcy Court concluded that Toor had “sustained the burden of showing by clear and convincing evidence that there is enough money to ... get a plan confirmed,” and therefore that the current case had been filed in good faith. Id. at 74-75. Based on that finding, the Bankruptcy Court was “satisfied ... that the debtor should be given the opportunity ... to take advantage of the automatic stay” pursuant to section [302]*302362(c)(4) of Title 11 of the United States Code, and ordered an automatic stay. Id. at 76.

After the Bankruptcy Court ruled, it had the following exchange with counsel for ESB:

[ESB]: And just so I can be clear, Your Honor. When does the stay go in place? Is it the date of the filing or—
THE COURT: ... The stay did not go into effect by the clear language of the statute. [It d]id not go into effect upon the filing of the petition, but it can be reinstated.
The state law is not going to produce the answer to this question. The federal law is ... I think that the stay is temporarily in place until there can be a determination. Otherwise, the statute would be defeated.
And a person who can show after a notice and a hearing, which the debtor is entitled to, can find out that although there’s a notice and a hearing, it’s too late and the state court has taken action, I’m not going to read it that way, and I won’t allow that.
So I believe that as of July 26th, 2011, there is a temporary stay in place under 105(a), and the debtor should be given the opportunity that is provided under 362(c)(4), otherwise action in the state court could nullify this act of Congress, and that is not going to happen.
[ESB]: I understand, Your Honor. The issue in this case, however, is that the law day passed. I understand Your Honor is saying July 26th, but the law day actually passed two weeks before that on July 12th....
THE COURT: Okay. This case was filed on July 8th, 2011. The running of that law day can’t defeat the intent of Congress to give somebody an opportunity, albeit a difficult opportunity, to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence, which this debtor did, to get the benefits of bankruptcy.
The running of that law day can’t defeat that opportunity, because Congress has provided it. And that ... result would run in the face of this congressional intent to give an opportunity to a debtor to show by clear and convincing evidence that it is entitled to the benefits of bankruptcy.
So my ruling, in response to your question, is that under 105(a), which is a section built by Congress into the code so that the effect can be given to the provisions of the code, the running of the law day cannot, under the state system, cannot defeat the opportunity provided to a debtor under the Bankruptcy Code....
So [362](d), which relates to (b), and (b) is what we were focusing on, by the agreement of counsel, and (b) relates to whether or not a party, such as the debtor, can show by clear and convincing evidence that ... under (b), within 30 days, if the debtor or a party requests and the Court may order 362(a) to apply after notice of hearing, only if the debtor demonstrates that the second case was filed in good faith and there’s a presumption against the debtor....
I have made findings. Those findings the bank clearly disagrees with, but that is not — I’ve done as much as I’m obligated to do. I believe that the debtor has satisfied, with the requisite burden of proof, that the automatic stay should be in place, and I believe that the timing of what is going on is the state court shouldn’t interfere with that, and that’s why 105 is in place by Congress to give meaning to the rest of the statute. That is my ruling and that is so ordered.

Id. at 77-80. On October 17, the Bankruptcy Court entered a written Order Im[303]*303posing Automatic Stay Against All Creditors. See Order Imposing Automatic Stay (Doc. No. 1-16). After a brief review of the procedural history of the issue, the Order states: “[T]he Court finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that the Debtor has filed this case in good faith.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
477 B.R. 299, 2012 WL 3711507, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86937, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eastern-savings-bank-fsb-v-toor-in-re-toor-ctd-2012.