Empire Enterprises, Inc. v. Koopmans (In Re Koopmans)

22 B.R. 395, 6 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1414, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 3553, 9 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 514
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Utah
DecidedAugust 11, 1982
Docket19-20849
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 22 B.R. 395 (Empire Enterprises, Inc. v. Koopmans (In Re Koopmans)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Empire Enterprises, Inc. v. Koopmans (In Re Koopmans), 22 B.R. 395, 6 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1414, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 3553, 9 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 514 (Utah 1982).

Opinion

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

RALPH R. MABEY, Bankruptcy Judge.

This case asks when property is “necessary to an effective reorganization” under 11 U.S.C. Section 362(d)(2)(B).

Debtors filed a petition under Chapter 11 on February 18, 1981. Plaintiff Empire Enterprises, Inc. (Empire) brought this action for relief from the stay on October 27. The complaint alleged, among other things, that debtors have no equity in the property at issue and no “prospect of rehabilitation.”

A preliminary evidentiary hearing was held November 25. The evidence showed that debtors are in the business of buying and managing real property. They own 14 homes which have been converted into apartments and rented. The homes are valued at $973,000. Total debt equals $484,-504. Empire holds a lien for $41,000 on one of these homes worth $60,000. 1 Other debt, however, totalling $62,600, encumbers the *396 home. Hence, debtors have no equity in the home. 2

No evidence was presented concerning the rehabilitation of debtors. The home, however, earns $226 net income per month, 3 and if sold, would satisfy Empire and some of the junior debt. Moreover, this junior debt encumbers the other property. Reduction in this debt, therefore, would enlarge the equity in the other property.

By its complaint, Empire argued that the debtors have no equity in the home and no prospect of rehabilitation. Debtors have no equity in the home. And since they did not carry their burden of persuasion on the issue of rehabilitation, if this be the standard under Section 362(d)(2)(B), Empire would be entitled to relief from the stay. By resisting the complaint, however, debtors maintained that the standard is not whether they have a prospect of rehabilitation, but whether the property is “necessary to an effective reorganization.” The court concurred with debtors and held that property may be “necessary to an effective reorganization” if it is necessary either to an effective rehabilitation or to an effective liquidation. Because the meaning of Section 362(d)(2)(B) is frequently debated in stay litigation in this district, the court files this explanatory opinion.

THE MEANING OF SECTION 362(d)(2)(B)

Section 362(d)(2) requires relief from the stay of an act against property when two conditions are met; (2)(A) “the debtor does not have an equity in such property” and (2)(B) “such property is not necessary to an effective reorganization.”

Some courts, taking their cue from Collier, have construed subpart (2)(B) to require relief from the stay when there is no prospect of rehabilitation: “[N]ot every asset will be necessary for an effective reorganization. The reference to an ‘effective’ reorganization should require relief from the stay if there is no reasonable likelihood of reorganization due to creditor dissent or feasibility considerations.” 2 Collier on Bankruptcy ¶ 362.07[2] at 362-49 — 362-50 (15th ed. 1981) (emphasis in original). See also id. ¶ 362.07[3] at 362-51. 4

*397 This construction, while plausible, may be questioned on several fronts. The language of subpart (2)(B) may bear faint resemblance to a rehabilitation test. The legislative history of subpart (2)(B) appears to reinforce this view, since the genesis and evolution of the statute may evince a concern with the need for property in the business or a plan, not with the rehabilitation of debtors. And while the language and history of subpart (2)(B) may not be conclusive, reading a rehabilitation test into the statute may be anomalous in light of other provisions of the Code.

The Language and Legislative History of Section 362(d)(2)(B)

“The starting point in every case involving construction of a statute is the language itself.” Blue Chip Stamps v. Manor Drug Stores, 421 U.S. 723, 756, 95 S.Ct. 1917, 1935, 44 L.Ed.2d 539 (1975). Section 362(d)(2)(B) asks whether the property is necessary to an effective reorganization. This language, viewed alone or in tandem with subpart (2)(A), may be different from the rehabilitation test. The former is concerned with whether an asset may be instrumental in the continued operation or ultimate sale of the business. The latter is concerned with whether the business, viewed as a bundle of assets, liabilities, management, markets, and the economy at large, can stay alive. If the business rather than one house were the focus under sub-part (2)(B), then net worth of the business rather than equity in the property might be considered under subpart (2)(A). 5 Instead, Section 362(d)(2) is satisfied when the business is under water (even when rehabilitation is hopeless) so long as there is equity in the house. 5a

*398 The term, “effective reorganization,” may not transform subpart (2)(B) into a rehabilitation test. First, “effective" modifies “reorganization,” which embraces rehabilitation and liquidation; property may be necessary either to an “effective” rehabilitation or to an “effective” liquidation. 6 But courts which apply the rehabilitation test, because they look to the condition of the business rather than the need for an asset, will give relief from the stay where there is no prospect of rehabilitation, whether or not the asset is necessary for an effective liquidation. Under these circumstances, neither word, “necessary” or “reorganization,” may be accorded the breadth intended by Congress.

Second, where Congress meant to employ a rehabilitation test, as in 11 U.S.C. Section 1112(b)(1), it knew how to say so. The negative implication may be that no similar meaning was attached to subpart (2)(B). 6a

Third, the choice of words, “effective reorganization,” may be explained by formulations of the necessity test under prior law. This was phrased as “the likely need of the property subject to the lien for a successful reorganization,” Kennedy, “The Automatic Stay in Bankruptcy,” 11 U.Mich.J.L.Ref. 175,239 (1978), and whether “the withdrawal of the property by the secured party will materially affect the prospect of a successful arrangement or reorganization,” Seid-man, “The Plight of The Secured Creditors in Chapter XI,” 80 Com.L.J. 343, 347 (1975). Thus, the term “effective reorganization,” may be a carryover of familiar verbiage employed with and merely incidental to the necessity test under the Act, which held that the property is necessary, because without it, there may be no reorganization. 7

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Bluebook (online)
22 B.R. 395, 6 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1414, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 3553, 9 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 514, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/empire-enterprises-inc-v-koopmans-in-re-koopmans-utb-1982.