FEDERAL NAT. MORTG. ASS'N v. Schildgen

625 N.E.2d 227, 252 Ill. App. 3d 984, 192 Ill. Dec. 267
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 1, 1993
Docket1-91-2585
StatusPublished

This text of 625 N.E.2d 227 (FEDERAL NAT. MORTG. ASS'N v. Schildgen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
FEDERAL NAT. MORTG. ASS'N v. Schildgen, 625 N.E.2d 227, 252 Ill. App. 3d 984, 192 Ill. Dec. 267 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

625 N.E.2d 227 (1993)
252 Ill. App.3d 984
192 Ill.Dec. 267

FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
James E. SCHILDGEN; American National, Bank & Trust Company of Chicago, as Trustee U/T/A 49756; Unknown Spouse of James E. Schildgen; Chase Ashland Condominium Association; United States of America; State of Illinois; United Savings of America; Unknown Owners and Nonrecord Claimants, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 1-91-2585.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Third Division.

September 1, 1993.

*228 Robert E. Cleveland, Chicago, for defendant-appellant James E. Schildgen.

Codilis & Associates, Darien, Samuel H. Levine, Harold I. Levine, Ltd., Chicago, for plaintiff-appellee.

Justice RIZZI delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Federal National Mortgage Association, filed an action to foreclose its mortgage on a condominium unit (subject property/property in question) owned by defendant, James E. Schildgen, located at 1605 West Chase, #3W, in Chicago, Illinois. Plaintiff subsequently filed an amended complaint and a motion for summary judgment. Later, defendant Schildgen filed a motion to strike and dismiss both the motion for summary judgment and an amended complaint. Defendant Schildgen's motion was denied and he was given seven days to respond to the motion for summary judgment and to file an answer to the amended complaint. Defendant Schildgen filed a motion for change of venue which was later denied. The court subsequently granted summary judgment to plaintiff and entered a judgment of foreclosure and sale concerning the subject property. We affirm.

The issues before this court for review are (1) whether it was proper for plaintiff to attempt to foreclose on a mortgage on the subject property after defendant Schildgen's debts had been discharged by the United States Bankruptcy Court pursuant to Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Code) (11 U.S.C. § 523(a) (1989)); (2) whether the trial court gave defendant Schildgen sufficient time to answer plaintiff's motion for summary judgment since he had a seven-day period within which to answer both plaintiff's amended complaint and motion for summary judgment; (3) whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying defendant Schildgen's motion for a change of venue; and (4) whether the trial court erred in granting plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on the basis that it failed to respond to the affirmative defenses raised in defendant Schildgen's answer to the amended complaint.

In December of 1986, the United States Bankruptcy Court ordered that defendant Schildgen be discharged from his debts pursuant to Chapter 7 of the Code (case number 86B 09168). On May 4, 1990, plaintiff filed a complaint to foreclose its mortgage on the subject property. Plaintiff subsequently filed an amended complaint which corrected the date of default written in the complaint.

Defendant Schildgen filed a number of affirmative defenses as well as an answer, but the trial court refused to rule on the defenses or to conduct a hearing as to their validity. One of the defenses to the action was the prior discharge of defendant Schildgen's debts by the bankruptcy court. On January 29, 1991, plaintiff filed an answer to defendant Schildgen's affirmative defenses.

On May 22, 1991, plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment. Defendant was granted 14 days to file his response to the motion.

On June 3, 1991, defendant filed a motion to strike and dismiss both the motion for *229 summary judgment and the amended complaint. On June 20, 1991, the motion to strike and dismiss was denied. Defendant Schildgen was then granted seven days to respond to the motion for summary judgment and to file his answer to the amended complaint. Defendant Schildgen filed an answer to the amended complaint.

On June 24, 1991, defendant Schildgen filed a motion for change of venue. On July 3, 1991, this motion was denied. The trial court then granted summary judgment to the plaintiff and entered a judgment of foreclosure and sale.

First, defendant Schildgen contends that it was improper for plaintiff to bring an action to foreclose on the lien of the subject property because it had been discharged in bankruptcy. Plaintiff maintains that it is permitted to ignore the bankruptcy proceeding and to look to its lien on the subject property for satisfaction of defendant Schildgen's debt. We agree.

In the present case, plaintiff Schildgen's foreclosure action was filed subsequent to the discharge of defendant Schildgen's debt by the bankruptcy court. Section 362(a) of the Code prohibits a creditor from enforcing a claim against the debtor while a bankruptcy case is proceeding. 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) (1989). The default upon which plaintiff bases its foreclosure, however, occurred in September of 1989, which was after the defendant Schildgen's (the debtor's) discharge in bankruptcy.

Moreover, plaintiff's claim against defendant could not have been voided by defendant's bankruptcy proceeding. A discharge granted to a debtor under the Code relieves the debtor of his obligations, however, a lien is still enforceable. "A long line of cases * * * allows a creditor with a loan secured by a lien on the assets of a debtor who becomes bankrupt before the loan is repaid to ignore the bankruptcy proceeding and look to the lien for satisfaction of the debt." In the Matter of Tarnow (7th Cir.1984), 749 F.2d 464, 465, see also In re Woodmar Realty Co. (7th Cir.1962), 307 F.2d 591, 594-95. A mortgage is a lien upon real property. Harms v. Sprague (1984), 105 Ill.2d 215, 222-24, 85 Ill.Dec. 331, 334-35, 473 N.E.2d 930, 933-34; Board of Directors of Olde Salem Homeowners' Association v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs (1992), 226 Ill. App.3d 281, 288, 168 Ill.Dec. 361, 366, 589 N.E.2d 761, 766. A secured claim against the debtor and the debtor's property is only voided if there is a hearing on the merits of the claim and the claim is disallowed for substantive reasons. In the Matter of Tarnow, 749 F.2d at 465. In the present cause there was no hearing on the merits of a proof of claim wherein the claim was disallowed.

Defendant Schildgen also argues that plaintiff should be precluded from foreclosing on the lien because he did not file a proof of claim. Although plaintiff did not file a proof of claim, its failure to do so does not bar it from foreclosing on the subject property since the Code does not operate to extinguish a lien on property passing through bankruptcy for which no proof of claim is filed. In re Thomas (11th Cir.1989), 883 F.2d 991, 997.

Upon applying the controlling case law to the present case, we find that plaintiff's foreclosure action was proper and that the action was not voided by plaintiff's failure to file a proof of claim, or defendant Schildgen's discharge in bankruptcy. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court did not err in permitting plaintiff to bring this foreclosure action against defendants.

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Bluebook (online)
625 N.E.2d 227, 252 Ill. App. 3d 984, 192 Ill. Dec. 267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-nat-mortg-assn-v-schildgen-illappct-1993.