In re: Amit Khanna

United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit·Decided June 24, 2026·No. 25-1162·Unpublished

Opinion

FILED

JUN 24 2026

NOT FOR PUBLICATION SUSAN M. SPRAUL, CLERK U.S. BKCY. APP. PANEL

OF THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY APPELLATE PANEL OF THE NINTH CIRCUIT

In re: BAP No. NC-25-1162-NBC AMIT KHANNA, Debtor. Bk. No. 23-41124

AMIT KHANNA, Appellant,

v. MEMORANDUM* U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, Appellee.

Appeal from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California Charles D. Novack, Bankruptcy Judge, Presiding

Before: NIEMANN, BRAND, and CORBIT, Bankruptcy Judges.

INTRODUCTION

Debtor Amit Khanna (“Debtor”) confirmed a chapter 131 plan that incorporated the contractual payment terms for a HELOC loan from

*

This disposition is not appropriate for publication. Although it may be cited for whatever persuasive value it may have, see Fed. R. App. P. 32.1, it has no precedential value, see 9th Cir. BAP Rule 8024-1.

1 Unless specified otherwise, all chapter and section references are to the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. §§ 101–1532, all “Rule” references are to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, and all “Civil Rule” references are to the Federal Rules of

secured creditor U.S. Bank National Association (“Lender”). Roughly ten months after plan confirmation, Lender issued a notice of increase in the monthly payment based on the contractual terms of the loan. Debtor, acting in pro se, filed an objection to the notice and, shortly thereafter, a motion for summary judgment on the objection.

After several hearings and briefs by the parties, the bankruptcy court entered an order denying Debtor’s motion and further indicating its intent, pursuant to Civil Rule 56(f) and Rule 7056, to enter summary judgment in Lender’s favor. Nineteen days later, after responsive briefing and a hearing, the bankruptcy court entered an order granting summary judgment in favor of Lender. The second order is the subject of this appeal. Debtor argues summary judgment in Lender’s favor was procedurally improper and precluded by genuine issues of material fact. We disagree and AFFIRM.

FACTS

A. The Loan and Debtor’s Confirmed Plan In February 2015, Debtor opened a home equity line of credit in the amount of $100,000 with Lender (the “HELOC”). The HELOC is secured by a condominium, which is not Debtor’s residence but an investment property (the “Property”). The HELOC has an adjustable interest rate and a 10-year draw period (the “Draw Period”), followed by a 20-year repayment

Civil Procedure.

period (the “Repayment Period”). During the Draw Period, the required minimum monthly payment is only the accrued interest. During the Repayment Period, the HELOC calls for monthly payments of “accrued finance charges plus 0.41557% of the principal loan balance on the last day of the Draw Period.” Debtor was current on his payments on the HELOC until the postpetition increase at issue here.

Debtor filed his bankruptcy petition in September 2023. Debtor’s chapter 13 plan was confirmed in April 2024 (the “Plan”). The Property is one of three real properties identified in the Plan. The HELOC is listed in Class 8 of the Plan, which is comprised of “secured claims on which Debtor was not in default on the petition date [and as to which] Debtor does not intend to modify the claimant’s rights.” The Plan lists the “contractual payment” on the HELOC as $779.00 and provides as follows for the treatment of the claim:

Claimant will retain its lien until the underlying debt is paid in full under nonbankruptcy law. The Debtor or a third party shall make all regularly scheduled contractual payments coming due postpetition.

B. Notices of Mortgage Payment Change and Objections In February 2025, Lender filed and served a Notice of Mortgage Payment Change using Official Form 410S1 (the “Notice”).2 The Notice

2 The notices and Debtor’s subsequent objections were added to the record in Lender’s supplemental excerpts of record that was filed with Lender’s responsive brief. Debtor filed a motion to strike Lender’s supplemental excerpts of record as untimely and not relevant to this appeal. The supplemental excerpts are neither. Many of the

provided the payment owing on the HELOC would change from $699.94 to $1,049.54 effective March 2025.3 An addendum attached to the Notice noted future postpetition payments will vary based on the account balance and the finance charges accrued during each billing cycle.

Less than two weeks after the Notice was filed and served, Debtor filed an objection to the Notice (“Objection #1”). In Objection #1, Debtor argued the “sudden and unpredictable increase violates the feasibility requirements” of the Plan. Objection #1 also asserted the payment terms of the HELOC are “subject to modification under . . . § 1322(b)(2) and (c)(2).” Invoking the bankruptcy court’s equitable powers under § 105, Objection #1 requested a fixed principal-only payment of $450 to $500 per month for the remainder of the Plan’s 60-month term. Alternatively, Objection #1 proposed a $70,000 reduction in the principal balance on the HELOC to approximate the amount paid by Debtor through his interest-only payments to date.

Lender filed a response to Objection #1, noting the Plan provides the HELOC will not be modified and all regularly scheduled contractual payments will be made directly. Lender also argued that, contrary to

documents submitted by Debtor in his own excerpts of record reference the documents included in Lender’s supplemental excerpts of record. The motion to strike is, therefore, denied.

3 Lender was not required to provide such notices to Debtor. Notices are only required, as noted on the official form used by Lender, for loans secured by a debtor’s principal residence, which the HELOC is not.

Debtor’s assertions, the terms of the HELOC could not be modified because (1) the HELOC had not matured, and (2) the scheduled value of the Property far exceeded the scheduled loans secured by the Property.

Two weeks after filing his reply in support of Objection #1, Debtor filed and noticed for hearing a motion for summary judgment on Objection #1 (the “MSJ”). The bankruptcy court set Objection #1 for hearing (the “Initial Hearing”).

Prior to the Initial Hearing, Lender issued a second Notice of Mortgage Payment Change. That notice provided the payment owing on the HELOC would change from $1,049.54 to $1,117.34 effective April 2025. Debtor responded with another objection (“Objection #2”). Three more notices followed from Lender for the HELOC payments owing for May through July 2025. Debtor responded with an objection to each notice (collectively with Objections #1-2, the “Objections”). C. Initial Hearing on Objections and Change of Debtor’s Authorities At the Initial Hearing on May 23, 2025, the bankruptcy court started by noting that while the hearing was scheduled to address Objection #1, additional Objections had been filed in the meantime, and any ruling would “probably apply to the other [O]bjections” as well. The court asked Debtor to look at the bigger picture and describe what he was hoping to accomplish through the Objections. The court noted that if Debtor wanted to modify Lender’s payment under the confirmed Plan, Debtor had to file a

motion to modify the Plan and the Objections were not the proper vehicle to seek such relief.

The bankruptcy court then indicated the authorities upon which the MSJ relied—§ 1322(c)(2), Rule 3002.1, and Mission Hen LLC v. Lee (In re Lee), 655 B.R. 340 (9th Cir. BAP 2023)—did not appear to apply or support the relief requested. Debtor disagreed and insisted that the upcoming hearing on his MSJ would address the “substance” of the dispute raised by the Objections. The MSJ hearing was continued to July 16.

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