In re Baker

300 B.R. 639, 2003 Bankr. LEXIS 1439, 2003 WL 22511501
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 31, 2003
DocketBankruptcy No. 99-25765 BM; Motion No. 03-0169
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 300 B.R. 639 (In re Baker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Baker, 300 B.R. 639, 2003 Bankr. LEXIS 1439, 2003 WL 22511501 (Pa. 2003).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BERNARD MARKOVITZ, Bankruptcy Judge.

Debtors have brought a motion to establish and authorize the payoff in full of allowed claims in their chapter 12 case from an inheritance debtor Larry Baker expects to receive. Debtors have made no provision in their motion, however, for payment of the unsecured portion of the allowed claim of United States Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency (hereinafter “FSA”).

FSA objects to the proposed distribution to other unsecured creditors with allowed claims and insists that it too is entitled to payment in full of its allowed unsecured claim.

We agree with FSA for reasons articulated in this memorandum opinion. FSA is entitled to receive distribution in the amount of $32,707.16 as payment in full of the unsecured portion of its allowed claim.

—FACTS—

Debtors, who are husband and wife, jointly own a 110-acre tract of land located at 165 Trexler Road, Loretto, Pennsylvania, on which they operate a dairy farm. They also jointly owned a 143-acre tract of land located at 362 Lincoln Road, Loretto, Pennsylvania, which they leased to third parties.

Debtors filed a voluntary joint chapter 11 petition on August 4,1999.

AgChoice Farm Credit (hereinafter “AgChoice”) was listed on the bankruptcy schedules as having an undisputed first-position mortgage lien against both of the properties. FSA was listed as having an undisputed second-position mortgage lien against both of the properties as well as a first-position security interest in livestock and equipment debtors use in operating their dairy farm.

FSA filed a timely proof of claim on December 16, 1999, in the amount of $235,110.84. The proof of claim expressly stated that this amount represented the total amount of the debt owed, not the actual value of its collateral, and that it was unsecured to the extent the value of the collateral was not sufficient to fully secure the claim. At no time did debtor or any other party in interest formally object to FSA’s claim.

On January 12, 2000, AgChoice brought a motion for relief from the automatic stay to allow it to foreclose on its interest in the properties subject to its mortgage liens. A stipulation resolving the matter was approved on February 2, 2000. AgChoice agreed to withdraw its motion with respect to the Trexler Road property in return for debtors’ agreement to make adequate protection payments in connection therewith. Debtors also consented to relief from stay with respect to the Lincoln Road property.

[641]*641Upon motion by debtors, their case was converted to a chapter 12 proceeding on March 15, 2000. A chapter 12 trustee was appointed that same day.

Debtors filed an amended chapter 12 plan on July 7, 2000. Among other things, debtor proposed that the second-position mortgage lien of FSA against the Lincoln Road property would not be paid in light of the surrender of the property. The proposed plan further provided that FSA’s secured interest in their livestock and farm equipment was in the amount of $98,916.00 and would paid with interest over a period of sixty months, with a balloon payment in the sixtieth month.

FSA objected to debtors’ amended chapter 12 plan dated July 7, 2000. Among other things, FSA asserted that the plan failed to adequately recognize the extent of its secured interest in debtors’ livestock and farm equipment. It specifically objected to the methodology debtors’ employed in their liquidation analysis, wherein they discounted the value of their livestock and equipment by certain percentages and further deducted a ten-percent sales commission. According to FSA, the amount of its secured claim, “after surrender of the Lincoln Road property”, was $151,991.00.

A modified order confirming debtors’ amended chapter 12 plan dated July 7, 2000, issued on August 4, 2000. Among other things, the order provided that the allowed secured claim of FSA was acknowledged to be $151,991.00, the amount asserted by FSA. Debtors were directed to pay adequate protection to FSA for a period of six months and were to amend their chapter 12 plan yet another time by January 12, 2001, to address the “full payment” of FSA’s claim.

In their amended chapter 12 plan submitted on January 12, 2001, debtors once again asserted that FSA’s mortgage hen against the Lincoln Road property would not be paid due to its surrender. The plan further asserted once again that FSA’s secured interest in debtors’ livestock and farm equipment was $98,191.00 and was to be paid with interest over sixty months, with a balloon payment in the sixtieth month with funds received from the Farm Preservation Program. These funds, estimated at $99,000.00, were to be applied first to the FSA obligation until it was paid in full, after which remaining funds would be distributed to general unsecured creditors with allowed timely claims.

On April 4, 2002, debtors commenced an adversary action against FSA to determine the extent of FSA’s secured status pursuant to § 506(a) of the Bankruptcy Code and to modify its claim accordingly pursuant to § 1222. Count I asserted that FSA’s claim based on its mortgage lien against the Lincoln Road property was secured in the amount of $6,450.00. Count II asserted that FSA’s claim based on its secured interest in debtors’ livestock and farm equipment was secured in the amount of $91,548.00.

After consenting to have the adversary action decided on a case-stated basis, debtors and FSA submitted a joint stipulation of facts along with supporting briefs. Among other things, they stipulated that FSA’s mortgage lien against the Lincoln Road property was secured in the amount of $6,450.00. They further stipulated that the appraised values of debtors’ livestock and farm equipment were $71.600.00 and $73,900.00, respectively.

Debtors denied, however, that FSA’s claim in reality was secured in the total amount of $ 151,950.00 ($6,450.00 + $71,600.00 + $73.900.00 = $151,950.00). According to debtors, the stipulated-to appraised values of their livestock and equipment did not accurately reflect the extent [642]*642to which FSA’s claim was secured. A discount of forty percent plus a sales commission of ten percent, they asserted, should be applied to their livestock to reduce its actual value to $39,906.00. They further asserted that a discount of twenty percent plus a sales commission of ten percent should be applied to their farm equipment to reduce the actual value thereof to $51,250.00. According to debtors, FSA’s claim was secured in the total amount of $97,876.00 ($6,450.00 + $39,520.00 + $51,250.00 = $97,876.00), not $151,950.00 as FSA maintains.

Judgment in favor of FSA and against debtors was entered in the adversary action on September 11, 2001. We determined that the extent of FSA’s secured interest in debtors’ livestock and farm equipment should be based on the appraised value of the collateral rather than on some discounted value as debtors had proposed. Debtors were directed to submit another chapter 12 plan which took the judgment into account. No appeal was taken of this order.

Debtors submitted yet another amended chapter 12 plan on December 12, 2001. Among other things, debtors asserted that FSA was undersecured with respect to its interest in the livestock and farm equipment and proposed paying the secured portion with interest over a sixty-month period.

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Related

McElwee v. Adams County National Bank (In re McElwee)
449 B.R. 669 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 2011)
In RE McELWEE
449 B.R. 669 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
300 B.R. 639, 2003 Bankr. LEXIS 1439, 2003 WL 22511501, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-baker-pawb-2003.