In re K Lunde, LLC

513 B.R. 587, 2014 WL 3703409
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Colorado
DecidedMarch 24, 2014
DocketJointly Administered Under Bankruptcy Case No. 13-17775 EEB; Bankruptcy Case No. 13-17776 EEB, Bankruptcy Case No. 13-17777 EEB, Bankruptcy Case No. 13-17778 EEB
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 513 B.R. 587 (In re K Lunde, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re K Lunde, LLC, 513 B.R. 587, 2014 WL 3703409 (Colo. 2014).

Opinion

Chapter 11

ORDER DENYING APPROVAL OF DISCLOSURE STATEMENT ON BASIS PLAN IS FACIALLY UN-CONFIRMABLE

Elizabeth E. Brown, Bankruptcy Judge

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on the Objection of West Loan Acquisitions Holdings, L.P. (“Creditor”) to the Debtors’ most recent disclosure statement. Although the Objection raises several issues, the parties have asked the Court to first determine an issue that may render the Debtors’ proposed plan facially uncon-firmable. It centers on whether the plan may separately classify and deem impaired the secured tax claim of Mesa County. Section 1129(a)(10) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that, if a plan contains an impaired class of claims, the plan proponent must secure an accepting vote of at least one impaired class.1 The Creditor contends that the Debtors will not be able to satisfy this requirement without improperly classifying Mesa County’s claim as an impaired class. Section 1129(a)(9)(D), added to the Bankruptcy Code in 2005, now specifies the treatment to be afforded in a chapter 11 plan to certain secured tax claims. The Creditor argues that, given this preferential statutory treatment, the claim cannot be separately classified and is not impaired. This raises an issue of first impression in this district.

I. BACKGROUND

The Debtors are co-owners of a shopping center in Mesa County, Colorado, [590]*590which they claim is worth $4.5 million. The Creditor is owed approximately $5.1 million, secured by a first deed of trust on this property. The only other creditors are four unsecured claims totaling $22,100, and the secured claim of Mesa County for the 2013 real property taxes. The Debtors are proposing a 100% repayment plan, based on the substantive consolidation of their ownership interests and debts into a new entity, which will continue to operate the shopping center. They will fund their plan commitments with rental income, as the shopping center currently enjoys a 90% occupancy rate, as well as either a sale of the property or refinancing of the Creditor’s debt within seven years.

The Plan establishes four classes of creditors: (1) priority wage claims (of which there are none); (2) the Mesa County secured tax claim; (3) the secured portion of the Creditor’s claim; and (4) the non-priority unsecured claims, including the Creditor’s deficiency claim. The plan proposes to retain Mesa County’s lien on the property and to pay its claim in equal monthly installments, with statutory interest, over a one-year period. If the plan is confirmed, the Creditor will also retain its lien and its secured claim will be amortized over thirty years at 5% interest, to be paid in equal monthly installments, with a balloon payment due on the seventh anniversary of the plan’s effective date. The unsecured class would be amortized over twenty-five years at 1% interest, with pro-rata monthly payments and a balloon payment due on the seventh anniversary of the plan’s effective date.

II. DISCUSSION

A. The Ability of the Court to Determine Confirmation Issues In the Context of a Disclosure Statement Objection

Although raised in an objection to a disclosure statement, the Creditor’s arguments actually address the confirma-bility of the Debtors’ plan. “Ordinarily, confirmation issues are reserved for the confirmation hearing, and not addressed at the disclosure statement stage.” In re Larsen, 2011 WL 1671538, at *2 n. 7 (Bankr.D.Idaho May 3, 2011). Courts have long held, however, that “if it appears there is a defect that makes a plan inherently or patently uneonfirmable, the Court may consider and resolve that issue at the disclosure stage before requiring the parties to proceed with solicitation of acceptances and rejections and a contested confirmation hearing.” Id. (citations omitted); see also In re Am. Capital Equip., LLC, 688 F.3d 145, 154 (3rd Cir.2012) (listing cases); In re Deming Hospitality, LLC, 2013 WL 1397458, at *1 (Bankr.D.N.M. Apr. 5, 2013). The rationale given for this short-circuited process is that the estate and parties should not bear the expense and effort required by the full confirmation process if there is a fatal flaw that makes the plan uneonfirmable as a matter of law. These decisions draw on a bankruptcy court’s § 105(a) power to control its own docket, and provide that it is within the bankruptcy court’s discretion to withhold approval of the disclosure statement on this basis. Am. Capital Equip., LLC, 688 F.3d at 154.

A plan is “patently unconfirma-ble where (1) confirmation ‘defects [cannot] be overcome by creditor voting results’ and (2) those defects ‘concern matters upon which all material facts are not in dispute or have been fully developed at the disclosure statement hearing.’” Id. at 154-55 (citing In re Monroe Well Serv., 80 B.R. 324, 333 (Bankr.E.D.Pa.1987)). The defect complained of here is the plan’s separate classification of Mesa County’s secured claim and its characterization of this [591]*591class as an impaired class. This raises a legal question, as to which no party has raised a genuine issue of material fact. Technically, voting results could overcome this defect. For example, if class four voted in favor of the Debtors’ plan, then this alleged defect would not make the plan unconfirmable. Both parties acknowledge, however, that the Creditor will control the vote of both classes two and four. The Debtors accept the Creditor’s statement that it will vote both its secured and unsecured claims to reject this plan. Thus, while theoretically voting results could overcome the defect, it is undisputed that the Debtors will not be able to secure a necessary impaired, accepting class without counting the vote of Mesa County as a separate impaired class. For these reasons, the Court deems this confirmation issue appropriate for adjudication in advance of a confirmation hearing.

B. The Relevant Statutory Framework

To fully understand the somewhat complicated confirmation issues presented in this case, one must understand how various sections of the Code treat unsecured and secured tax claims, and how those sections interact in a chapter 11 case. First, the Code gives certain unsecured tax claims priority treatment. Specifically, § 507(a)(8)(B) gives priority treatment to an unsecured tax claim for “a property tax incurred before the commencement of the case and last payable without penalty after one year before the date of the filing of the petition.” 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(8)(B). In a chapter 11 case, additional provisions define how a plan of reorganization may treat the § 507(a)(8) claim. Section 1123(a)(1) provides that § 507(a)(8) claims may not be separately classified. Instead, § 1129(a)(9)(C) specifies how these tax claims must be paid under a plan. It provides:

(a) The court shall confirm a plan only if all of the following requirements are met:
(9) Except to the extent that the holder of a particular claim has agreed to a different treatment of such claim, the plan provides that—
(C) with respect to a claim of a kind specified in section 507(a)(8) of this title, the holder of such claim will receive on account of such claim regular installment payments in cash—

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Bluebook (online)
513 B.R. 587, 2014 WL 3703409, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-k-lunde-llc-cob-2014.