In Re Klein

106 B.R. 396, 21 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1092, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 1766, 1989 WL 123317
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 19, 1989
Docket19-10697
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 106 B.R. 396 (In Re Klein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.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 Klein, 106 B.R. 396, 21 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1092, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 1766, 1989 WL 123317 (Pa. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

DAVID A. SCHOLL, Bankruptcy Judge.

A. INTRODUCTION.

At issue herein are Objections of a holder of a second mortgage on the residential real estate of the Debtors, Mid-Penn National Co. (hereinafter “Mid-Penn”), to confirmation of the Debtors’ Chapter 13 Plan. Because Mid-Penn’s loan secured by its mortgage matures under its original terms prior to the date on which the Debtors’ final payment under their Plan is due, Mid-Penn argues that 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(2) bars the Debtors from purportedly “modifying” its rights by proposing a Plan which fails to require the Debtors to make at least their regular monthly payments under the terms of the loan.

We reject Mid-Penn’s contentions for three separate reasons: (1) The loan is secured by property other than the Debtors’ real estate, rendering § 1322(b)(2) inapplicable; (2) The original terms of the loan and its security documents merged into a pre-petition judgment, payment of which is not subject to the loan terms; and (3) The Debtors’ Plan proposing to cure the loan delinquency by paying it off does not affect a “modification" of Mid-Penn’s claim, especially since we find that the full value of Mid-Penn’s claim must be paid to it pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(5)(B)(ii). However, because it appears that Mid-Penn possibly justifiably relied on the Debtors’ making current payments to it in filing its proof of claim, we shall delay confirmation to allow Mid-Penn an opportunity to file an amended proof of claim in light of our conclusions reached herein.

B. PROCEDURAL HISTORY.

The Debtors, JOSEPH F. KLEIN and BARBARA KLEIN, filed a voluntary joint petition for relief under Chapter 13 of title 11, United States Code, on January 9, 1989. With their petition, the Debtors filed a Plan calling for forty-five (45) payments of $220 per month which would be distributed to their creditors through the Trustee. Under the Plan, Mid-Penn was to receive payments against “its secured judgement [sic] in full in the amount of $6112.78 plus interest.” The last payment under the Plan would be made in September, 1992.

On April 11, 1989, Mid-Penn 1 filed its Amended Proof of Claim. Therein, it *398 claimed arrearages totalling $4,767.21, made up of Principal of $2,850, Interest of $1,081.94, Legal costs of $247, and “additional interest” of $588.77. 2 It further recited, in the Amended Proof of Claim, that this sum was to be paid “inside” the Plan, and that the sum of $5,415.00 was to be paid “directly to [Mid-Penn].” 3

On May 31, 1989, Mid-Penn filed an Objection to confirmation of the Debtors’ Plan. The Objection was a boiler-plate statement, identical to that asserted by Mid-Penn in In re Ford, 84 B.R. 40, 41 (Bankr.E.D.Pa.1988), that “[t]he debtor’s [sic] Plan calls for [Mid-Penn] to receive regular monthly payments on account of its secured debt from the date of filing of the bankruptcy petition,” and that the Debtors had failed to make all such payments to date. It can be noted that, in fact, the Plan did not provide for Mid-Penn to receive its regular monthly payments and that therefore the recitations in the Objection were, at least in part, misplaced.

On June 8, 1989, Mid-Penn filed a motion for relief from the automatic stay in order to allow it to foreclose on its mortgage because the Debtors had failed to make the regular post-petition payments. The Debtors answered that they were current on Plan payments under a confirmable plan and that therefore Mid-Penn’s motion failed to state a cause of action. In the absence of the undersigned, this matter was heard by our colleague, the Honorable Bruce Fox, on July 6, 1989. On July 11, 1989, Judge Fox issued an Order and Memorandum denying Mid-Penn’s motion. Although Judge Fox acknowledged the possible validity of Mid-Penn’s argument that inconsistency of the Debtors’ Plan with 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(2) might compel denial of confirmation, he noted that a skimpy factual record rendered him incapable of determining whether the loan was secured by only the Debtors’ realty (and hence whether § 1322(b)(2) was applicable) and whether the Debtors’ obligation was in fact merged in a prepetition judgment (which might have precluded reliance on § 1322(b)(2)). The Memorandum closed by expressly declining to rule on whether Mid-Penn might succeed in objecting to confirmation if “[a] complete factual record” were developed in the confirmation process.

As might have been expected considering the foregoing, Mid-Penn appeared at the confirmation hearing on September 7,1989, poised to press its Objections to confirmation based on the Plan’s alleged inconsistency with § 1322(b)(2). After an extended colloquy, we accorded Mid-Penn the opportunity to raise these Objections, despite the fact that they were quite different from those set forth in the written Objection filed of record by it. We also allowed each party to admit into the record a designated list of documents and other materials which each contended were pertinent for purposes of deciding these Objections. The parties were accorded until October 6, 1989, to simultaneously file Briefs supporting their respective positions, with any of the documents deemed significant by either party to be attached to their respective Briefs. These submissions were timely filed.

C. PERTINENT FACTS.

The Brief of Mid-Penn, by far the more comprehensive submission, recites the pertinent facts in a fashion which we adopt, with certain necessary additions and changes. The Debtors entered into a secondary mortgage 4 loan contract with Mid- *399 Penn on August 1, 1985. The contract contemplated payments of $285.00 monthly for sixty (60) months, the first payment being due September 10,1985, and the final payment being due on August 10, 1990.

The Debtors executed a note, a Truth-in-Lending disclosure statement (hereinafter designated as “DS"), and a second mortgage on their home as evidence of their obligation. The mortgage contained the following clauses:

“The Condition of this Obligation is such, That if the Obligee shall:
3. With respect to the premises described in the Mortgage accompanying this Obligation:
(a) Maintain and deliver to Obligee, as further security for this Obligation, insurance (with non-contributory mortgagee clauses, in form and companies approved by Obligee) against such hazards and in such amounts as Obligee at any time requires; Obligee may, as irrevocable attorney for and with join-der of Obligor, claim, settle and receive all payments thereunder, or under any condemnation proceedings, which payments it may apply to this indebtedness (even if not due) or to remedy the damage; ...

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Bluebook (online)
106 B.R. 396, 21 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1092, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 1766, 1989 WL 123317, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-klein-paeb-1989.