In re Lanham

346 B.R. 211, 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 1560, 97 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 3035, 2006 WL 1985761
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Colorado
DecidedMarch 24, 2006
DocketNo. 05-10498 EEB
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 346 B.R. 211 (In re Lanham) 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 Lanham, 346 B.R. 211, 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 1560, 97 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 3035, 2006 WL 1985761 (Colo. 2006).

Opinion

ORDER OF DISMISSAL

ELIZABETH E. BROWN, Bankruptcy Judge.

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on the Motion to Dismiss Case (“Motion”), filed by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and the Chapter 13 Trustee (“Trustee”). Following an evidentiary hearing, the Court FINDS and CONCLUDES as follows:

A. Background

This is not the Debtor’s first bankruptcy case. In March, 2001, he filed a Chapter 7 case. At the time, the IRS was pursuing its claim against him for over $500,000 in income taxes which the Debtor failed to pay during the years 1992 through 1995. The Debtor testified at the hearing that he did not pay taxes during those years because he relied on bad advice from an unnamed organization which had assured him he could be “out of the tax system.” The IRS contested the dischargeability of the Debtor’s 1992-1995 income taxes in an adversary proceeding. The IRS claimed the taxes were non-dischargeable under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1)(C) because the Debtor had made fraudulent returns or had willfully attempted to evade or defeat his taxes. Immediately prior to the scheduled trial in December, 2003, the Debtor and the IRS reached a settlement. The settlement provided that 65% of the unpaid federal income tax assessments against the Debtor for the years 1992-1995, plus inter[213]*213est allocable to those taxes was non-dis-chargeable, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1)(C). The balance of the taxes, penalties, and interest were discharged. The parties agreed that the amount of the nondischargeable taxes would be $263,450.70. This liability is referred to herein as the “Non-Dischargeable Taxes.” The Court approved the stipulation and entered judgment in accordance with its terms.

According to the Debtor’s testimony, he never intended to pay all of the Non-Dischargeable Taxes. He says that his understanding was that the settlement was structured in order to allow him to pursue an offer in compromise with the IRS and, if he could not reach an acceptable compromise, to file a Chapter 13. The Debtor says that the amount of the Non-Dis-chargeable Taxes was specifically negotiated to be lower than the unsecured debt limit for eligibility for Chapter 13 in order to preserve the Chapter 13 option. The record does not reflect whether the IRS was aware of the Debtor’s understanding regarding the settlement agreement or whether the Debtor ever proposed an offer in compromise to the IRS after the conclusion of the adversary proceeding. However, on January 11, 2005, little more than a year after the settlement of the adversary proceeding in his prior case, he filed this Chapter 13 case.

The Non-Dischargeable Taxes are the only unsecured debts scheduled in this case.1 The only other creditors listed are three secured creditors, holding liens against his vehicles. The Debtor’s initial Chapter 13 plan proposed payments of $479 per month for 36 months. The secured debts were to be paid outside the plan. After deductions for attorneys’ fees and the fees of the Chapter 13 Trustee, the IRS would have received $14,676 or 6.6% of the $222,953.81 in Non-Discharge-able Taxes. The Debtor’s first Amended Plan extended the monthly $479 payments for 42 months, resulting in a $17,289.09 payment to the IRS or 7.8% of the Non-Dischargeable Taxes. After the Chapter 13 Trustee’s office objected to the Debtor’s contribution to a retirement plan, the Debtor eliminated that expense from his budget and filed a Second Amended Plan, which increased the monthly payments by $614 to $1,093 per month for the remainder of the 42-month payment period. Under the Second Amended Plan, the IRS would have received $47,383.64, or 21.3% of the Non-Dischargeable Taxes. Finally, the Debtor filed a Third Amended Plan to address the IRS’ contention that its claim was partially secured by the Debtor’s retirement account. This Plan increased the length of the $1,093 payments to 54 months for a total plan length of 60 months. Under the Third Amended Plan, the IRS would receive $30,918.28 on its secured claim and $19,350.81 on its unsecured claim, for a total of $56,269.09 or 25.2% of the Non-Dischargeable Taxes.

The IRS and the Chapter 13 Trustee have objected to each Motion to Confirm which the Debtor has filed. The Court has held the matter of confirmation of the [214]*214Third Amended Plan in abeyance pending the resolution of the Motion to Dismiss.

B. The Motion to Dismiss

The IRS filed its Motion to Dismiss this case after the filing of the Debtor’s Second Amended Plan and prior to the filing of the Third Amended Plan. It alleges that the case should be dismissed under 11 U.S.C. § 1307(c), for cause, because the Debtor filed this Chapter 13 case in bad faith. According to the IRS, the Debtor’s bad faith is shown by, among other things, his overstatement of expenses, his lavish lifestyle, and his intent to discharge the tax debt which he previously agreed was non-dischargeable in his Chapter 7 case. The Chapter 13 Trustee joined in the IRS’ motion. At the hearing, the Trustee stressed the delay of nearly ten months from the date of filing without confirmation of a plan, as well as the Debtor’s “deceptive motives” in filing.

The Debtor argues that he has not filed this case in bad faith, but rather in an honest attempt to recover from the bad tax advice he received in the 1990’s. The Debtor points out that he has continually increased the total amount of payments with each amended plan, and he contends that the delay in this case has been occasioned by his attempts to comply with all of the requirements of the Chapter 13 Trustee’s office.

C. Applicable Law

Section 1307(c) provides a nonexclusive list of grounds upon which a bankruptcy court may dismiss a Chapter 13 case for “cause”. Bad faith is not specifically listed, but nonetheless may constitute “cause” for dismissal. In re Gier, 986 F.2d 1326 (10th Cir.1993); In re Merrill, 192 B.R. 245 (Bankr.Colo.1995). Lack of good faith is shown when a debtor files a petition without intending to perform the statutory obligations of a debtor under the Bankruptcy Code or when a debtor’s conduct before or during a case constitutes an abuse of the provisions, purpose or spirit of the chapter under which relief is sought. In re Merrill, supra. In determining whether a case has been filed in bad faith, the Tenth Circuit has adopted a “totality of the circumstances” test. In re Young, 237 F.3d 1168 (2001); Pioneer Bank v. Rasmussen, 888 F.2d 703 (10th Cir.1989), Flygare v. Boulden, 709 F.2d 1344 (10th Cir.1983). In the Flygare case, the Tenth Circuit adopted the Eighth Circuit’s nonexclusive list of eleven factors to consider in making this determination. In Pioneer Bank v. Rasmussen, it added three additional factors to the list.

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Bluebook (online)
346 B.R. 211, 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 1560, 97 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 3035, 2006 WL 1985761, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-lanham-cob-2006.