In Re Liddle

75 B.R. 41, 1987 Bankr. LEXIS 969
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Montana
DecidedApril 21, 1987
Docket19-60191
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 75 B.R. 41 (In Re Liddle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Montana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Liddle, 75 B.R. 41, 1987 Bankr. LEXIS 969 (Mont. 1987).

Opinion

ORDER

JOHN L. PETERSON, Bankruptcy Judge.

At Butte in said District this 21st day of April, 1987.

*42 In this Chapter 12 case, the Federal Land Bank of Spokane (FLB) has filed a Motion To Set Time For Termination of Right of Redemption or in the Alternative, For Relief From the Automatic Stay. The Debtors filed their Chapter 12 Plan on March 12,1987. Hearing on confirmation was set for April 15, 1987, when the parties stipulated that the hearing should be continued until the Court ruled on whether the Debtors had sufficient legal interest in their farm property on which to confirm a Plan.

FLB’s motion states that it held a first mortgage on the Debtors’ 2240 acres of deeded land, which was foreclosed upon and then sold at Sheriffs Sale on January 7, 1986. FLB was purchaser at the Sheriffs Sale on January 7, 1986. Thus, a judgment on the mortgage is of record and the Debtors, under Montana law, had a one year right of redemption in the property, which expired January 7, 1987. Before the redemption period expired, the Chapter 12 petition was filed on December 30, 1986, listing total debts of $1,037,000.00, which includes the FLB judgment of $75,000.00. The largest creditor is Farmers Home Administration (FHA), which has a claim for $962,000.00. The Debtors listed no unsecured creditors, except FHA, which is un-dersecured. Under the Debtors’ proposed Plan, FLB will be paid $66,000.00 over 20 years at 6% interest per annum, and FHA will be paid $102,250.00 over 40 years at 6% interest. The Plan values the Debtors’ farm at $168,250.00.

FLB claims that under 11 U.S.C. § 108(b), the Debtors’ right to redeem the property from the foreclosure sale expired 60 days after the Order of Relief. Section 108(b) provides:

“Except as provided in Subsection (a) of this Section, if applicable non-bankruptcy law, an order entered in a non-bankruptcy proceeding, or an agreement fixes a period within which the debtor or an individual protected under Section 1201 or 1301 of this title may file any pleading, demand, notice, or proof of claim or loss, cure a default, or perform any other similar act, and such period has not expired before the date of the filing of the petition, the trustee may only file, cure, or perform, as the case may be, before the later of — (1) the end of such period, including any suspension of such period occurring on or after the commencement of the case; or (2) 60 days after the order for relief.”

FLB, relying on In Re Cucumber Creek Development, Inc., 33 B.R. 820, 11 B.D.C. 105 (D.Colo.1983), contends the Debtor-in-Possession under Chapter 12 had to redeem the property within 60 days after filing of the petition by paying the entire judgment to FLB within that period of time. The district court in Cucumber Creek Development held, under facts very similar to the case sub judice:

“In Jenkins [19 B.R. 105], however, I did not discuss or consider the applicability of 11 U.S.C. § 108 to such a case. Given an opportunity to consider the question here and to review the body of case law which has developed, I now conclude that § 362 is inapplicable, and that state redemption rights may be preserved and extended only to the extent provided by § 108.” Id. at 821.

To the same effect are Johnson v. First National Bank of Montevideo, Minn., 719 F.2d 270 (8th Cir.1983), cert. den., 465 U.S. 1012, 104 S.Ct. 1015, 79 L.Ed.2d 245; In Re Petersen, 42 B.R. 39 (Bankr.Or.1984); In Re Glenn, et al., 760 F.2d 1428 (6th Cir. 1985); Bank of Commonwealth v. Bevan, 13 B.R. 989 (E.D.Mich.1981); In Re Martinson, 26 B.R. 648 (D.N.D.1983); and Matter of Markee, 31 B.R. 429 (Bankr.D.Idaho 1983). The Debtors rely on In Re McCallen, 49 B.R. 948 (Bankr.Or.1985) and In Re Carr, 52 B.R. 250 (Bankr.S.D.Mich.1985). Both McCallen and Carr stand for the proposition, that under the state foreclosure method used by the creditor in those cases, a judgment of strict foreclosure or judgment of foreclosure on a land contract was not final, but was interlocutory, and a court imposed right of redemption as opposed to a statutory right was therefore governed and controlled by Section 362(a), not § 108(b) of the Code. Carr summarized such holding as follows: “ * * * The judgment of forfeiture is not final until the redemption period expires;

*43 thus, any further proceedings to obtain possession constitute the continuation of a judicial proceeding against the Debtor within the intended meaning of § 362(a)(1). * * * Where there is no substantive right to cure a default and deac-celerate a debt under state law, the stay is ineffective as to any acts to obtain possession of property; but once the Debtor comes under the protection of the Bankruptcy Code with an equitable ownership interest in the property, the stay affords him the opportunity to protect that interest via the means provided by the Bankruptcy Code.” Id., at 262-263.

Carr acknowledges that in the case where the right to deaccelerate dissolves under state law, such as at the time of the foreclosure sale, then Section 108(b) applies to the period of redemption, not Section 362. Id. at 260.

By statute in Montana, a judgment debt- or of real property has one year to redeem after sale by paying the purchaser the amount of his purchase price, plus interest and any taxes paid by the purchaser. § 25-13-802, MCA. If no redemption is made within one year after the sale, the purchaser is then entitled to a conveyance of the property by Sheriffs Deed. § 25-13-810 and 811, MCA. However, during the period of redemption, the purchaser is not entitled to possession of the property if the debtor personally occupies the land as a home for himself and his family. § 25-13-821, MCA. The purchaser is entitled from the time of sale to redemption, if made, the rents of the property or value of the use and occupation thereof, and in this regard, the statute describes the Debtor as the “tenant in possession”. § 25-13-822, MCA. Under these statutes and § 25-13-710, MCA, it has long been the law of Montana that upon sale by foreclosure, title passes to the purchaser, subject only to the right of redemption in the Mortgagor, and that right to redeem is not a property right but a mere privilege. Leonard v. Western, et al., 74 Mont. 513, 517, 241 P. 523 (1925).

Under the Bankruptcy Code, § 541(a), the debtor’s right of redemption which had not expired at the date of the bankruptcy petition being filed becomes property of the estate. Matter of Markee, supra, at 431 holds:

“However, that right was not expanded or enhanced by the fact of bankruptcy. The estate obtained only the interest of the defendants as mortgagors under Idaho law following foreclosure and sale.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re Rugroden
481 B.R. 69 (N.D. California, 2012)
Cash America Pawn, L.P. v. Murph
209 B.R. 419 (E.D. Texas, 1997)
In Re Farmer
81 B.R. 857 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1988)
In Re DiCello
80 B.R. 769 (E.D. North Carolina, 1987)
In Re Gomes Ranch
85 B.R. 558 (D. Montana, 1987)
In Re Eldorado, Inc.
85 B.R. 555 (D. Montana, 1987)
Welborn v. Ruegsegger
75 B.R. 243 (D. Montana, 1987)
In Re Monforton
75 B.R. 121 (D. Montana, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
75 B.R. 41, 1987 Bankr. LEXIS 969, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-liddle-mtb-1987.