In Re Maddox

84 B.R. 251, 1987 Bankr. LEXIS 2190, 1987 WL 44306
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedDecember 15, 1987
Docket15-74423
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 84 B.R. 251 (In Re Maddox) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Maddox, 84 B.R. 251, 1987 Bankr. LEXIS 2190, 1987 WL 44306 (Ga. 1987).

Opinion

ORDER

STACEY W. COTTON, Bankruptcy Judge.

This matter is before the court on remand from the United States District Court for a determination of the fairness, equita-bility, and lack of discrimination of debtor’s proposed plan of reorganization.

FINDINGS OF FACT

On March 28,1980, the debtor, Y.D. Maddox, Jr., doing business as Jefferson Meat Processing, filed a Chapter 11 petition. Debtor filed a proposed plan of reorganization on November 17, 1980, which made no provision for any claims of debtor’s former wife, Carolyn P. Maddox. An amended plan was filed on December 11, 1980, in which the claim of Ms. Maddox was separately classified (Class IX). The plan sought to discharge the claim of Ms. Maddox which arose out of the December 6, 1979 final judgment and divorce decree between Y.D. Maddox and Carolyn P. Maddox in the Jackson County, Georgia Superi- or Court. That divorce decree provided as follows:

Defendant shall retain all property in his name and pay all indebtedness including, but not restricted to, Loan No. 0-3606852-1 in favor of the Federal Land Bank of Columbia, South Carolina, presently with an unpaid principal and accumulated interest, advances, etc. of $166, - 906.43, recorded in Deed Book 7-E, Pages 254, 257, and any expenses con *253 nected with notice of foreclosure which was given by said obligee in a letter dated November 6, 1979 addressed to plaintiff amd [sic] a letter of even date addressed to defendant, both of said letters being from Benjamin B. Boyd, Sr., attorney for obligee, and defendant shall prevent the same from being foreclosed and he shall save plaintiff harmless of all liability on said loan and from any loss occasioned by any non-payment of said loan and the costs as described in said letter, including but not restricted to attorney’s fees provided in the note secured by said security deed in favor of the Federal Land Bank of Columbia, South Carolina.
Defendant shall pay all other indebtedness on real property owned by the parties jointly or by defendant on or before all due dates.
This judgment does not change the title to any real property as it existed prior to the date of this judgment.

At the time of the divorce decree Mr. and Ms. Maddox were cosigners on an indebtedness to the Federal Land Bank as elaborated in the final judgment. This loan was secured by several tracts of property, one of which was jointly owned by the parties and consisted of approximately 178.6 acres. The remaining property securing the debt was owned by Mr. Maddox.

A portion of the jointly owned property, 95.88 acres, was sold for $121,241.00 pursuant to bankruptcy court approval. The proceeds of this sale were applied toward payment of the debt to the Federal Land Bank, taxes, and costs of disposition of the property. Furthermore, $10,743.62 of the sales proceeds of this jointly owned property was reserved for payment of debtor’s attorneys’ fees. (See Carolyn P. Maddox’s Response to ‘Trustee’s Brief on Remand for Determination of Plan’s Fairness, Equita-bility and Lack of Discrimination’, page four, filed August 10,1987; Trustee’s Brief on Remand for Determination of Plan’s Fairness, Equitability and Lack of Discrimination, page seven, filed August 4, 1987). 1

The remaining 82 acres of the jointly owned property were sold for $24,600 pursuant to bankruptcy court approval. 2 The court authorized disbursal of the sale proceeds to the Federal Land Bank, taxing authorities, and auctioneers. The jointly owned property thus produced total gross sale proceeds of $145,841.00.

On March 24, 1981, Ms. Maddox and other creditors filed objections to confirmation of debtor’s plan. On June 8, 1981, debtor filed a “Third Amendment to Plan of Reorganization” (actually this was only the second amendment) which provided for Ms. Maddox’s claim as follows:

After all existing encumbrances are paid from the proceeds derived from the sale of the property jointly held by Carolyn P. Maddox and the Debtor, Carolyn P. Maddox shall be entitled to one-half of the equity realized from future sales of said property, or be entitled to a deed for one-half of the remainder of the said unsold property after all encumbrances are satisfied. In the event no equity is realized after the payment of all encumbrances or upon receipt of a deed conveying one-half of the remainder of the unsold jointly owned property, whichever occurs, the claim of Carolyn P. Maddox ... shall terminate and no longer be enforceable against the Debtor.

*254 Bankruptcy Judge William L. Norton, Jr., by separate order and judgment entered June 19, 1981, determined that Ms. Maddox’s claim against the debtor was in the nature of a property settlement, was dischargeable in bankruptcy, and denied Ms. Maddox’s objection to debtor’s plan. On June 26, 1981, Ms. Maddox appealed this order to the District Court.

Notwithstanding the pendency of this appeal, on November 9, 1981, Judge Norton entered an order confirming debtor’s plan of reorganization, as amended. Further, on November 16, 1981, Judge Norton issued a third order disallowing Ms. Maddox’s claim on the grounds that “the Court had previously ruled against said creditor having any claim over and above one-half of the equity in the jointly owned real estate.” On December 9, 1981, Ms. Maddox appealed the order of confirmation as it related to her interest.

By order of March 24, 1982, United States District Judge William C. O’Kelley reversed the June 19, 1981 order and remanded the case to the bankruptcy court for further findings regarding the dis-chargeability of Ms. Maddox’s claim against the debtor. That court noted that consideration of other issues including the fairness of the plan to Ms. Maddox and the awarding of attorneys’ fees to counsel for debtor from the proceeds of the jointly owned property was premature at that time and would be postponed until later. Specifically the court wanted the bankruptcy court on remand to make findings of fact regarding whether Ms. Maddox’s claim was nondischargeable alimony or a dis-chargeable property settlement. Following the remand Judge O’Kelley, by order of May 19, 1982, dismissed Ms. Maddox’s appeal of the order of confirmation as premature.

Pursuant to Judge O’Kelley’s remand order of March 24, 1982, Judge Norton entered a further order dated November 26, 1984 in which he found the claim of Ms. Maddox to be a property settlement and thus dischargeable in bankruptcy pursuant to 11 U.S.C. Section 523. Ms. Maddox appealed and on August 30, 1985 Judge O’Kelley affirmed that portion of the order that found the hold harmless agreement and Ms. Maddox’s interest in the jointly owned property to be a dischargeable property settlement. He reversed and remanded this action to the bankruptcy court for further consideration of the plan including the issues of the fairness, equitability, and lack of discrimination of the plan of reorganization to Ms. Maddox pursuant to 11 U.S.C. Section 1129.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
84 B.R. 251, 1987 Bankr. LEXIS 2190, 1987 WL 44306, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-maddox-ganb-1987.