In re Mahloch

160 B.R. 369, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18944
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nebraska
DecidedOctober 17, 1986
DocketNo. CV. 86-0-219; Bankruptcy Nos. 82-2072, 82-2073
StatusPublished

This text of 160 B.R. 369 (In re Mahloch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nebraska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Mahloch, 160 B.R. 369, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18944 (D. Neb. 1986).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

STROM, Chief Judge.

This matter is presently before the Court for the second time on appeal. The initial appeal was from findings and orders made by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nebraska entered on May 25, 1984. This Court subsequently reversed the Bankruptcy Court’s orders and remanded the proceedings. In re Mahloch, et al., CV. 84-0-349 and CV. 84-0-350, slip op. (D.Neb. June 19, 1985). The present appeal is from the bankruptcy court’s decision on remand, again denying Saline State Bank’s (hereinafter Bank) applications to sequester rents and profits.

The facts, as found by this Court in its June 20 order, are these.

On November 30, 1982, debtors filed their petitions under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Bank subsequently filed its proofs of claims in excess of one million dollars in each of the estates herein, such claims secured by real estate mortgages, security interests in crops, and assignment of land contracts and a portion of debtor’s claims in two other bankruptcy estates. The mortgages and land contracts contain a provision for assignment of rents and profits to the Bank upon default by the mortgagee. Such provision states:
Provided further, that upon such default the Mortgagee, or a receiver appointed by the court, may at his option and without regard to the adequacy of the security, enter upon and take possession of the Property and collect the rents, issues and profits therefrom and apply them first to the cost of collection and operation of the Property and then upon the indebtedness secured by the Mortgage; said rents, issues and profits being hereby assigned to the Mortgagee as further security for the payment of the indebtedness secured hereby.
It is undisputed that debtors were in default on the applicable promissory notes and loan agreements when they filed their bankruptcy petitions. Nevertheless, as debtors in possession, they continued to operate their farming business in 1983, obtaining rental income and Payment-in-Kind (PIK) program benefits from the encumbered property. On September 28, 1983, Bank filed its applications to sequester rents and profits, seeking to protect its [371]*371asserted interest in rent, crop proceeds and PIK benefits.

Id. at 1-2.

On remand, Bankruptcy Judge Timothy J. Mahoney found this Court erred in its conclusion that the debtors were in default on the applicable promissory note and loan agreements when they filed the bankruptcy petitions. He specifically held “On November 30, 1982, the day the debtors filed their bankruptcy petitions, they were not in default under any term of the mortgages or contracts.” In re Mahloch, et al., 62 B.R. 744, 745 (Bankr.Neb.1986). Both the Bank and First National Bank of Chicago (hereinafter FNB), an unsecured creditor who opposed the applications, concur with this finding.

The parties also agree with the following findings of fact made by the Bankruptcy Court. The Bank had not commenced foreclosure proceedings, nor had it secured the appointment of a receiver to take possession of rents and profits from the subject real estate prior to the filing of the debtors’ bankruptcy petitions. Additionally, the debtors were current on all taxes against the real estate at the time the petitions were filed. Throughout 1983, the Mahlochs operated their farm business as debtors in possession. They accumulated $243,472.88 in “rents and profits” which was generated by the debtors’ use of the pledged land. During that same period, the Mahlochs failed to pay property taxes on a timely basis. Their failure appears to be in breach of a provision included in both the mortgages and contracts requiring that all property taxes be paid when due. Some of the delinquent property taxes remained unpaid at the time the Bank’s application for sequestration was filed.

The sole issue addressed by the Bankruptcy Court below was: May a mortgagee perfect its interest in rents and profits post-petition if the debtor was not in default pre-petition? Id. at p. 747. Upon review of the applicable law, the Court concluded that the Bank could not rely on post-petition defaults to perfect an interest or a lien in rents and profits. Thus, the Bankruptcy Court denied the Bank’s application for a sequestration of the rents and profits. On appeal, the Bank contends the Bankruptcy Court erred as a matter of law in its finding.

Before this Court addresses the merits of the appeal, it is prudent to state the general standard of review that guides the Court in matters such as this. On appeal, a district court is not bound by the Bankruptcy Judge’s conclusions of law; however, the Bankruptcy Judge’s findings of fact are entitled to stand unless clearly erroneous. In re American Beef Packers, Inc., 457 F.Supp. 313, 314 (D.Neb.1978); see also Bankruptcy Rule of Procedure 8013.

The United States Supreme Court recently addressed a problem quite similar to that which presently faces the Court. Butner v. United States, 440 U.S. 48, 99 S.Ct. 914, 59 L.Ed.2d 136 (1979). The Supreme Court found a mortgagee’s right to rents and profits collected during its mortgagor’s bankruptcy is governed by the law of the state where the property is located, rather than by a “federal rule of equity.” In reaching this decision, the Court reasoned:

Property interests are created and defined by state law. Unless some federal interest requires a different result, there is no reason why such interests should be analyzed differently simply because an interested party is involved in a bankruptcy proceeding.

Id. at 55, 99 S.Ct. at 918. Accordingly, state law governs the Bank’s rights to the rents and profits. The parties agree that Nebraska’s law is applicable.

Under Nebraska law, the mortgagor of real estate retains legal title and the right of possession thereof. Neb.Rev.Stat. § 76-276 (Reissue 1981). This relationship between the mortgagor and mortgagee, however, may be modified through stipulation to the contrary. Absent such stipulation, the mortgagor is vested with the right to collect all rents and profits inuring from the real property until he is dispossessed. Huston v. Canfield, 57 Neb. 345, 77 N.W. 763 (1899). Again, the mortgagor’s right to rents and profits may be modified by stipulation or agreement to the contrary. Id.; Central Savings Bank v. First Cadco Corp., 186 Neb. 112, 181 N.W.2d 261 (1970); Penn Mutual [372]*372Life Ins. Co. v. Katz, 139 Neb. 501, 297 N.W. 899 (1941). The Mahloehs and the Bank, in executing the mortgages at issue, agreed to such a modification. They agreed that upon default, the Bank or a receiver appointed by the court, may take possession of the property and collect rents and profits therefrom. Under an agreement granting a mortgagee the right to collect rents and profits upon default, Nebraska law recognizes an “equitable lien” theory:

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Related

Butner v. United States
440 U.S. 48 (Supreme Court, 1979)
United States v. Landmark Park & Associates
795 F.2d 683 (Eighth Circuit, 1986)
In Re Anderson
50 B.R. 728 (D. Nebraska, 1985)
Matter of Mahloch
62 B.R. 744 (D. Nebraska, 1986)
Central Savings Bank v. FIRST CADCO CORPORATION
181 N.W.2d 261 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1970)
In Re American Beef Packers, Inc.
457 F. Supp. 313 (D. Nebraska, 1978)
Huston v. Canfield
77 N.W. 763 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1899)
Penn Mutual Life Insurance v. Katz
297 N.W. 899 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1941)
Federal Farm Mortgage Corp. v. Ganser
20 N.W.2d 689 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1945)
Golden Enterprises, Inc. v. United States
566 F.2d 1207 (Fourth Circuit, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
160 B.R. 369, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18944, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-mahloch-ned-1986.