In re Markoch

583 B.R. 911
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedApril 19, 2018
DocketCase No. DK 18–00740
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 583 B.R. 911 (In re Markoch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Markoch, 583 B.R. 911 (Mich. 2018).

Opinion

In his second chapter 13 case within a year, debtor Chris Markoch (the "Debtor") filed and served a corrected motion for continuation of the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3)(B) (ECF No 17, the "Motion"). The Debtor filed the Motion on the petition date (February 27, 2018) using the "negative notice" procedure authorized under LBR 4001-5 and 9013(c). The Debtor's home mortgage lender, U.S. Bank Trust, N.A. ("U.S. Bank"), timely filed an objection to the Motion (ECF No. 15, the "Objection") and requested a hearing.

The court reviewed the Motion and the Objection, and set the matter for hearing on the next available, regularly-scheduled, motion day for the Kalamazoo docket. A hearing took place on April 17, 2018 at which the Debtor appeared personally and through counsel. The chapter 13 trustee and U.S. Bank also appeared through counsel. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court offered its reasons for granting the Motion in part, and denying it in part. This written opinion supplements the court's oral statements on the record during the hearing.

Because the Debtor had two chapter 13 cases pending within a year of each other, one of which was dismissed, the Bankruptcy Code imposed limits on the duration or effect of the automatic stay in the second case. More specifically, with certain exceptions not relevant here, the statute provides as follows:

(3) if a single or joint case is filed by or against a debtor who is an individual in a case under chapter 7, 11, or 13, and if a single or joint case of the debtor was pending within the preceding 1-year period but was dismissed, other than a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after dismissal under section 707(b)-
(A) the stay under subsection (a) with respect to any action taken with respect to a debt or property securing such debt or with respect to any lease shall terminate with respect to the debtor on the 30th day after the filing of the later case;

11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3). An interested party-usually the debtor-who seeks an order extending the automatic stay that is set to terminate under § 362(c)(3) must move quickly because the statute provides a very small window for extending the stay under these circumstances:

(B) on the motion of a party in interest for continuation of the automatic stay and upon notice and a hearing, the court may extend the stay in particular cases as to any or all creditors (subject to such *913conditions or limitations as the court may then impose) after notice and a hearing completed before the expiration of the 30-day period only if the party in interest demonstrates that the filing of the later case is in good faith as to the creditors to be stayed ...

Id. § 362(c)(3)(B) (emphasis added). At the hearing to consider the present Motion, the court explained that because more than 30 days from the petition date had passed, it was no longer possible to complete the hearing within the statutory period as to U.S. Bank-the only creditor who objected to the Motion. See 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3)(B). As to creditors who had not opposed the Motion, however, the court observed that the "hearing" had been completed within the 30 day period because the phrase "after notice and a hearing" authorizes the court to act "without an actual hearing if such notice is given properly and if ... such a hearing is not requested timely by a party in interest." Id. § 102(1)(B)(i).

In response to the court's statement that it was too late to grant the Motion as to U.S. Bank, the Debtor's counsel argued that LBR 4001-5, which authorizes use of the "notice and opportunity to object" procedures under LBR 9013(c), should be read as modifying the 30 day period prescribed in § 362(c)(3)(B), as long as a debtor files the motion to extend the stay within 7 days of the filing of the petition.

The court rejects the argument under LBR 4001-5 principally because a local court rule cannot modify an Act of Congress, and because the procedural choices of one litigant (here, the Debtor's election to use LBR 4001-5 and 9013(c) ) should not affect the substantive rights of another (here, U.S. Bank's right to insist that the stay lifted by operation of law on the thirtieth day after the petition date). See Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9029(a)(1) (authorizing local rules that are consistent with Acts of Congress and national rules); cf . 28 U.S.C. § 2075 (national rules may not modify any "substantive right").

Having filed this second case-once again on the eve of foreclosure-it was quite likely that the Motion would draw an objection and request for hearing from U.S. Bank, and that the hearing might be scheduled outside the 30 day period in the ordinary course of the Clerk's operations, absent some request from the Debtor's counsel for expedited scheduling given the statutory deadline. While some motions which draw objections under LBR 4001-5 and 9013(c) may easily be scheduled on a regular motion day within the 30 day period prescribed in § 362(c)(3), the court's motion calendar does not always permit the hearing to be set, let alone "concluded," within that time. It is the duty of movant's counsel to ensure that the scheduling of the matter does not affect the client's substantive rights by alerting the court to the issue and requesting some accommodation as to scheduling. The court is exceedingly receptive to such requests, especially in situations involving self-effectuating and unforgiving statutory deadlines that sometimes set traps for the unwary litigant or practitioner.1

So, returning to this case, as a matter of law the automatic stay "terminate[d] with respect to the [D]ebtor on the 30th day after the filing of the later case"-as to U.S. Bank (who objected to the Motion), but not as to others (who did not object).

U.S. Bank's seeming victory, however, does not authorize the bank to foreclose on *914the Debtor's residence so long as the property remains within the bankruptcy estate, or until the court grants relief from the automatic stay.2

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
583 B.R. 911, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-markoch-miwb-2018.