In Re McMonagle

30 B.R. 899, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 6091, 10 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1086
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. South Dakota
DecidedJune 3, 1983
Docket14-40074
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 30 B.R. 899 (In Re McMonagle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. South Dakota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re McMonagle, 30 B.R. 899, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 6091, 10 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1086 (S.D. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION

PEDER K. ECKER, Bankruptcy Judge.

This matter came on for hearing on the objection to confirmation of the Debtors’ Chapter 13 plan filed by unsecured creditors Marlyn E. Hanten and Geraldine Hanten (“Hanten”). Thereafter, unsecured creditors G & H Masonry (“G & H”) and the Omaha National Bank (the “Bank”) joined in Hanten’s objections. After several continuances, the objections came on for hearing before the undersigned Bankruptcy Judge. The Court having heard the evidence and the arguments of counsel, having reviewed the memorandums of law submitted by the parties, and being fully informed and advised, finds as follows.

On February 13, 1981, Michael Raymond McMonagle and Suzanne B. McMonagle (the “Debtors”) filed a Chapter 7 petition. The trustee reported that there were no assets to be distributed in the individual Debtors’ case. McMonagle Construction Company, Inc. (the “debtor Company”), filed for relief under Chapter 7 on February 13, 1981. Debtor Michael Raymond McMo-nagle was the president of the debtor Company. All assets have been administered, the trustee discharged, and the debtor Company’s bankruptcy case closed by the Court’s order of January 6, 1983.

The Bank obtained a judgment of nondis-chargeability against debtor Michael Raymond McMonagle on June 22,1981. G & H filed a complaint to determine nondis- *901 chargeability on April 8, 1981. Hanten filed a complaint to determine nondis-chargeability on May 6, 1981. Both cases have been continued pending confirmation of the Debtors’ Chapter 13 plan.

On July 17, 1981, Michael Raymond McMonagle and Suzanne B. McMonagle converted their Chapter 7 case to a Chapter 13 case. The Debtors owed no secured debt. The Debtors owed $59,138.00 in non-contingent, liquidated, unsecured debts on July 17, 1981. The Debtors’ plan proposed to pay $10,500.00 over a sixty-month period. One priority unsecured creditor would be paid approximately $550.00 and the balance of the payments would be paid on a pro rata basis to the unsecured creditors filing claims. After six months from the date of the creditors’ meeting, unsecured proofs of claim had been filed in an amount of $6,843.00.

On July 21, 1981, the Office of the Clerk of the Bankruptcy Court mailed notice of the Debtors’ conversion to a Chapter 13 case. Such notice included the notification that the meeting of creditors was scheduled for August 5, 1981, with a confirmation hearing to be held immediately thereafter and that all creditors had six months within which to file a proof of claim in order to share in any distribution. Hanten, G & H, and the Bank and their respective counsel were included on the mailing matrix from which notice was given by the Clerk’s office.

At the hearing on confirmation of the Debtors’ Chapter 13 plan held August 5, 1981, counsel for Hanten submitted written objections to confirmation. G & H and the Bank orally joined in the objections of Han-ten. Hanten requested a hearing on the objections and the confirmation hearing was continued pending a hearing on the objections.

On January 15,1982, G & H and the Bank each filed written objections to confirmation of the Debtors’ Chapter 13 plan.

On February 18, 1982, a hearing on the objections of Hanten, G & H, and the Bank was held before the Court. There were three objections raised by Hanten. The first objection challenges the eligibility of the Debtors to file for relief under Chapter 13. Hanten submits that the Debtors owe noncontingent, liquidated, unsecured debts in excess of $100,000.00. The second objection alleges that the Debtors’ plan was not filed in good faith because the debtors converted to Chapter 13 to avoid paying a fraud judgment entered by a state court against the Debtors. The third objection also relies on the state court judgment. Hanten argues that the debt would be non-dischargeable under Chapter 7 but would be discharged in a Chapter 13 and Hanten would, therefore, receive less on their claim under the Debtors’ Chapter 13 plan than in a Chapter 7 liquidation.

G & H joins in the objections of Hanten for the reasons set out by Hanten. The Bank also joins in the objections of Hanten for the reasons set out by Hanten.

Hanten raises two additional objections in its memorandum of law that were not raised in the written objections nor raised at the hearing on the objections. Hanten requested a hearing on the objections which were filed in open court at the time originally scheduled for confirmation. The confirmation hearing was continued pending resolution of the objections. While it is true that the Court, at an 11 U.S.C. § 1324 confirmation hearing, has a duty, independent of the trustee, to make a rigorous examination of the debtor’s plan and its compliance with the requirements of 11 U.S.C. § 1325, the confirmation hearing is the proper forum for such determination. Therefore, the issue of feasibility of the Debtors’ plan is not properly before the Court as the record reflects such objection was not raised prior to submission to the Court of Hanten’s memorandum of law and no evidence was presented on such issue at the hearing on objections.

The second issue raised in the Hanten memorandum, but not prior to that, challenges the eligibility of the Debtors to file for relief under Chapter 13. It is alleged that although debtor Michael McMonagle was employed at the time of filing the *902 Chapter 13 petition, because he was unemployed at the objections hearing, Michael McMonagle is not an individual with a regular income and the Debtors, therefore, are not eligible for Chapter 13 relief. This objection is not confined to determination of section 1325 requirements to be proven at a confirmation hearing, but is properly before the Court as a challenge to jurisdiction.

Based on the above, three issues are before the Court. The first issue is whether the Debtors are eligible for relief under Chapter 13. The second issue is whether a Chapter 13 plan is filed in good faith when the Debtors originally filed a Chapter 7 petition and converted to Chapter 13 after one judgment for nondischargeability of a debt was entered and two additional complaints alleging nondischargeability of debts were filed. The third issue is whether the issue of dischargeability of an unsecured creditor’s claim in a Chapter 7 proceeding is relevant to the Court’s determination of whether a Chapter 13 plan provides for payments of not less than would be paid on a creditor’s claim if the Debtors’ estate were liquidated in a Chapter 7.

Section 109(e) of The Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, the Bankruptcy Code, governs the eligibility of debtors to relief under Chapter 13. The pertinent part of section 109(e) provides:

[A]n individual with regular income and such individual’s spouse, .. . that owe, on the date of the filing of the petition, noncontingent, liquidated, unsecured debts that aggregate less than $100,000 and non-contingent, liquidated, secured debts of less than $350,000 may be a debtor under chapter 13 of this title.

11 U.S.C. § 109(e) (1979).

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Bluebook (online)
30 B.R. 899, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 6091, 10 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 1086, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-mcmonagle-sdb-1983.