In Re Novak

102 B.R. 22, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 1122, 1989 WL 76634
United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. New York·Decided April 14, 1989·No. 1-19-01011·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

CECELIA H. GOETZ, Bankruptcy Judge:

Robert and Cathleen Novak (“Novaks” or “debtors”) filed a plan for reorganization under Chapter 12 on February 14, 1989, which came before the Court for confirmation on March 16th and March 21, 1989.

The debtors are family farmers by virtue of their ownership of two corporations, No-vaks Tropical Aviary, Inc. (“NTA”) and Wildlife Centers, Inc. (“WLC”). NTA is a New York corporation organized in 1974. WLC is a Delaware corporation organized in 1986. Both corporations have also filed under Chapter 12. NTA filed on August 15, 1988, WLC on October 20, 1988. The debtors filed on November 17, 1988.

According to the schedules filed by NTA and WLC, those two corporations have operated essentially as one unit, co-mingling funds and sharing expenses. Both corporations are engaged in the growing of grain, breeding of birds and the breeding and stabling of horses. NTA’s petition shows assets in the amount of $128,587.70 and liabilities of $434,387.71. WLC lists assets in the amount of $32,660 and debt in the amount of $239,050. This is the second time NTA has resorted to the protection of the bankruptcy law. On May 28, 1979, it filed under Chapter XI of the Bankruptcy Act and confirmed a plan of arrangement paying ten cents on the dollar on February 23, 1983.

Neither of the petitions of the two corporate debtors provides any information on *23 past income, responding to questions calling for this information for each of the two years preceding 1988 as “not yet determined” or “not available.” However a debt of $9,000 for payroll taxes is shown for 1987 as owed by WLC.

According to the information furnished by the Novaks their gross income in 1987 was approximately $60,000 and the prior year, including rent and loan payments from NTA and WLC, was $26,750. The debtors’ schedules show real property consisting of a 13 acre farm and a one family dwelling in Brightwaters, New York, of the value of $910,000 burdened by $502,000 in mortgages. In addition they are owed $200,000 by NTA and WLC for loans and rent.

According to the debtors' Chapter 12 plan they anticipate collecting salaries in the future in the amount of $62,500 net from the two corporations now in reorganization under Chapter 12 and rental income from the same sources in the amount of $26,000, plus repayment of loans in an amount as yet unknown. Salaries and rents will yield them a total income of $88,500. Their personal expenses, including clothing, food, medical, transportation, but not income taxes, add up to $31,175, leaving them an excess of income over expenses of $57,325.

The debtors propose to pay $469 a month to the Chapter 12 Trustee for a period of 36 months to be used exclusively for the payment of various secured creditors; unsecured creditors are to receive nothing. According to the debtors’ schedules they have secured debts of $414,090 and unsecured debts of $159,886.

Several secured creditors appeared at the hearing on confirmation to object to the proposed plan which radically alters the terms of their security interest in the debtors’ property. In the ease of Corporate Financing which holds a mortgage on the personal residence of Mrs. Novak and her children, it increases the payout time from ten years to thirty years and reduces the interest rate from 16%% to 10%; in the case of John and Barbara Klein who hold a first mortgage on the debtors’ 13 acre farm, it increases the period in which the loan is to be paid off from three to thirty years and reduces the interest from 12% to 8V2%. With respect to both creditors the plan proposes to make a single annual payment in lieu of the monthly payments called for by the original security agreements. The debtors defend their right to make these radical changes by virtue of § 1222(b)(2) which, unlike the corresponding provision of Chapter 13, permits modification of the rights of holders of secured claims, including those holding mortgages on a debtor’s principal residence. However, the debtors presented no evidence as to why these radical changes in the rate of interest to be paid, the length of the term or the time of the payments were needed for an effective reorganization.

The Court, however, finds it unnecessary to reach the issues raised by these objections because the plan cannot be confirmed at the present time for a number of reasons. One is that in view of the debtors’ substantial equity in their real estate— over $400,000 — a plan paying nothing to unsecured creditors does not satisfy 11 U.S.C. § 1225(a)(4). 1 Such creditors would receive substantially more in a liquidation of the debtors’ assets in Chapter 7 than the debtors propose to pay them. However, the debtors have stated that they intend to amend their plan to raise the amount for unsecured creditors. A second reason why the plan cannot be confirmed is that the debtors have failed to satisfy 11 U.S.C. § 1225(a)(6) which requires them to show that they “will be able to make all payments under the plan and to comply with the plan.”

*24 DISCUSSION

The debtor has the burden of proof on all elements of Bankruptcy Code § 1225(a), including feasibility. In re Adam, 92 B.R. 732 (Bankr.E.D.Mich.1988); In re Martin, 78 B.R. 593 (Bankr.D.Mont. 1987). Section 1225, Confirmation of Plan, reads:

(a) except as provided in subsection (b) the court shall confirm a plan if
* * * * * *
(6) the debtor will be able to make all payments under the plan and to comply with the plan.

The key to the determination of feasibility relates to “the probability of actual performance of provisions of the plan.” In re Konzak, 78 B.R. 990 (Bankr.D.N.D.1987). “The determination of feasibility cannot be made in an evidentiary vacuum but ... must be rooted in probability predictions based upon objective fact.” In re Konzak, supra, 78 B.R. at 994, citing, In re Clarkson, 767 F.2d 417, 420 (8th Cir. 1985). All income projections must be based on concrete evidence and must not be speculative or conjectural. In re Snider Farms, Inc., 83 B.R. 1003 (Bankr.N.D.Ind. 1988).

The debtors’ ability to make the payments called for by the plan is entirely dependent on the ability of NTA and WLC to make salary and rental payments in the amounts projected. At the present time both corporations are in financial limbo, both have filed under Chapter 12, neither has as yet confirmed a plan. Such information as to them as is available is wholly inconsistent with deeming them to have the ability to pay the debtors close to $90,000 a year.

On January 18, 1989, both NTA and WLC filed plans of reorganization on which a confirmation hearing was scheduled on February 21, 1989. An amended plan supplying the missing information was filed in NTA’s case on February 14, 1989 and in WLC’s case on February 17, 1989, but no one except the Chapter 12 Trustee and the United States Trustee was served with copies of the amended plan.

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In Re Novak, 102 B.R. 22, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 1122, 1989 WL 76634 (N.Y. 1989).

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