In Re Ponce

218 B.R. 571, 39 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 834, 1998 Bankr. LEXIS 423, 1998 WL 117759
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Washington
DecidedMarch 10, 1998
Docket17-02828
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 218 B.R. 571 (In Re Ponce) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Ponce, 218 B.R. 571, 39 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 834, 1998 Bankr. LEXIS 423, 1998 WL 117759 (Wash. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JOHN A. ROSSMEISSL, Chief Judge.

I. Facts & Procedural History

Robert C. Ponce is the debtor in this Chapter 13 case. His schedules list assets of *572 $4,021.00, all of which are claimed exempt. The debts total $12,302.00, including a $600.00 criminal fine for driving while license suspended. To date filed general unsecured claims total $11,560.88 including the criminal fine. The debtor’s schedules reflect monthly income of $1,127.00 and expenses of $1,027.00.

The debtor’s Chapter 13 plan proposes monthly plan payments of $100.00 for 36 months, for a total base amount of $3,600.00. The plan funding analysis reflects the debt- or’s intent to pay $800.00 attorney’s fees, $360.00 trustee’s fees, $600.00 for the separately classified criminal traffic fine, and $1,840.00 to the general unsecured claims, totaling the $3,600.00 base amount.

The Chapter 13 trustee filed an objection to the debtor’s plan arguing that it could not separately classify the criminal traffic fine without extending the plan term to sixty (60) months.

The case came on for hearing on the court’s contested confirmation docket. At that time the matter was set over for an evidentiary hearing at which the debtor appeared and testified. After hearing the evidence this court took the matter under advisement.

II. Issue

Does the debtor’s Chapter 13 plan which proposes to pay the criminal traffic fine one hundred percent while paying the remainder of general unsecured claims fifteen percent discriminate unfairly against the unfavored class of unsecured claimants?

III. Discussion

A. Statutory Framework.

This case involves the debtor’s ability to separately classify claims in a Chapter 13 case. The primary statutory authority on this issue is 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b) which provides:

(b) Subject to subsections (a) and (c) of this section, the plan may—
(1) designate a class or classes of unsecured claims, as provided in section 1122 of this title, but may not discriminate unfairly against any class so designated; however, such plan may treat claims for a consumer debt of the debtor if an individual is hable on such consumer debt with the debtor differently than other unsecured claims;
Section 11 U.S.C. § 1322(a) provides in pertinent part:
(a) the plan shall—
(3) if the plan classifies claims, provide the same treatment for each claim within a particular class.

Section 11 U.S.C. § 1122 provides:

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, a plan may place a claim or an interest in a particular class only if such claim or interest is substantially similar to the other claims or interests of such class.
(b) A plan may designate a separate class of claims consisting only of every unsecured claim that is less than or reduced to an amount that the court approves as reasonable and necessary for administrative convenience.

B. The Wolff Test.

The case of In re Sperna, 173 B.R. 654 (9th Cir. BAP 1994) provides the leading authority on this issue in the Ninth Circuit. Spema provides at p. 658:

The term “discriminate unfairly” in Section 1322(b)(1) implies that the Chapter 13 debtor may discriminate to some degree in the plan. Furthermore, it is clear that by permitting the separate classification of unsecured claims, Congress anticipated some discrimination, otherwise creating separate classes would serve no pur-pose_However, Congress did not provide a definition of “discriminate unfairly” in the Code_Courts developed a four-part test to evaluate a plan’s discrimination ... The Panel adopted this test in In re Wolff, supra. Under this test, the court must determine:
(1) whether the discrimination has a reasonable basis; (2) whether the debtor can carry out a plan without the discrimination; (3) whether the discrimination is proposed in good faith; and (4) whether the degree of discrimination is directly related to the basis or rationale for the dis *573 crimination. Restating the last element, does the basis for the discrimination demand that this degree of differential treatment be imposed?

(Citations omitted.)

The court will apply the four factors identified in In re Wolff, 22 B.R. 510 (9th Cir. BAP 1982) as instructed by Spema.

1. Whether the discrimination has a reasonable basis?

All the claims in this case are unsecured and non priority. The debtor is proposing to separately classify and pay in full a criminal fine which is nondisehargeable in Chapter IS. 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a)(3). He is preferring this one creditor over all other creditors in that the fine will be paid one hundred percent while the others receive fifteen percent of their claims.

The debtor argues that this different treatment is justified on the basis' criminal fines are nondisehargeable by statute while the others are not.

There has been a substantial debate in the case law as to whether discrimination on the basis of dischargeability of the debt is reasonable. One line of cases suggests that the separate classification should be approved if it meets the legitimate interests of the debt- or. This position has been eloquently and scholarly argued in the case of In re Brown, 152 B.R. 232 (Bankr.N.D.Ill.1993), reversed by McCullough v. Brown, 162 B.R. 506 (N.D.Ill.1993). In this case Judge Wedoff articulated the following rationale in support of this approach:

... If the debtor can point to an objective benefit to be obtained or harm to be avoided by the discrimination, consistent with the purposes of Chapter 13, the debt- or’s interest should be recognized as legitimate. Here, the debtor’s interest is in emerging from the bankruptcy free of debt, with a “fresh start.” This is an objective interest entirely consistent with the purposes of Chapter 13. In discussing the need for a limit on the extent of Chapter 13 plans, Congress referred to the fresh start as “the essence of modem bankruptcy law” H.R.Rep. No. 595, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 117 (1977), and its importance has long been recognized by the courts. E.g., Local Loan Co. v. Hunt, 292 U.S. 234, 243-45, 54 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
218 B.R. 571, 39 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 834, 1998 Bankr. LEXIS 423, 1998 WL 117759, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-ponce-waeb-1998.