In re Spencer

531 B.R. 208, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 1668, 2015 WL 2375885
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedMay 15, 2015
DocketCase No. 15-11204-13-cjf
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 531 B.R. 208 (In re Spencer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Spencer, 531 B.R. 208, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 1668, 2015 WL 2375885 (Wis. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Hon. Catherine J. Furay, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge

I. Statement of Procedural History

The Debtor, Sheila Marie Spencer (“Spencer”), filed this Chapter 13 bankruptcy case on April 3, 2015. PNC Bank, N.A. (“PNC”) filed a Motion for Relief from Stay with In Rem Relief for Real Property Located at 1222 W. Jefferson Street, Marshfield, Wisconsin 54449, on April 16, along with a memorandum in support of the motion. PNC requested relief pursuant to section 105(a) and sections 362(d)(1), (2), and (4) of the Bankruptcy Code.

Spencer filed a Chapter 13 Plan and an offer of adequate protection on April 17, 2015. The adequate protection offer proposes to make monthly payments of $1,270.88 to “the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), in its own identity and capacity or as Trustee of an Unidentified Securitization Trust, or its successors or assigns (possibly the United States Treasury) to her attorney’s trust account, pending sale of her homestead. ...” Offer of Adequate Protection, Docket #24. Spencer’s Amended Chapter 13 Plan states a sale of her homestead will be to her son, “contingent upon Buyer obtaining financing at an interest rate not to exceed 5% per annum.” Offer to Purchase, Docket # 29, Exhibit A.

The Court conducted an evidentiary hearing on May 11, 2015, and the parties submitted written argument.

II. Background

The relevant facts have been recited numerous times by this Court and other courts1 and will not be recited in detail here. A summary of the facts is sufficient to address the issues presented by the motion for relief from stay and the proffered adequate protection.

[211]*211Spencer borrowed $209,160 to purchase a home in 2005. She signed a Note for, that amount. The Note was secured by a mortgage on the home. No payments have been received and applied to the Note since late 2008. While the parties dispute the facts surrounding the failure of payments in 2008, Spencer concedes she has not tendered or made any payment in years. A foreclosure was commenced in April 2009 by FNMC, a division of National City Bank of Indiana n/k/a National City Bank. An amended foreclosure complaint was filed naming PNC as the plaintiff. It is undisputed that Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) owns a beneficial interest in the Note and Mortgage and PNC is the servicer.

In 2010, Spencer filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. PNC moved for and was granted relief from stay. Spencer received a discharge of her personal liability on the Note. The foreclosure action continued. PNC was formally substituted as the plaintiff. PNC filed a motion for summary judgment.

Spencer then began advancing the argument that is the theme of various theories in subsequent proceedings: PNC is not the real party in interest, Freddie Mac is the “true owner” of her Note, and PNC has no standing to enforce the Mortgage. She filed a motion for contempt in the bankruptcy court in 2012, claiming PNC and others continued in personam collection actions in the foreclosure proceeding in violation of the discharge order. That motion was denied. She then filed a motion to reopen the Chapter 7 ease. The bankruptcy court denied the motion and two motions for reconsideration. Spencer appealed, and the District Court affirmed.

Having no success in the bankruptcy court, Spencer removed her foreclosure case to the District Court, which remanded and then denied two motions for reconsideration. Spencer appealed the District Court’s order to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals affirmed and ordered Spencer’s attorney to show cause as to why she should not be sanctioned for pursuing a frivolous appeal.

Spencer then filed her first Chapter 13 bankruptcy case. PNC filed a motion for relief from stay and a motion to dismiss. An evidentiary hearing was held in February of 2014. The original Note was produced at the hearing. The Court found PNC had standing, that it was not adequately protected, and granted PNC relief from stay. Spencer admitted the sole reason for the filing was to prevent the foreclosure from proceeding. The Court also dismissed the bankruptcy case for lack of good faith in filing the petition. Spencer appealed both orders.

Back in state court, the foreclosure proceedings continued. Spencer engaged in various procedural feints in those proceedings. The state court entered a judgment of foreclosure on August 20, 2014. Spencer appealed. No stay pending appeal was granted.

The property was sold at sheriff sale on April 1, 2015. The next day, April 2, the District Court affirmed the bankruptcy court’s order granting relief from stay and dismissing Spencer’s first Chapter 13 case. [212]*212The day after, April 3, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ordered Spencer’s foreclosure appeal dismissed unless her now delinquent brief was filed within five days.

Spencer then filed this Chapter 13 case. She later filed an adversary proceeding. The adversary requests, yet again — and despite the existence of the foreclosure judgment — that this Court determine the identity of the entity entitled to payment of her Note and Mortgage, declare the Mortgage is null and void, and enjoin the state court from proceeding with the foreclosure or any eviction.

Spencer stipulated at the hearing that there is no equity in the property. She argues that this Court should determine and order adequate protection to be an amount equal to the original scheduled monthly mortgage payments. Finally, based on the fact she has been in the house since 2005 and it is the only home her minor son has known, she argues that the Court should determine the property is necessary for an effective reorganization.

III. Jurisdiction

The Court has jurisdiction over this motion for relief from stay under 28 U.S.C. § 1334 by way of the reference from the District Court. 28 U.S.C. §§ 157(a) and (b)(1). Because it involves core proceedings under 28 U.S.C. §§ 157(b)(2)(A) and (G), the Court may enter final judgment. 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(1).

IV. Analysis

The filing of a bankruptcy petition automatically stays a number of actions, including actions taken by the debtor’s secured creditors to repossess or foreclose on their collateral. 11 U.S.C. § 362(a).

Parties in interest may request relief from the stay. Section 362(d)(1) provides the court shall grant relief from stay “for cause, including the lack of adequate protection of an interest in property of such party in interest.” Section 362(d)(2) provides the court shall grant relief from stay as to property if (A) “the debtor does not have an equity in such property” and (B) “such property is not necessary to an effective reorganization.”

The party requesting relief from stay has the burden of proof on the issue of the debtor’s equity in property. 11 U.S.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
531 B.R. 208, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 1668, 2015 WL 2375885, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-spencer-wiwb-2015.