In re Tucker

500 B.R. 457, 2013 WL 5782932, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 4491
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Mississippi
DecidedOctober 28, 2013
DocketNo. 12-13604-NPO
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 500 B.R. 457 (In re Tucker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Tucker, 500 B.R. 457, 2013 WL 5782932, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 4491 (Miss. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER DENYING THE MOTION TO MODIFY CHAPTER 13 PLAN

NEIL P. OLACK, Bankruptcy Judge.

This matter came on for hearing on September 26, 2013 (the “Hearing”) on the Motion to Modify Plan (the “Motion to Modify”) (Dkt. 18) filed by Tracy D. Tucker (the “Debtor”), the Response of Shreveport Federal Credit Union to Debtor’s Motion to Modify Plan (the “Shreveport FCU Response”) (Dkt. 20) filed by Shreveport Federal Credit Union (“Shreveport FCU”), and the Trustee’s Response to Motion to Modify Chapter 13 Plan (the “Trustee Response”) (Dkt. 23) filed by Locke D. Barkley, the chapter 13 trustee (the “Trustee”) in the above-styled bankruptcy case (the “Bankruptcy Case”). At the Hearing, Chris F. Powell represented the Debtor, Brittan Webb Robinson represented Shreveport FCU, and G. Adam Sanford represented the Trustee. After hearing arguments, the Court took the matter under advisement. The Court, being fully advised in the premises, finds that the Motion to Modify should be denied for the reasons that follow.

Jurisdiction

The Court has jurisdiction over the parties to and the subject matter of this case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334. This is a core proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(A), (B), and (0). Notice of the Motion to Modify was proper under the circumstances.

Facts

1. On August 29, 2012, the Debtor voluntarily filed the petition for relief (Dk. 1) under chapter 13 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and the proposed Chapter 13 Plan (the “Plan”) (Dkt. 5).

2. In the Plan, the Debtor listed a “2011 Chevy Camaro” (the “Camaro”) as collateral to Shreveport FCU’s secured claim valued at $37,246.00. Id. at 2. The Plan required the Debtor to pay Shreveport FCU the amount of the secured claim in full. Id.

3. On November 16, 2012, the Court entered the Order Confirming the Debt- or’s Plan, Awarding a Fee to the Debtor’s Attorney and Related Orders (the “Confirmation Order”) (Dkt. 16) confirming the Plan. The confirmed Plan provided for a one hundred percent (100%) pro rata distribution to timely filed and allowed general unsecured claims. The Confirmation Order provided that “[t]he debtor shall be responsible for the preservation and protection of all property of the estate not transferred to the trustee.” Id., ¶ 4.

[459]*4594. The Debtor claims that on June 18, 2018, while the Camaro was parked at the Memphis Airport, it was damaged by a fire that originated in a neighboring vehicle. The Camaro was impounded by the Memphis Police Department and apparently remains there now. In the Motion to Modify, filed on July 11, 2013, the Debtor seeks to surrender the Camaro and any insurance proceeds to Shreveport FCU in partial satisfaction of Shreveport FCU’s secured claim, have any deficiency treated as unsecured, and have her payments decreased accordingly. The Debtor also seeks to pay only $1,751.87 in unsecured claims, the total amount of timely filed and allowed general unsecured claims.

5. In the Shreveport FCU Response, filed on July 26, 2013, Shreveport FCU argues that the Camaro and any insurance proceeds may be surrendered, but any remaining balance due should remain as a secured claim pursuant to the Confirmation Order and Chrysler Financial Corp. v. Nolan (In re Nolan), 232 F.3d 528 (6th Cir.2000).

6. In the Trustee Response, filed on July 26, 2013, the Trustee does not object to any modification of the Plan so long as all allowed general unsecured claims are paid in full in the amount of $2,032.55, a slightly higher amount than what the Debtor claimed as the balance owed.

7. At the Hearing, the Debtor stated that the insurance on the Camaro had lapsed at the time it was damaged by the fire. Shreveport FCU did not oppose the surrender of the Camaro, but argued that there is a good faith requirement for post-confirmation modifications to reclassify claims, which the Debtor did not meet because of her failure to maintain insurance on the Camaro. The Debtor argued that in the interest of fairness, the Motion to Modify should be granted because it was Shreveport FCU’s responsibility to make sure the Debtor had insurance. The Debtor did not dispute the Trustee’s limitation to the Motion to Modify regarding the $2,032.55 of general unsecured claims.

Discussion

A confirmed chapter 13 plan is binding on all parties who were involved in the confirmation process. 11 U.S.C. § 1327(a).1 The Bankruptcy Code, however, allows a debtor, trustee, or unsecured creditor to modify a plan post-confirmation. 11 U.S.C. § 1329. The ability to modify is “based on the premise that, during the life of the plan, circumstances may change, and parties should have the ability to modify the plan accordingly.” Meza v. Truman (In re Meza), 467 F.3d 874, 877 (5th Cir.2006). Subsection (a) provides that a plan may be modified to: (1) increase or reduce plan payments on claims of a particular class, (2) extend or reduce the time for plan payments, (3) to alter the distribution to a creditor under the plan to account for payments made outside of the plan, or (4) to reduce the amount to be paid under the plan in light of the debtor’s purchase of health insurance, subject to certain conditions. 11 U.S.C. § 1329(a)(1)-(4). Section 1329 also sets out some exceptions to the ability to modify a chapter 13 plan post-confirmation. Relevant to this case is the condition that any plan modification must comply with the content requirements of § 1322(a) and (b) and the confirmation requirements of § 1325(a). 11 U.S.C. § 1329(b)(1)-(2). Before addressing whether § 1329 permits the Debtor to modify the Plan to surrender the Camaro and treat any resulting deficiency as an unsecured claim, the Court [460]*460will review the current landscape of decisions addressing the issue.

I. Existing Authority on Post-confirmation Modification to Surrender Collateral

There is a split among courts regarding a debtor’s ability to modify a plan to surrender collateral and treat any deficiency as an unsecured claim. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is the only circuit court that has addressed the issue. In Nolan, 232 F.3d 528, the Sixth Circuit held that § 1329(a) does not permit the modification of a confirmed plan to surrender collateral when the modified plan treats the deficiency as an unsecured claim. In the wake of Nolan, bankruptcy courts, including those within the Fifth Circuit, have disagreed regarding whether to follow the Sixth Circuit’s decision on the issue. The Court will now review the current split in authority.

A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
500 B.R. 457, 2013 WL 5782932, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 4491, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-tucker-msnb-2013.