In Re Wright

300 B.R. 453, 2003 Bankr. LEXIS 1348, 2003 WL 22411114
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedOctober 20, 2003
Docket16-34256
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 300 B.R. 453 (In Re Wright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Wright, 300 B.R. 453, 2003 Bankr. LEXIS 1348, 2003 WL 22411114 (Ill. 2003).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JACQUELINE P. COX, Bankruptcy Judge.

At issue in this contested matter is creditor Member Advantage Credit Union’s “Motion for Leave to File Proof of Claim and to Be Included in the Chapter 13 Plan.” For the reasons stated below, the Court denies the motion. The Court has jurisdiction over this matter, a core proceeding, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 157(b)(2)(B) and 1334.

Background

Chapter 13 debtor Sandra Wright filed the instant bankruptcy petition on January 21, 2003, listing Members Advantage Credit Union (“Members Advantage”) as an unsecured nonpriority creditor holding a claim of $8000. Under her chapter 13 plan, the debtor proposed to pay general unsecured creditors an 85% dividend and included a special provision saying, “No payment shall be made on any general unsecured claim that is not timely filed.” On April 21, 2003, the Court confirmed this plan. The docket indicates that the clerk sent Members Advantage notice of the May 19, 2003 proof of claim filing deadline at 25 East Washington, Chicago, Illinois 60602-1708. Members Advantage did not file a proof-of-claim before the deadline.

In the pending motion, Members Advantage alleges (1) that it holds a $10,606.53 deficiency claim for a loan originally secured by a vehicle (later repossessed) and (2) that the debtor listed an incorrect address for it. Furthermore, neither Members Advantage nor its counsel allegedly received actual knowledge of this chapter 13 case until May 27, 2003, when the deadlines for filing a proof of claim and for participating in the plan-confirmation process had expired. Members Advantage’s motion requests “leave to file [a] proof of claim and to be included in the chapter 13 plan” pursuant to Bankruptcy Rule 7015(a).

Discussion and Analysis

What appears to be a relatively straightforward issue — whether a creditor can file a late proof of claim in order to correct the amount of its claim and to receive distributions from the chapter 13 bankruptcy estate — becomes much more convoluted upon further examination. This is especially true where the chapter 13 debtor schedules the creditor, but the creditor still fails to receive actual knowledge of the case in time to have any meaningful participation in it.

Bankruptcy Rule 7015(a), upon which Members Advantage relies, has no application to this dispute. That rule applies to the amendment of pleadings in adversary proceedings, and no adversary proceeding is currently pending in this bankruptcy case. See Fed. R. Bankr.Pro. 7001 (listing types of adversary proceedings) & 9014(c) (specifying that certain rules in Part VII apply to contested matters if the bankruptcy court so orders).

Instead, an appropriate beginning point for analysis is § 502 of the Code, which provides in relevant part as follows:

(a) A claim or interest, proof of which is filed under section 501 of this title, is deemed allowed, unless a party in interest ... objects.
(b) ... if such objection to a claim is made, the court, after notice and a hearing, shall determine the amount of such claim in lawful currency of the United States as of the date of the filing of the petition, and shall allow such claim in *458 such amount, except to the extent that— ... (9) proof of such claim is not timely filed, except to the extent tardily filed as permitted under paragraph (1), (2), or (8) of section 726(a) of this title or under the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure ...

This provision provides a basis for the disallowance of claims that would otherwise receive distributions from a chapter 13 bankruptcy estate upon the creditor’s filing a proof of claim in accordance with § 501; nine bases for disallowance are listed, including the one pertaining to claims that are not timely filed.

Even before the latter provision was added in 1994, see Act of Oct. 22, 1994, Pub.L. 103-394, Title II, § 213(a), 108 Stat. 4125, 4134, federal courts had construed sections 501 and 502 of the Code and Bankruptcy Rule 3002 to mean that a timely filed proof of claim was a precondition to allowance; otherwise the claim was “time barred,” making “disallowance” under § 502(b) in response to the debtor’s or trustee’s objection unnecessary. United States v. Waindel (In re Waindel), 65 F.3d 1307, 1312-14 (5th Cir.1995) (Duhe, J., concurring only in judgment); In re Scott, 119 B.R. 818, 819 (Bankr.M.D.Ala.1990); In re Chavis, 160 B.R. 804 (Bankr.S.D.Ohio 1993), affirmed, 47 F.3d 818 (6th Cir.1995); In re Tucker, 174 B.R. 732, 736, 739-41, 744 (Bankr.N.D.Ill.1994). But see Waindel, 65 F.3d at 1309, 1311-12 (5th Cir.1995) (majority opinion). Other courts disallowed untimely claims to which the debtor objected. In re Glow, 111 B.R. 209, 214, 216-19, 227 (Bankr.N.D.Ind.1990); In re Friel, 162 B.R. 645, 648 (Bankr.W.D.N.Y.1994); In re International Resorts, 74 B.R. 428, 430 (Bankr.N.D.Ala.1987) (disallowed for untimeliness under similar provision of 1898 Bankruptcy Act). Bankruptcy Rule 3002, 1 which details the procedural mechanisms for filing proofs of claim under § 501, provides that nongovernmental creditors in chapter 7 and 13 cases generally have until 90 days after the first date set for the meeting of creditors to file proofs of claim. The deadline in this rule has been strictly construed as a sort of statute of limitations that cannot be extended for any reason except for those explicitly enumerated situations in which the bankruptcy court may extend the *459 deadline. SouthTrust Bankcard Ctr. v. Curenton (In re Curenton), 205 B.R. 967, 970 (Bankr.M.D.Ala.1995), affirmed, Curenton v. Center, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6731 (M.D.Ala. Feb. 3, 1997); In re Friel, 162 B.R. 645, 647 (Bankr.W.D.N.Y.1994); cf. In re International Resorts, 74 B.R. 428, 429 (Bankr.N.D.Ala.1987) (articulating same principle regarding corresponding rule under 1898 Bankruptcy Act); In re Tucker, 174 B.R. 732, 735 & n. 5 (Bankr.N.D.Ill.1994) (same); Wilkens v. Simon Brothers, 731 F.2d 462, 464 (7th Cir.1984) (recognizing cases interpreting corresponding rule under 1898 Bankruptcy Act as a strict statute of limitations); In re Glow, 111 B.R. 209, 216 (Bankr.N.D.Ind.1990) (concluding that Wilkens continues to apply to Rule 3002(c), even though decision was interpreting the rule’s predecessor).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
300 B.R. 453, 2003 Bankr. LEXIS 1348, 2003 WL 22411114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-wright-ilnb-2003.