Matter of Whitcomb & Keller Mortg. Co., Inc.

8 B.R. 83, 1980 Bankr. LEXIS 3948, 7 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 147
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedDecember 12, 1980
Docket19-30144
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 8 B.R. 83 (Matter of Whitcomb & Keller Mortg. Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matter of Whitcomb & Keller Mortg. Co., Inc., 8 B.R. 83, 1980 Bankr. LEXIS 3948, 7 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 147 (Ind. 1980).

Opinion

ORDER

ROBERT K. RODIBAUGH, Bankruptcy Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the petition of the debtor in possession, Whit- *84 comb & Keller Mortgage Company, Inc. (hereinafter, Whitcomb & Keller), for an order restraining the Government National Mortgage Association (hereinafter, GNMA), from interfering in any respect in the operation of debtor’s business and the servicing of its mortgage pools pursuant to Section 362(a)(3) of the Bankruptcy Code 1 which provides:

§ 362. Automatic stay.
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, a petition filed under section 301, 302, or 303 of this title operates as a stay, applicable to all entities, of — (3) any act to obtain possession of property of the estate or of property from the estate.

Pursuant to GNMA’s request for prompt hearing on the debtor’s petition, this cause came on for hearing before the Court on November 13, 1980. After the filing of briefs, the Court took this matter under advisement on November 26, 1980. Argument on the briefs was heard by the Court on December 8, 1980.

On October 27, 1980, Whitcomb & Keller filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. 2 At the time of filing its petition in bankruptcy, the debtor was engaged in the mortgage banking business. Part of its business consisted of servicing mortgages under the Mortgage-Backed Securities Program (MBS Program) on behalf of GNMA, a wholly-owned Government corporation located in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. At the time of filing its bankruptcy petition, the Mortgage Servicing Contracts between the debtor and GNMA were in full force and effect and no notice of default or termination had been given to the debtor by GNMA.

The mortgage-backed securities issued by Whitcomb & Keller are “modified” pass-through securities. For these modified pass-through securities, GNMA guarantees the timely payment to the investors, whether or not collected, of interest at the rate fixed by the security together with specified principal installments. Moreover, with respect to the modified pass-through securities, prepayments and any other early recoveries of principal must be paid to investors as they are received.

Because it is a participant in the modified pass-through program, Whitcomb & Keller is obligated under Section 4.03 of its Guaranty Agreement to make up from its own funds any shortfalls in collections under the pooled mortgages. This obligation insures that securities holders will receive full and timely payment. The issuer’s obligation to make such payment, even if use of its own funds is necessary, makes each security fungible and obviates the need for a market differential to account for disparities in the cash flow from pool to pool based upon delinquencies and other factors. GNMA regulations 3 require an issuer to maintain a minimum net worth to insure that it has sufficient assets with which to make up any shortfalls in scheduled collections under the pooled mortgages.

According to Paul A. Yates, 4 Director of the Financial Management Division of the Office of Mortgage-Backed Securities, Yates was informed on October 24, 1980, in a telephone conversation with Richard Deal, Whitcomb & Keller’s Secretary-Treasurer, that Whitcomb & Keller was not in compliance with GNMA’s net worth requirements. 5

On October 29, 1980, two days after the debtor filed its petition in bankruptcy, GNMA delivered a letter to Whitcomb & Keller, declaring an event of default under the terms of the Guaranty Agreement. GNMA informed Whitcomb & Keller that, as a result, it “may not longer act as issuer or servicer under the guaranty agreements,” thus terminating the debtor’s sta *85 tus as an issuer. GNMA requested that Whitcomb & Keller turn over specified necessary records to enable GNMA to provide for the orderly transfers of the mortgage pools. By letters to the banks which hold the mortgages and the custodial accounts, also delivered on October 29, GNMA demanded that the above-referenced banks surrender to GNMA the entire amount of any funds in the mortgage-backed security pools issued and serviced by the debtor and on deposit with the respective banks.

Whitcomb & Keller seeks a preliminary restraining order to prevent GNMA from exercising its rights to enforce its contract and ownership rights with respect to the pools of mortgages against which GNMA-guaranteed securities have been issued. In support of this position, Whitcomb & Keller advances three major arguments: 1) GNMA is subject to the automatic stay provision of the Bankruptcy Code; 2) this Court has authority under Section 105 of the Bankruptcy Code 6 to stay GNMA’s exercise of its contract rights, and that authority should be exercised; and 3) Congress acted unconstitutionally when it enacted Section 306(g) of the National Housing Act, 7 which does not allow the Bankruptcy Code to limit GNMA’s right to terminate an issuer’s servicing functions.

GNMA, however, contends that the debt- or has failed to demonstrate a probability of success on the merits because 1) the mortgages and all payments under them are property of GNMA; 2) that Section 306(g) of the National Housing Act, as amended, exempts GNMA from the automatic stay provision of the Bankruptcy Code or any order of the Court precluding or limiting GNMA from exercising its rights to enforce its contract with Whitcomb & Keller or enforce its ownership rights thereunder; and 3) that by law, no injunction may be issued against GNMA with respect to its property. Additionally, GNMA maintains that the public interest will be harmed if the requested injunction is granted.

Prior to its recent amendment, Section 306(g) of the National Housing Act stated in pertinent part:

Any Federal, State or other law to the contrary notwithstanding, the Association [GNMA] is hereby empowered, in connection with any guaranty under this subsection, whether before or after any default, to provide by contract with the issuer for the extinguishment upon default by the issuer, of any redemptions, equitable, legal, or other right, title, or interest of the issuer in any mortgage or mortgages constituting the trust or pool against which the guaranteed securities are issued; and with respect to any issue of guaranteed securities, in the event of default and pursuant otherwise to the termination of the contract, the mortgages that constitute such trust or pool shall become the absolute property of the Association subject only to the unsatisfied rights of the holders of the securities based on and backed by such trust or pool.

Section 306(g) was amended through Section 335 of the Housing and Community Development Act on October 8, 1980, as follows:

SEC. 335. Section 306(g) of the Federal Mortgage Association Charter Act is amended—

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Related

In re Commonwealth Mortgage Co.
145 B.R. 368 (D. Massachusetts, 1992)
Matter of Adana Mortg. Bankers, Inc.
12 B.R. 1012 (N.D. Georgia, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
8 B.R. 83, 1980 Bankr. LEXIS 3948, 7 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 147, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matter-of-whitcomb-keller-mortg-co-inc-innb-1980.