Nomellini v. United States Internal Revenue Service (In re Nomellini)

534 B.R. 166, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 2088, 115 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 2291
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. California
DecidedJune 25, 2015
DocketCase No. 11-61177-ASW; Adv. Pro. No. 14-05083-ASW
StatusPublished

This text of 534 B.R. 166 (Nomellini v. United States Internal Revenue Service (In re Nomellini)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nomellini v. United States Internal Revenue Service (In re Nomellini), 534 B.R. 166, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 2088, 115 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 2291 (Cal. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION RE: DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS AND PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Arthur S. Weissbrodt, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge

Before the Court are two motions. The first is a motion to dismiss under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) filed by Defendant United States of America, Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), which is represented by attorney Thomas Newman. The second is a motion for summary judgment filed by Plaintiff and Debtor Drew Nomellini, who is represented by attorney Cathleen Moran. For the reasons explained below, the Court grants the IRS’s motion to dismiss and denies Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment.

I. FACTS

In this adversary proceeding, Debtor seeks a determination of the extent of the IRS’ interest in the proceeds of Debtor’s real property. Debtor’s originally filed schedules listed the value of his real property at 520 St. Claire Drive, Palo Alto, CA (the “Property”) as $950,000 as of the petition date of December 6, 2011. Schedule D shows a first deed of trust in the amount of $980,190.24. Debtor also listed personal property worth $10,000.

The IRS filed a proof of claim on January 4, 2012 in the total amoimt of $214,520.27, based on taxes due for the years 2003-2006. The IRS listed $10,000 as secured and $204,520.27 as unsecured. The IRS’s valuation of its secured claim was based entirely on the value of Debtor’s personal property, because the schedules indicated there was no equity in the Property to which the IRS’s lien attached. Attached to the proof of claim was a copy of a federal tax lien that was recorded on August 13, 2009. The IRS has been paid $10,000 on its original secured claim.

Debtor’s Second Amended Plan filed January 18, 2012 was confirmed by order entered February 29, 2012. The plan lists the IRS in paragraph 2(b) as a creditor with an allowed secured claim, with collateral valued at $10,000. The plan provides, with respect to the allowed secured claims listed in paragraph 2(b):

The valuations shown above will be binding unless a timely objection to confirmation is filed. Secured claims will be allowed for the value of the collateral or the amount of the claim, whichever is less, and will be paid the adequate protection payments and the interest rates shown above. If an interest rate is not specified, 7% per annum will be paid. The remainder of the amount owing, if any, will be allowed as a general unsecured claim paid under the provisions of 2(d).

The Second Amended Plan provided that property of the estate would re-vest in Debtor upon discharge or dismissal and did not provide for the sale of the Property. On May 14, 2014, Debtor filed a second amended motion to modify the plan, which the Court granted on June 6, 2014. Among other things, the modified plan provided for the Property to be sold within eight months from the date the modification was approved, and for estate property to re-vest in the Debtor upon confirmation. Shortly thereafter, Debtor filed a motion to sell the Property for $2,175,000, $1,039,919.84 of which was to be disbursed to Debtor. The IRS immediately amended its proof of claim to provide that the entire amount of its claim was secured. Debtor objected to the amended proof of claim. The parties agreed to let the sale close, with proceeds to be distributed pending [169]*169further order of this court. Thereafter, Debtor filed this adversary proceeding.

The IRS moves to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that as a matter of law, the confirmation of the modified plan did not bind the IRS to the value of its original claim because Debtor gave no notice in the motion to modify that the sale was for a price sufficient to satisfy the IRS’s lien or that Debtor intended to avoid the IRS’s lien.

Debtor contends that the IRS is bound by the confirmation of the Debtor’s plan, which fixed the amount of the secured claim at $10,000.

II. STANDARD ON MOTION TO DISMISS

Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) (applicable in bankruptcy via Fed. R. Bankr. P. 7012), a court must dismiss a Complaint if it fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. To survive a Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, the plaintiff must allege “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). This standard requires the plaintiff to allege facts that add up to “more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). Plaintiff must provide “more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Id.

In deciding whether the plaintiff' has stated a claim upon which relief can be granted, the Court must assume that the plaintiffs allegations are true and must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. Usher v. City of Los Angeles, 828 F.2d 556, 561 (9th Cir.1987).

III. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

Summary judgment shall be rendered by the Court if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56, incorporated in bankruptcy via Fed. R. Bank. P. Rule 7056; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corporation, 475 U.S. 574, 584-85, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). All inferences must be drawn against the moving party. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970); United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962). Where a rational trier of fact could not find for the non-moving party based on the record as a whole, there is no “genuine issue for trial.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., 475 U.S. at 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348.

IV. ANALYSIS

Although framed in different ways — one as a motion to dismiss under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) and the other a motion for summary judgment under Fed. R. Civ. P. 56

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
534 B.R. 166, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 2088, 115 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 2291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nomellini-v-united-states-internal-revenue-service-in-re-nomellini-canb-2015.