Union Mortgage Co. v. Avret (In Re Avret)

146 B.R. 47, 1992 Bankr. LEXIS 1574, 1992 WL 276938
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Georgia
DecidedOctober 6, 1992
Docket14-40085
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 146 B.R. 47 (Union Mortgage Co. v. Avret (In Re Avret)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Union Mortgage Co. v. Avret (In Re Avret), 146 B.R. 47, 1992 Bankr. LEXIS 1574, 1992 WL 276938 (Ga. 1992).

Opinion

ORDER

JOHN S. DALIS, Bankruptcy Judge.

Union Mortgage Company, Inc. (“Union Mortgage”) objects to confirmation of the debtor’s Chapter 13 plan. Based on the evidence presented at hearing, I make the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

FINDINGS OF FACT

On April 19,1990 Union Mortgage loaned Eight Thousand Six Hundred Thirty-Eight and 83/100 ($8,638.83) Dollars to Stewart Avret, the Chapter 13 debtor. Debtor executed a promissory note in connection with the loan whereby he promised to repay the loan in monthly installments of One Hundred Fifty and 03/100 ($150.03) Dollars, including interest at the rate of 16.98% per annum. To secure the note, debtor executed a security deed dated April 19, 1990 in favor of Union Mortgage which granted Union Mortgage a security interest in real property that serves as debtor’s principal residence at Route 2, Box 390, Neely Road, Hephzibah, Georgia. It is undisputed that Union Mortgage’s lien against debtor’s residence is a second lien, subordinate to a lien held by Commercial Credit Corporation in the amount of Thirty-Six Thousand Eighty-Nine and 85/100 ($36,089.85) Dollars. 1

Debtor filed his Chapter 13 petition January 10, 1992. Debtor’s proposed Chapter 13 plan calls for monthly payments of One Thousand Twenty and No/100 ($1,020.00) Dollars to the trustee for 60 months to pay all secured claims and court costs with unsecured claims to be paid pro rata from the balance of the funds paid to the trustee. The trustee estimates a dividend of 17% will be paid to unsecured creditors. In conjunction with the proposed plan the debtor, by motion, seeks to value Union Mortgage’s collateral at One Thousand Five Hundred and No/100 ($1,500.00) Dollars. The plan provides, relevant to the claim of Union Mortgage,

2. ... (b) Secured creditors shall retain liens securing their claims. Creditors who file claims and whose claims are allowed as secured claims shall be paid the lesser of (1) the amount of their claim, or (2) the value of their collateral as set forth here: ... Union Mortgage: $1,500.00 ...
(c) Subsequent to secured creditors, dividends to unsecured creditors who file claims and whose claims are allowed (including the unsecured balances of any partially secured debt) shall be paid ...
2. pro rata, from remaining funds ...

Union Mortgage filed a proof of secured claim for Eight Thousand Nine Hundred Sixty-Seven and 99/100 ($8,967.99) Dollars, to which no objection was filed. Debtor’s testimony at confirmation hearing regarding the value of his residence varied, ranging from an estimated fair market value of Thirty-Three Thousand and No/100 ($33,-000.00) Dollars to Forty Thousand and No/ 100 ($40,000.00) Dollars. No evidence was offered by Union Mortgage on valuation. Based on debtor’s testimony, the value of his residence for the purpose of plan confirmation is Forty Thousand and No/100 ($40,000.00) Dollars. The value of Union Mortgage’s interest in the bankruptcy estate’s interest in the collateral securing Union Mortgage’s claim is Three Thousand Nine Hundred Ten and 15/100 ($3,910.15) Dollars. 2

*49 Union Mortgage contends debtor’s proposed plan impermissibly modifies its claim under 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(2) 3 by valuing its collateral for less than the full amount of its claim, thereby bifurcating its claim, which is secured only by debtor’s principal residence, into secured and unsecured portions without full payment of the unsecured claim. Union Mortgage argues that bifurcation pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 506(a) of its principal residence secured claim with only partial payment of the unsecured portion of the claim invokes the lien avoidance provisions of 11 U.S.C. § 506(d) 4 in a manner prohibited by the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dewsnup v. Timm, —, U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 773, 116 L.E.2d 903 (1992).

The debtor argues that bifurcation of an undersecured principal residence secured claim pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 506(a) is not prohibited by 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(2), nor does § 1322(b)(2) bar modification of the unsecured portion of such a claim. Debtor further argues that § 506(d) is not involved in bifurcating Union Mortgage’s claim because the proposed Chapter 13 plan calls for full payment of the secured portion of the obligation and upon confirmation, pursuant to § 1327(c) all property of the debt- or vests in the debtor free and clear of any liens.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

Section 506(a) is used to determine a creditor’s secured status. In re Hall, 752 F.2d 582, 588-89 (11th Cir.1985); 11 U.S.C. § 103(a). Under § 506(a), “a creditor’s allowed claim is an unsecured claim to the extent that the value of such creditor’s interest in the collateral is less than the amount of the allowed claim.” Lamoureux v. Thomas-Wesby (In re: Thomas-Wesby), Ch. 13 case No. 89-10291 slip op. at 7, 1990 WL 455311 (Bankr.S.D.Ga. Dalis, J. March 30, 1990). In Thomas-Wesby I determined that § 1322(b)(2) does not prohibit bifurcation pursuant to § 506(a) of an undersecured claim that is secured solely by an interest in real property that is the debtor’s principal residence. Thus, “only the secured portion of a creditor’s claim is protected from modification by a Chapter 13 plan.” Thomas-Wesby, supra, at 10. Accord Hougland v. Lomas & Nettleton Co. 886 F.2d 1182 (9th Cir.1989); Wilson v. Commonwealth Mortgage Corp., 895 F.2d 123 (3rd Cir.1990); Bellamy v. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., 962 F.2d 176 (2nd Cir.1992).

Union Mortgage challenges the result reached in Thomas-Wesby contending the words “secured claim[ ]” in § 1322(b)(2) do not necessarily mean the same thing as they mean in § 506(a). In support, Union Mortgage cites Dewsnup, supra, wherein the United States Supreme Court held that the phrase “allowed secured claim” in § 506(d) is not defined according to how those same words are used in § 506(a). Id. The Supreme Court, however, did not address the issue of whether § 1322(b)(2)’s prohibition against modification of “secured claims ...

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Bluebook (online)
146 B.R. 47, 1992 Bankr. LEXIS 1574, 1992 WL 276938, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/union-mortgage-co-v-avret-in-re-avret-gasb-1992.