United States v. Graham

59 F. App'x 660
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 18, 2003
DocketNo. 01-3636
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 59 F. App'x 660 (United States v. Graham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Graham, 59 F. App'x 660 (6th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

COLLIER, District Judge.

This appeal comes from the Northern District of Ohio (Carr, J.). Appellant John Graham, disbursing agent for Monclova Care Center, Inc., a debtor under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. §§ 1101 et seq., appeals the district court’s order that the claims filed by Appellee United States be paid with interest until the claims are fully paid. Because the bankruptcy court reasonably interpreted the debtor’s plan to include payments of interest on the Internal Revenue Service’s (“IRS”) claims and because the IRS’s legal right to interest payments would be impaired if the interest does not accrue until the claims are paid, we AFFIRM the district court’s order.

I. BACKGROUND

Debtor Monclova Care Center, Inc. filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 1993, and Appellant John Graham was appointed as the debtor’s trustee (JA at 336-37). On March 1, 1994, the Internal Revenue Service filed a proof of claim for $252,608.00 (JA at 328). The IRS designated $238,765.71 as a secured claim (the “secured claim”) and $13,842.29 as an unsecured priority claim (the “unsecured priority claim”) (JA at 328).

On April 4, 1996, the bankruptcy court confirmed the debtor’s Chapter 11 plan of liquidation (JA at 235). In this plan, the debtor treated secured claims as unimpaired:

Class 1 Allowed Secured Claims are not impaired under the Plan. There are only two asserted Class 1 Claims against the Debtor. To the extent they are determined to be secured, the defaults, if any, respecting such security interests shall be cured on the Effective Date and the legal, equitable and contractual rights to which Class 1 Claims entitle the holders thereof shall remain unaltered by the Plan or, at the option of the Trustee, such claims shall be treated in any other manner that shall result in such Claims being deemed unimpaired under Section 1124 of the Bankruptcy Code.

(JA at 246). The plan also treated unsecured priority claims as unimpaired:

Class 2 Allowed Priority Claims are not impaired under the Plan. Class 2 Allowed Claims will be paid in cash the allowed amount of their claims on the Effective Date of the Plan.

(JA at 246). The debtor’s plan did not define the term “impaired” (JA at 244). Rather, the plan provided undefined terms [662]*662would have the meaning assigned to the term in the bankruptcy code or bankruptcy rules (JA at 240-41). The bankruptcy code explains impairment of claims in 11 U.S.C. § 1124. Because the IRS held a Class 1 secured claim and a Class 2 priority claim, the IRS claims were unimpaired. Under the plan and under the bankruptcy code, creditors with unimpaired claims are conclusively presumed to have accepted the debtor’s plan (JA at 237; 11 U.S.C. § 1126(f)).

Between June 1994 and August 1999, Appellant distributed $6,613,615.68 to creditors of Monclova Care Center, Inc. (JA at 317). According to Appellant, he delayed making any payment to the IRS because there was some dispute whether certain penalties and interest had to be paid. Appellant eventually distributed $197,628.97 to the IRS (JA at 338).

On April 26, 1999, Appellant filed a motion to confirm the distribution to the IRS, requesting the bankruptcy court confirm the $197,628.97 payment as the total amount to be distributed to the IRS under the debtor’s plan (JA at 257). The IRS objected to the motion to confirm (JA at 304) and moved for summary judgment, claiming it was entitled to receive interest on its secured claim and its unsecured priority claim (JA at 320-21). The bankruptcy court issued a decision on May 25, 2000, requiring Appellant pay interest on the IRS claims through the effective date of the plan because the unimpaired IRS claims included a right to statutory interest (JA at 336). Both parties appealed to the district court.

The district court ruled on March 19, 2001, holding the IRS’s secured claim and unsecured priority claim were not impaired under the confirmed Chapter 11 plan and the entitlement to interest did not cease on the effective date of the plan (JA at 368). The district court ordered Appellant to pay both IRS claims with all interest due under 26 U.S.C. §§ 6621 and 6622 until paid in full (JA at 368).

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW When the Court reviews an appeal from the decision of a district court in a case originating in bankruptcy court, the Court directly reviews the decision of the bankruptcy court rather than the district court’s review of that decision. In re Morris, 260 F.3d 654, 662 (6th Cir.2001). The Court applies the clearly erroneous standard to findings of fact and de novo review to conclusions of law. Id. at 662-63. When reviewing mixed questions of law and fact, the Court breaks the question down into its component parts and applies the proper standard of review to each part. Id. at 663. A grant of summary judgment is a question of law, so the standard of review is de novo. Id. The Court reviews a bankruptcy court’s interpretation of the debtor’s plan with full deference. In re Terex, 984 F.2d 170, 172 (6th Cir.1993).

III. DISCUSSION [1] The bankruptcy court interpreted the debtor’s plan to require the payment of interest on the IRS’s secured claim and on its unsecured priority claim. Reviewing the bankruptcy court’s interpretation of the plan with full deference, we uphold this interpretation. However, the bankruptcy court held the interest should cease accruing on the effective date of the plan. Because the IRS’s unimpaired claims would be altered if interest ceases to accrue before the claims are paid, we REVERSE that portion of the bankruptcy court’s decision and AFFIRM the district court order that the IRS claims be paid with all interest due until the claims are fully paid.

A. The debtor’s plan, describing the IRS claims as unimpaired, requires Appellant to pay interest on the IRS claims.

The IRS contends Appellant should pay interest on its secured claim and on its [663]*663unsecured priority claim because the debt- or’s confirmed plan indicated the IRS claims were not impaired. The bankruptcy court interpreted the plan to require interest payment on the IRS claims because the debtor’s plan did not alter the right to payment held by the IRS.

Under Title 11, “claim means — right to payment, whether or not such right is reduced to judgment, liquidated, unliquidated, fixed, contingent, matured, unmatured, disputed, undisputed, legal, equitable, secured, or unsecured.” 11 U.S.C. § 101(5)(A). The IRS filed claims against the debtor for $252,608.00, comprised of unpaid taxes, penalties, and interest that had accrued on those amounts.

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59 F. App'x 660, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-graham-ca6-2003.