United States v. Temple (In re Temple)

25 B.R. 285, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9984
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Arkansas
DecidedAugust 6, 1982
DocketCiv. No. ED 81-1137
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 25 B.R. 285 (United States v. Temple (In re Temple)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Temple (In re Temple), 25 B.R. 285, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9984 (Ark. 1982).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

OREN HARRIS, District Judge.

In this cause, the appellant, the United States of America (Appellant), appeals from a ruling of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Arkansas, El Dorado Division1, denying the appellant’s objection to the confirmation of the Chapter 13 plan of the debtor-appellees, James H. and Barbara J. Temple (Debtors), and the confirmance of the plan by that court. This Court has jurisdiction of this appeal by virtue of 28 U.S.C. § 1334. All of the records and briefs on this appeal have been filed with this Court. After reviewing the materials and the briefs submitted, the Court is now ready to make a determination on this matter.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The debtors filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition in the Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Arkansas, El Dorado Division, Cause No. 81-37, on June 11, 1981. Among the transaction involved in this proceeding are six separate loans that the appellant, acting through the Farmers Home Administration (FHA), made to the debtors, dated October 25, 1977 (when three of the loans were made); May 18,1978; February 7, 1979 and May 18, 1979. The total amount of the loans was $95,000.00, plus interest at rates varying from 3% per an-num to 9V2% per annum. The three notes of October 25, 1977 are partially secured by a first real estate mortgage against a 20-acre tract and a 2-acre tract upon which the dwelling of the debtors is located. Each tract has an agreed fair market value of $20,000.00. All six unpaid notes are secured by a perfected security interest in the farming equipment of the debtors. The fair market value of the farming equipment is $10,860.00.

The unpaid balance of the six FHA loans at the time of the filing of the bankruptcy petition was $89,990.60 principal, plus $19,-396.95 accrued interest. Approximately 90% of this obligation is secured by the first real estate mortgage. No portion of the original debt has been paid by the debtors except for the original sum of $5,500.40 applied against the principal and the sum of $1,010.30 applied against the interest. Four of the six unpaid notes were due prior to the filing of the bankruptcy petition by the debtors.

The appellant has a secured claim in the amount of $50,860.00. This represents the fair market value of the security on the notes, calculated pursuant to 11" U.S.C. § 506(a). This section states that to determine the amount of a secured claim the fair market value of all of the security for a loan is added and applied to the amount of • the indebtedness. The fair market value of the security becomes the secured claim. Any amount in excess of the fair market value becomes the unsecured claim. The [287]*287amount of the unsecured claim in this case is $58,536.55.

The debtors filed with the bankruptcy court their Chapter 13 plan, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1321 et seq. The debtors planned to satisfy the secured claim of the appellant by first surrendering the 20-acre tract and the farm equipment to the appellant, and secondly by paying 60 monthly installments of $406.00 per month. In return, they would retain the 2-acre tract with their residence. These payments would satisfy the $20,000.00 of the secured interest remaining after surrender of the 20-aere tract and the farm equipment. The plan proposed to pay nothing at all on the appellant’s unsecured claims of $58,536.55.

The appellant objected to the plan of the debtors because the debtors proposed to pay nothing on the appellant’s unsecured claim. The appellant pointed out that the plan and the statement of the debtors listed a future monthly gross income of $3,563.00, of which $2,137.80 would be take home pay. Monthly expenses were estimated to be $1,396.00. The debtors planned to pay $600.00 monthly to the trustee. From this, the trustee was to pay $406.00 per month for 60 months on the appellant’s secured claim, the remaining $194.00 was to be used to pay off other secured debts. A secured debt of $3,200.00 owed to the First National Bank of Cros-sett, Arkansas was to be paid in 24 months. At the conclusion of this 24 months, the payments to the trustee are to be reduced to $480.00 per month. This would leave the debtors with an estimated surplus of $261.80 per month. The appellant asserted that some sort of payment against the unsecured debts is required and the failure of the debtors to so provide lacked the “good faith” required by 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(3). For this reason the appellant opposed confirm anee of the debtors’ plan.

The Bankruptcy Court, after a hearing on the matter, denied the appellant’s objection and confirmed the plan. The Court found that the requirements of 11 U.S.C. § 1325 for confirmation of the plan were met. The plan was found to have been made in “good faith”. Although the Court recognized that no payments on the unsecured claims were proposed, under the circumstances of the case the Court felt that the plan was proper and confirmed it on October 26, 1981.

The appellant then brought this appeal to this Court, asserting that the ruling of the Bankruptcy Court was erroneous for failing to propose any payment to the unsecured creditors’ claim. Lack of “good faith” is also asserted. The issues before this Court are whether a Chapter 13 plan which does not propose any payments to unsecured claims can be confirmed under 11 U.S.C. § 1325, and whether the plan filed in this case was made in “good faith”. In doing this, the Court will examine the meaning of “good faith” in the context of § 1325(a)(4), and the statutory scheme and purposes of a Chapter 13 plan.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

The scheme and purposes of Chapter 13 (of Title 11) of the Bankruptcy Code have been the subject of much litigation. In the case of In re Iacovoni, 2 B.R. 256 (Bkrtcy.D. Utah, C.D.1980), the Bankruptcy Court considered eight Chapter 13 plans. None of the plans proposed payments to the unsecured claimants. That court, like this Court, had to determine whether a plan that proposes no payment to the unsecured claimants meets the “good faith” requirement of 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(3). The Utah court found that the plans were not made in “good faith” and refused to confirm them.

In order to determine the objectives and purposes of Chapter 13, the court in Iacovo-ni studied the legislative history surrounding the enactment of Chapter 13 and the provisions for the filing of plans. There, as here, if the proceeding had been a Chapter 7 liquidation, the unsecured claimants would have received nothing. So by making no payments, the debtor would satisfy the requirements of § 1325(a)(4), which minimally requires a payment to unsecured claimants of an amount “not less than the amount that would be paid on such date (the effective date of the plan).” The debtors in the present case, as did the debtors in [288]*288the Iacovoni

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re Lattimore
69 B.R. 622 (E.D. Tennessee, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
25 B.R. 285, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9984, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-temple-in-re-temple-arwb-1982.