Williams v. Internal Revenue Service (In re Williams)

488 B.R. 492
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Georgia
DecidedMarch 15, 2013
DocketBankruptcy No. 12-11169-JDW; Adversary No. 12-1027
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 488 B.R. 492 (Williams v. Internal Revenue Service (In re Williams)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Internal Revenue Service (In re Williams), 488 B.R. 492 (Ga. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JAMES D. WALKER, JR., Bankruptcy Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs’ complaint to determine secured status and strip lien on real estate. This is a core matter within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(E). After considering the pleadings, the evidence, and the applicable authorities, the Court enters the following findings of fact and conclusions of law in conformance with Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7052.

Background

The parties stipulate to the following facts: Defendant, the Internal Revenue Service, filed a notice of federal tax lien against Debtor-Plaintiffs on May 21, 2012. Debtors filed a Chapter 7 petition on August 13, 2012. On Schedule A, Debtors listed their only real property as their residence, worth $150,000 and subject to debts of $300,000. On Schedule B, they listed personal property worth $46,500. On Schedule C, they claimed exemptions totaling $29,200 in their personal property.

On October 12, 2012, the Chapter 7 trustee filed a report of no assets, reporting no nonexempt assets were available for distribution to creditors. No proofs of claim were filed by any creditors, including the IRS. However, Debtors’ Schedule E lists [494]*494the IRS as a creditor holding a priority claim in the amount of $86,162.47. Debtors received a discharge on November 16, 2012. Debtors filed a complaint seeking a determination that the IRS’s tax lien against their residence is void. The complaint alleges the residence is worth $210,000 and is encumbered by a first priority lien in favor of Wells Fargo in the amount of $237,564 and a second priority lien in favor of the IRS in the amount of $77,588.51 plus interest.

The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The Court held a hearing on the motions on January 30, 2013. After considering the facts and the legal arguments, the Court will deny Debtors’ motion for summary judgment and grant the IRS’s motion for summary judgment.

Conclusions of Law

Motions for summary judgment are governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, incorporated by Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7056. Rule 56(a) provides that the “court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). In this case, the parties agree to all material facts; therefore, the Court need only consider application of the law.

At issue is whether Debtors may strip off a wholly unsecured junior lien on their residence. In Dewsnup v. Timm, 502 U.S. 410, 112 S.Ct. 773, 116 L.Ed.2d 903 (1992), the Supreme Court held that a Chapter 7 debtor could not reduce or “strip down” a partially secured first lien to the value of the creditor’s interest in the collateral. However, the Eleventh Circuit recently held that Dewsnup does not apply when the lien is wholly unsecured. McNeal v. GMAC Mortg., LLC, 477 Fed.Appx. 562 (11th Cir.2012) (unpublished).1 Instead, the circuit court’s pre-Dewsnup decision of Folendore v. U.S. Small Business Administration (In re Folendore), 862 F.2d 1537, (11th Cir.1989), which allows strip off of a wholly unsecured lien, controls.

All three cases turn on the interpretation of 11 U.S.C. § 506(d), which provides:

To the extent that a lien secures a claim against the debtor that is not an allowed secured claim, such lien is void, unless—
(2) such claim is not an allowed secured claim due only to the failure of an entity to file a proof of such claim under section 501 of this title.

11 U.S.C. § 506(d).

In Folendore, the SBA held perfected security interests in the debtors’ real and personal property. Two senior creditors held liens in the same property. The claims of the senior lienholders exceeded the value of the collateral. As a result, the parties agreed the SBA held an unsecured claim. The debtors sought to void the SBA’s lien under 11 U.S.C. § 506(d). 862 F.2d at 1538.

The court first determined that the SBA’s lien was unsecured under § 506(a),2 because the senior hens exceeded the value of the collateral. Id. It further concluded the SBA’s claim was allowed because it had filed a proof of claim. Id. Because the SBA’s claim was unsecured, the court held [495]*495the debtors could void its lien under § 506(d). Id. Thus, Folendore stands for the proposition that § 506(d) may be invoked to strip off a wholly unsecured lien.

The court went on to consider the effect of lienstripping in bankruptcy compared to the SBA’s rights outside of bankruptcy.

While it is true that the Folendores might in the future pay off the mortgages on the property, at this moment the banks could foreclose on the property and cut out the SBA and the Folendores completely. The SBA admits the banks’ power to foreclose and annihilate the SBA lien. The SBA presumably hopes that sometime in the future the Folen-dores will have equity in the property which could be attached by the SBA. The SBA’s position is self-defeating. It simply provides an incentive for the Fo-lendores to abandon the property. There is no reason the Folendores should remain on a piece of property on which the SBA can attach any equity they manage to generate. They, and any other post-discharge possessors of real property, would be far better off finding unencumbered property upon which to start their financial life afresh. This, of course, would leave a creditor like the SBA with nothing, which is exactly what section 506(d) on its face says it has.

Id. at 1540 (internal footnotes omitted).

Three years after Folendore, the Supreme Court decided Dewsnup. The Court began by acknowledging “the difficulty of interpreting [§ 506] in a single opinion that would apply to all possible fact situations. We therefore focus upon the case before us and allow other facts to await their legal resolution on another day.” 502 U.S. at 416-17, 112 S.Ct. at 778. The facts before the Court involved a Chapter 7 debtor’s attempt to use § 506(d) to strip down3 a partially secured creditor’s lien to the value of its interest in the collateral. Id. at 413, 112 S.Ct. at 776.

The debtor argued that § 506(a) and § 506(d) should be read together to allow the strip down. Id. at 414-15, 112 S.Ct. at 776-77. Section 506(a) provides:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
488 B.R. 492, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-internal-revenue-service-in-re-williams-gamb-2013.