Wright v. Mid-Penn Consumer Discount Co. (In Re Wright)

127 B.R. 766, 1991 Bankr. LEXIS 768, 1991 WL 96052
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 6, 1991
Docket19-11147
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 127 B.R. 766 (Wright v. Mid-Penn Consumer Discount Co. (In Re Wright)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wright v. Mid-Penn Consumer Discount Co. (In Re Wright), 127 B.R. 766, 1991 Bankr. LEXIS 768, 1991 WL 96052 (Pa. 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

DAVID A. SCHOLL, Bankruptcy Judge.

A. INTRODUCTION

This matter is the latest in the long series of proceedings in which debtors represented by Community Legal Services, Inc. (“CLS”), an agency providing free legal representation to low-income residents of Philadelphia, have asserted violations of the federal Truth-in-Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1601, et seq. (“the TILA”), against Mid-Penn Consumer Discount Co. (“Mid-Penn”) *768 which arise out of a series of loan transactions between Mid-Penn and certain debtors represented by CLS. See, e.g., In re Perkins, 106 B.R. 863, 866-68 (Bankr.E.D.Pa.1989), and cases collected therein. This proceeding presents a configuration of issues previously considered in Opinions in these and other matters in this court.

Our decision in In re Moore, 117 B.R. 135 (Bankr.E.D.Pa.1990), establishes that a re-scindable TILA violation occurred in the third of the four loan transactions in the instant series. Our decision in In re Nichols, Nichols v. Mid-Penn Consumer Discount Co., Bankr. No. 86-03809S, Adv. No. 87-0600S, slip op. at 6-7 (Bankr.E.D.Pa. Nov. 10, 1987), aff'd sub nom. Nichols v. Mid-Penn Consumer Discount Co., 1989 WESTLAW 46682 (E.D.Pa. April 28, 1989), aff'd sub nom. Appeal of Mid-Penn Consumer Discount Co., 891 F.2d 282 (3d Cir. 1989), unreported but well-known to the parties, establishes that an absence of an independent TILA violation in the fourth transaction in the series neither cures nor enhances the violations in the third transaction. Finally, the failure of Mid-Penn, or the Debtor on its behalf, to file a proof of claim eliminates the issue of whether the Debtor might be entitled to recoupment against any claim of Mid-Penn, However, our previous decision in In re Melvin, 75 B.R. 952, 959-60 (Bankr.E.D.Pa.1987), establishes that no claim of recoupment from the first and second transactions would be cognizable in any event.

The net result is a judgment in favor of the Debtor for only those statutory damages arising from Mid-Penn’s refusal to act upon the valid rescission of the third transaction in this series.

B. PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL HISTORY

MARY M. WRIGHT and HERBERT H. WRIGHT (“the Debtors”) filed a joint Chapter 13 bankruptcy case on January 10, 1991. A meeting of creditors, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 341(a), was conducted on March 13, 1991. A hearing to consider, inter alia, confirmation of their Chapter 13 Plan has initially been scheduled on June 20, 1991.

The instant proceeding was commenced on January 14, 1991, just four days after the Debtors’ bankruptcy filing. The trial was originally scheduled on March 7, 1991, but was continued until April 4, 1991, to allow the parties to complete discovery. On April 4, 1991, the parties agreed to submit the proceeding to us on a Stipulation of Facts to be filed imminently and briefing to be completed by May 31, 1991.

The series of four consumer loans described in the Stipulation, all secured by mortgages against the Debtors’ residential realty, lends itself to the following analysis:

Date of Satisfaction Amt. Paid of Mortgage on Loan Transaction Amount Finance No. Date Financed Charge
10/24/86 $2,085.40 $554.60 5/5/89 No Info
4/15/87 2,388.44 635.56 5/5/89 No Info
3/27/89 1,781.36 474.64 No Info $ 842.02
1/12/90 2,182.75 757.25 Not Applicable 1,073.44

In the first transaction, the TILA Disclosure Statement (“the D/S”) states that the Debtors paid the City of Philadelphia $567.45 for real estate taxes and distributed $210.93 to the Debtors. In fact, the copies of the checks distributed in the transaction indicate that the City was paid only $479.67 and the Debtors received $298.71.

Neither the TILA D/S nor the Notice of Right to Rescind (“the Notice”) given to the Debtors in the second transaction disclosed the fact that Mid-Penn retained the mortgages taken in connection with the *769 first transaction. Similarly, the retention of the mortgages taken in the first and second transactions were disclosed in neither the D/S nor in the Notice given to the Debtors in connection with the third transaction.

Also, in the third transaction, Mid-Penn required the Debtors to purchase fire insurance on their home as a condition of their obtaining credit. The $175.60 cost of this insurance is indicated on the D/S only by a designation of payment of this sum to Sidney Rosenfeld for fire insurance on the Debtors’ dwelling as an “Amount Paid to Creditors on your Behalf.” This cost was disclosed as part of the “Amount Financed” and not as part of the “Finance Charge” in the D/S given to the Debtors in connection with this transaction.

In the fourth transaction, the D/S included a similar recitation regarding a renewal of fire insurance from Sidney Rosenfeld at the same cost, which was again disclosed as part of the “Amount Financed” rather than the “Finance Charge” in this transaction. However, the D/S also included the following recitation on the bottom of the second side, followed by the parties’ signatures:

I/WE HAVE THE OPTION TO CHOOSE OUR FIRE INSURANCE FOR MY/OUR DWELLING AND RENEWALS FROM EITHER MY/OUR OWN SOURCES OR THROUGH MID-PENN.

On December 19, 1990, the Debtors, by their counsel, wrote a letter to Mid-Penn indicating that they were rescinding the third and fourth transactions in this series. 1 On January 11, 1991, Mid-Penn’s counsel responded by letter that it refused to effect the rescissions demanded, as Mid-Penn believed that the Debtors had no rights to rescind.

In its Answer to the Complaint which followed three days later, Mid-Penn admits that this proceeding is core under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(K). In addition to invoking the TILA, the Debtors, in that Complaint, invoke 11 U.S.C. § 506 and assert that any claim of Mid-Penn against their home is rendered unsecured by reason of the presence of prior liens in excess of the value of the home. Neither the Stipulation nor the Complaint address the filing of a proof of claim by Mid-Penn. The Complaint merely alleges that “any” claim of Mid-Penn is unsecured. The Claims Docket indicates no filing of a proof of claim by or on behalf of Mid-Penn. The parties, in their Briefs, agree that no proof of claim has been filed by Mid-Penn to date, although the Debtors observe that the bar date for filing claims will not expire until June 11, 1991.

C. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW/DISCUSSION

1.

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Bluebook (online)
127 B.R. 766, 1991 Bankr. LEXIS 768, 1991 WL 96052, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wright-v-mid-penn-consumer-discount-co-in-re-wright-paeb-1991.