In re Blackburn
In re Blackburn
Opinion of the Court
ORDER SUSTAINING INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE’S OBJECTION (Doc. 144) AND DENYING, AS TO IRS, DEBTORS’ MOTION TO DETERMINE SECURED STATUS AND TO STRIP OFF JUNIOR LIENS (Doc. 135)
THIS MATTER came before the Court on the Debtors’ Motion to Determine Secured Status and to Strip off Junior Liens (the “Motion,” Doc. 135) and the Internal Revenue Service’s (the “IRS”) Objection (Doc. 144). The Court heard argument of counsel at a hearing on November 18, 2014. In the Motion the Debtors seek to strip off multiple creditors’ hens on property at 6534 Watermark Cove in Gulf Breeze, Florida 32562 (the “Subject Property”).
The parties stipulated to the material facts.
The Subject Property is encumbered by several liens,
The IRS filed a claim and asserts Tax Lien's totaling $136,711.66, including interest and penalties, for the years 2008-2010; it recorded liens in Santa Rosa and Oka-loosa Counties (the “Tax Liens”).
The Debtors assert that because the first mortgage balance is greater than the Subject Property’s value, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 506(d) the IRS Tax Liens are wholly unsecured as to, and may be “stripped off’ of, the Subject Property, even though the Tax Liens attached to other property, citing the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in McNeal v. GMAC and other cases from the Eleventh Circuit.
The IRS cites to In re Williams, a Chapter 7 case in which the bankruptcy court disagreed with an argument identical to the one being made by the Debtors here.
Under § 506(d) the question is whether the IRS’s lien “secures a claim against the debtor that is not an allowed secured claim.” 11 U.S.C. § 506(d) (emphasis added). A “claim” is defined not by the existence and extent of collateral but by the existence and extent of debt. 11 U.S.C. § 101(5)(A).... [The IRS’s] claim is either an allowed secured claim for purposes of § 506(d) or it is not. There is no basis to divide the claim into separate claims for each type of collateral — i.e., one claim secured by the real property and a second claim secured by the personal property- which would then be independently analyzed to determine whether they are allowed secured claims.23
Williams and Hoekstra involved nearly identical facts to the case at bar. In Hoekstra the debtors sued the IRS to avoid its third priority lien on their townhouse in Virginia on the ground that there was no equity in the real property to which the IRS lien attached.
Creditor’s [IRS’s] federal tax lien against Debtors is undersecured because the Townhouse has no value.
Debtors here seek to avoid a portion of a lien where a component of the collateral has no value but other components of collateral have value. The Dewsnup Court’s clear prohibition against “stripping down” liens leads this Court to reverse the bankruptcy court’s judgment voiding Creditor’s lien against the Townhouse.”29
As much as the facts in Hoekstra and Williams are analogous to those before this Court, the cases the Debtors cite in support of their Motion are distinguishable. Most of the cases the Debtors cite involved liens that had attached to one parcel of specific property, not liens on all real and personal property of the debtors.
In Johnson, the IRS held a pre-petition tax lien on the debtor’s real and personal property.
Disagreeing with the ruling in Hoeks-fra,
Notwithstanding that the “stripping” of the IRS lien in Johnson was upheld, the district court’s ruling in Johnson supports the denial of the Debtors’ request to “strip down” the IRS lien in the case at bar. Both the bankruptcy and district courts in Johnson emphasized that the IRS had stipulated to the amount of its secured claim, and to the fact that its lien remained attached only to the debtors’ personal property.
[T]he phrase “lien stripping” refers to the process of reducing a secured claim to reflect, the value of the underlying collateral. Variants of this phrase are a “strip-down” wherein an undersecured creditor’s lien is reduced to the equity value held by the Debtor in the collater*158 al (after the amount of any superior lien is deducted from the fair market value of the collateral), and, a “strip-off’ wherein a wholly-unsecured creditor’s lien is removed from collateral in which there is no equity value.44
That court discussed, at length, Dewsnup v. Timm and Code sections 506(a) and (d) and concluded that “[t]he ultimate effect of the holding in Dewsnup is that a Chapter 7 debtor is prevented from stripping down an allowed secured claim under § 506(d).” In affirming the bankruptcy court, the district court ruled that the stripping of the tax lien under the confirmed plan, and §§ 506(a) and 1129(b)(5) of the Bankruptcy Code was proper under the facts in that case.
Chapter 11 contains an analogous provision to § 1322(b)(2) of Chapter 13- § 1123(b)(5). Section 1123(b)(5) permits a debtor to “modify the rights of holders of secured claims” in conjunction with a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. 11 U.S.C. § 1123(b)(5). Therefore, to strip a lien in a Chapter 11 proceeding, a court must bifurcate the lien into secured and unsecured claims under § 506(a), and then, if a debtor’s plan of reorganization meets the requirements of § 1123(a), a secured claim may be modified pursuant to § 1123(b)(5).48
In upholding the modification of the IRS’s secured claim in the confirmed Chapter 11 plan, the district court in Johnson pointed out that Section 506(d), as applied in Chapter 7 cases, does not contain the safeguards contained in Code Sections 1129(b), 1225, or 1325 that govern treatment of secured claims and lien rights in Chapter 11, 12 and 13 cases.
The bankruptcy court that decided Johnson has more recently dismissed an adversary proceeding filed by a Chapter 7 debtor against the IRS seeking to strip down the IRS’s secured claim.
The courts in Williams, Hoekstra, and Johnson all recognized that Dewsnup v. Timm controls in Chapter 7 cases. The District court in Johnson stated: “[t]he ultimate effect of the holding in Dewsnup is that a Chapter 7 debtor is prevented from stripping down an allowed secured claim under § 506(d).”
In this Chapter 7 case, the fact that there is no equity in the Subject Property over and above the first mortgage does not render the IRS Tax Lien unsecured. Rather, the Tax Lien remains secured, at least in part, by the Debtors’ other property. As the court in Williams put it, “as long as the claim can attach to some value, it is ‘secured’ for purposes of § 506(d).”
ORDERED:
1. The Internal Revenue Services’ Objection to Debtors’ Motion to Determine Secured Status and to Strip of Junior Liens (Doc. 144) is SUSTAINED.
2. The Debtors’ Motion to Determine Secured Status and to Strip of Junior Liens (Doc. 135) is DENIED as to the IRS.
3. The Debtors’ Motion to Determine Secured Status and to Strip of Junior Liens (Doc.. 135) is GRANTED as to other parties named in the Motion.
4. The Stipulation between the Debtors and the IRS that unpaid tax liabilities for the periods ending on 12/31/2007 and 12/31/2008 shall be discharged and unpaid tax liabilities
DONE and ORDERED.
. Doc.135. The Motion requests the Court to (1) find that the First Mortgage has priority over all other liens described in the Motion and (2) determine that the holders of those other liens, including the IRS, do not have claims secured by the Subject Property pursuant to § 506(d).
. Because the time for objections has expired, the Motion will be granted as to the other creditors named in the Motion.
. Joint Stipulation Regarding (A) Real Property at 6534 Watermark Cove and (B) Personal Liability for Unpaid Federal Taxes (Doc. 156).
. Doc. 1 at 6.
. Id. at 7-11.
. Id. at 12-14.
. Id.
. Joint Stipulation Regarding (A) Real Property at 6534 Watermark Cove and (B) Personal Liability for Unpaid Federal Taxes (Doc. 156).
. Doc. 135, at 2.
. Id. at 3. The Debtors maintain that the value of the Subject Properly is $92,000.00 based on an Appraisal Report attached to their Motion.
. Recording of hearing on November 18, 2014.
. Claim 5-1.
. Doc. 156 ¶¶ 7-8.
. In re McNeal, 735 F.3d 1263 (11th Cir. 2012); Doc. 135 ¶ 10 (and cases cited therein).
. “If any person liable to pay any tax neglects or refuses to pay the same after demand, the amount (including any interest, additional amount, addition to tax, or assessa
. At the hearing, the Debtors conceded that if the Court found that they were attempting to “strip down” the Tax Liens, then the IRS would be correct in asserting that a “strip down” is prohibited in a Chapter 7 case. Recording of November 18, 2014 hearing.
. In re Williams, 488 B.R. 492 (Bankr. M.D.Ga. 2013).
. Id.
. Id.
. Id.
. Hoekstra v. U.S. (In re Hoekstra), 255 B.R. 285 (E.D.Va. 2000).
. In re Williams, 488 B.R. at 498-99.
. In re Hoekstra, 255 B.R. at 286-87.
. Id. at 287.
. In re Hoekstra, 255 B.R. at 290.
. Id. at 290-91. ("Section 6321 does not state that there shall be 'liens’ upon a debtor's real and personal property; it states that there shall be 'a lien,’ or a single lien.”)
. Id. at 291.
. Id. at 292.
. McNeal v. GMAC Mort., LLC (In re McNeal), 735 F.3d 1263 (11th Cir. 2012); Matter of Folendore, 862 F.2d 1537 (11th Cir. 1989); In re Campbell, 498 B.R. 370 (Bankr. N.D.Ga. 2013); In re Caulkett, 566 Fed.Appx. 879 (11th Cir. 2014)).
. Johnson v. I.R.S. Dep’t of Treasury of U.S. (In re Johnson), 386 B.R. 171 (Bankr.W.D.Pa. 2008), aff’d, 415 B.R. 159 (W.D.Pa. 2009).
. In re Johnson, 415 B.R. at 163.
. Id.
. Id. at 169. The debtor in Johnson had also filed an adversary proceeding against the IRS asking the bankruptcy court to determine whether the IRS lien could be stripped from the debtor’s real property. Id. at 163.
. Id.
. Id. The debtor's total equity in all of the personal property was $41,374.88.
. In re Johnson, 415 B.R. 159, 181-82 (W.D.Pa. 2009).
. 415 B.R. at 161-62. In Johnson the debt- or had filed an adversary proceeding against the IRS seeking a determination of the validity, priority, and extent of its lien; the adversary proceeding remained pending after the plan was confirmed. 386 B.R. at 172.
. In re Johnson, 386 B.R. at 179.
. Id. at 180. Section 6325(b)(2)(B) of Tifie 26 provides the mechanism for removal of an IRS lien from an affected property simply upon a showing by the taxpayer that no equity exists in the affected property.
(ii) Interest of the United States valueless. The appropriate official may, in his discretion, issue a certificate of discharge of any part of the property subject to the Federal tax lien if he determines that the interest of the United States in the property to be so discharged has no value.
. Id. at 180 (“... that lien will remain an anchor dragging him down from achieving the fresh start envisioned by the Code.”).
. Id.; 415 B.R. at 161-162.
. Id. at 164.
. Id. at 159.
. Id. at 170. This Court disagrees with the Johnson bankruptcy court's conclusion that the IRS lien was divisible.
. Id. at 169.
. In re Johnson, 415 B.R. at 167.
. In re Johnson, 415 B.R. at 170 ("In this case, [the debtor's] confirmed Amended Plan of Reorganization obviates the concerns articulated by the Supreme Court in Dewsnup and the District Court in Hoelcstra. [The debtor] is not in a position to receive any 'windfall' from the sale of his over encumbered real estate as he remains obligated to make payments to the IRS under his confirmed plan.”) See also, In re Johnson, 386 B.R. at 179. ("Hoelcstra was decided in the context of a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding ... [and] was faced with clearly applicable precedent of Dewsnup ... the present case is a reorganization under Chapter 11 ... the majority view which is now also adopted by this Court, is that Dewsnup does not apply to lien stripping occurring in a reorganization.”)
.In re Geisler, No. ADV 14-2098-CMB, 2014 WL 6608765 (Bankr.W.D.Pa. Nov. 19, 2014).
. Id. at *2. Even though the Geisler court was discussing "strip off” and not “strip down,” the crucial point is that neither is permitted in Chapter 7.
. Id. at 166.
. Matter of Folendore, 862 F.2d 1537 (11th Cir. 1989); McNeal v. GMAC Mortgage, LLC, 735 F.3d 1263, 1265 (11th Cir. 2012). In November of 2014 the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in two of the three Chapter 7 lien-strip-off cases challenging the Eleventh Circuit decision in McNeal. In re Toledo-Cardona, 556 Fed.Appx. 911, 912 (11th Cir.) cert. granted sub nom. Bank of Am., N.A. v. Toledo-Cardona, — U.S. —, 135 S.Ct. 677, 190 L.Ed.2d 388 (2014) and In re Caulkett, 566 Fed.Appx. 879, 880 (11th Cir.) cert. granted sub nom. Bank of Am., N.A. v. Caulkett, — U.S. —, 135 S.Ct. 674, 190 L.Ed.2d 388 (2014) (petition granted Nov. 17, 2014) (consolidated for argument). As of the date of this Order, oral argument has not yet been scheduled. See, also, In re Bello, 563 Fed.Appx. 691 (11th Cir. 2014) (still pending).
. In re Williams, 488 B.R. 492, 497 (Bankr. M.D.Ga. 2013).
. Id. at 499.
. Doc. 156 ¶¶ 7-8.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- IN RE : Ken D. BLACKBURN, Lauren A. Blackburn, Debtors
- Status
- Published