Bronitsky v. Bea (In re Bea)

Summarized by Thomas Phinney , Felderstein Fitzgerald Willoughby Pascuzzi & Rios LLP
10 years 9 months ago

Citation:

9th Cir. BAP No. NC-14-1376-DKiTa (May 29, 2015)

Tag(s):

Ruling:

Chapter 13 Plan, which did not commence payment to creditors secured by personal property until month 7 of the plan, in order to allow Debtor's attorneys fees to be paid first, was properly confirmed where secured creditors did not object. Lack of adequate protection objection raised by the Chapter 13 trustee, but not raised by the secured creditors, was waived.

Procedural context:

Chapter 13 trustee (“Trustee”) appealed the bankruptcy court’s orders overruling her objection to confirmation of the Debtor’s Plan and confirming the Plan. The BAP affirmed both orders.

Facts:

The Debtor's Plan provided payment of $3,000 in attorneys fees during the first 6 months of the Plan, and commencing in month 7 to pay personal property liens as follows: (1) the City of Oakland would receive a total of $995, payable $83 per month at 0% interest; (2) the California Franchise Tax Board would receive a total of $325, payable $28 per month at 0% interest. The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) would receive payments of $382 per month to pay its allowed secured claim of $5,700 at 3% interest. Although it was likely that the secured creditors could have successfully objected to confirmation on the grounds that the failure to commence payments to them in the first month of the Plan failed to adequately protect their secured claims, this objection had been waived and since it was a factual issue, such an objection was not the type of objection that necessarily required denial of confirmation.

Judge(s):

DUNN, KIRSCHER AND TAYLOR

ABI Membership is required to access the full summary. Please Sign In using your ABI Member credentials. Not a Member yet? Join ABI now - it is absolutely worth it!