In re Creekside Senior Apartments, LP, 2012 Fed App. 0008P (6th Cir. B.A.P. June 29, 2012)

CASE SNAPSHOT

In a case of first impression, the Sixth Circuit BAP held that, for purposes of valuing collateral under section 506(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, the availability of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits must be considered in valuing a creditor’s secured claim.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance, Inc. v. Higgason (In re Pierce), 471 B.R. 876 (B.A.P. 6th Cir. 2012) –

Bandi v. Becnel (In re Bandi), 683 F.3d 671 (5th Cir. 2012)

Commercial real estate foreclosures present a number of significant challenges to lenders, special servicers and their counsel that residential foreclosures do not.  But residential foreclosures make up the vast majority of state courts’ foreclosure dockets, so the court system – including Judges and Master Commissioners – is often unfamiliar of the challenges associated with commercial foreclosures.  This can result in delays, unnecessary expense and the associated frustration that invariably follows when a commercial real estate asset is tied up in Court. 

Last week the Missouri Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Frontenac Bank v. T.R.

As the financial and housing markets headed toward freefall in September of 2008, an enterprising homeowner named Kyung Ha Chung applied for two loans, from two lenders, to be secured by two deeds of trust against her house.  The problem was, she didn’t tell the two lenders about each other, and signed the two deeds of trust on the same day, before two different notaries.

How The Problem Arose:  Document Batches Recorded Together

Scotiabank De Puerto Rico v. Brito (In re Plaza Resort at Palmas), 469 B.R. 398 (B.A.P. 1st Cir. 2012) –

Androse Assoc. of Allaire, LLC v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (In re Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.), 472 B.R. 666 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) –

On August 2, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its decision in Lightfoot v. MXEnergy Elec., Inc. (In re MBS Mgmt. Servs., Inc.), Case No. 11-30553 (5th Cir. 2012), holding that a real estate management company’s electricity supply contract qualified as a “forward contract”, payments on account of which are protected from avoidance as preferential transfers under the Bankruptcy Code’s “safe harbor” provisions.

There are generally three types of claims in a bankruptcy proceeding: unsecured claims, secured claims and administrative expense claims. Section 503 of the Bankruptcy Code governs the allowance of administrative expense claims. Section 503 provides that "after notice and a hearing, there shall be allowed administrative expenses…, including the actual and necessary costs and expenses of preserving the estate." 11 U.S.C. § 503(b)(1)(A).