BUCKLEW, District Judge:
Santander Consumer USA, Inc., as assignee of Thor Credit Corp. ("Santander") appeals the district court's affirmance of the bankruptcy court's order overruling Santander's objection to the confirmation of Phillip Jefferson Brown's plan under Chapter 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which proposed that Brown surrender his vehicle under 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(5)(C) to satisfy Santander's claim. The bankruptcy court held 11 U.S.C. § 506(a)(1) and (a)(2) determined the vehicle's value and hence the amount of Santander's secured claim, which would be satisfied by Brown's surrender of the vehicle.
The issue before this Court is whether § 506(a)(2)'s valuation standard applies when a Chapter 13 debtor surrenders his vehicle under § 1325(a)(5)(C). We hold that it does, and we affirm.
We have jurisdiction because the district court's affirmance of the bankruptcy court's decision is a final appealable order. 28 U.S.C. § 158(d)(1). Brown's plan was confirmed at the time of the district court's order, which definitively concluded that § 506(a)(2) governed the valuation of Brown's vehicle surrendered under § 1325(a)(5)(C). See In re Colbourne, No. 12-14722, 550 Fed.Appx. 687, 688-89 nn. 3-4, 2013 WL 5789159, at *1 nn. 3-4 (11th Cir. Oct. 29, 2013) (per curiam). The district court's decision is "final and ended this part of the litigation on the merits," leaving the bankruptcy court with nothing left to decide. T & B Scottdale Contractors, Inc. v. United States, 866 F.2d 1372, 1375 (11th Cir.1989).
In July 2007, Brown purchased a 37-foot 2006 Keystone Challenger recreational vehicle. Brown entered into a loan agreement secured by the recreational vehicle. In July 2012, Brown filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Santander, the owner of the loan agreement, filed a proof of secured claim in the bankruptcy court for $36,587.53, the outstanding payoff balance due at the petition date. Brown's modified Chapter 13 plan proposed surrendering the vehicle in full satisfaction of Santander's claim. Santander objected to the confirmation of the plan.
At the confirmation hearing on September 27, 2012, the parties disagreed on the method for valuing Brown's vehicle.
On December 3, 2012, the bankruptcy court overruled Santander's objection,
Following a valuation and confirmation hearing, the bankruptcy court determined that the vehicle's replacement value at least equaled the debt and confirmed Brown's Chapter 13 plan.
"The factual findings of the bankruptcy court cannot be set aside unless they are clearly erroneous; however, conclusions of law made by either the bankruptcy court or the district court are subject to de novo review." In re Graupner, 537 F.3d 1295, 1299 (11th Cir.2008).
Under § 1325(a)(5), a plan's treatment of an "allowed secured claim" can be confirmed if: the secured creditor accepts the plan, the debtor retains the collateral and makes payments to the creditor, or the debtor surrenders the collateral. 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(5)(A)-(C). In this case, Brown exercised the surrender option under § 1325(a)(5)(C).
The term "allowed secured claim" refers to § 506(a). Rash, 520 U.S. at 957, 117 S.Ct. at 1883 ("The value of the allowed secured claim is governed by § 506(a) of the Code."); Graupner, 537 F.3d at 1296. Section 506(a)(1) bifurcates a secured creditor's allowed claim into secured and unsecured portions based on the underlying collateral's value and addresses how to determine such value:
11 U.S.C. § 506(a)(1) (2006) (emphasis added).
In Rash, the debtor proposed to retain the collateral under § 1325(a)(5)(B), while valuing the collateral based on its foreclosure value. 520 U.S. at 957, 117 S.Ct. at 1883. However, the Supreme Court interpreted "disposition or use" as requiring different valuation standards depending on whether the collateral was surrendered or retained. Id. at 962, 117 S.Ct. at 1885. Rash held that the proper standard was
After Rash, BAPCPA added § 506(a)(2). Like § 506(a)(1)'s last sentence, § 506(a)(2) refers to § 506(a)(1)'s bifurcation provision and addresses how to determine value. Unlike § 506(a)(1), § 506(a)(2)'s scope is limited to certain cases and expressly mandates a replacement value standard:
11 U.S.C. § 506(a)(2) (2006) (emphasis added). Thus, when § 506(a)(1) and (a)(2) both apply, a creditor holding an undersecured claim would have a secured claim equal to the collateral's judicially-determined replacement value and an unsecured claim to the extent the debt exceeds the collateral's replacement value.
The parties do not dispute that Brown is an individual in a Chapter 13 case with property falling within the scope of § 506(a)(2). Nevertheless, they dispute whether § 506(a)(2) applies. Santander contends § 506(a)(2)'s replacement value standard does not apply where, as here, the debtor exercises the surrender option under § 1325(a)(5)(C). Brown contends it does.
We begin with the text of the Bankruptcy Code. In re Allied Mech. Servs., Inc., 885 F.2d 837, 838 (11th Cir. 1989). Section 506(a)(2)'s text — "[i]f the debtor is an individual in a case under chapter 7 or 13, such value ... shall be determined based on the replacement value" — expressly requires applying a replacement value standard in cases falling within its ambit. And the cases that fall within the scope of § 506(a)(2)'s ambit include those involving a Chapter 13 debtor's personal property or property for personal, family, or household use — precisely the kind at issue here. Section 506(a)(2), by its plain terms, applies to this case.
We disagree with Santander's textual arguments. Santander argues that applying § 506(a)(2)'s replacement value standard when a debtor surrenders property under § 1325(a)(5)(C) would misapply Rash and violate § 506(a)(1)'s "disposition and use" language. Specifically, Santander contends that applying a replacement value standard would ignore Rash's holding that different valuation standards should apply depending on the collateral's "disposition or use," with foreclosure value governing surrender and replacement value governing retention.
But Santander fails to acknowledge that Rash preceded BAPCPA's addition of § 506(a)(2), which expressly requires applying the replacement value standard in this case. And while § 506(a)(2)'s replacement value standard mandate seemingly contradicts § 506(a)(1)'s broader "disposition and use" valuation language, a well-established canon "of statutory construction [is] that the specific governs the general." RadLAX Gateway Hotel, LLC v. Amalgamated Bank, ___ U.S. ___, 132 S.Ct. 2065, 2071, 182 L.Ed.2d 967 (2012) (internal quotation marks omitted). Here, § 506(a)(2) specifies
Santander's corollary argument is that § 506(a)(2) only applies to cases where the debtor exercises the retention option under § 1325(a)(5)(B). But this requires us to read a limitation into the statute that does not exist in the plain text. Congress expressly limited § 506(a)(2) to certain Chapter 7 and 13 cases; it could have also limited § 506(a)(2) to cases where the debtor retains or "uses" the collateral. Congress did not, and neither will we.
Santander also asserts that § 506(a)(2) only applies to retained property under § 1325(a)(5)(B), because BAPCPA only added § 506(a)(2) to codify Rash's holding that replacement value should govern in the retention context. We acknowledge that cases have described § 506(a)(2) as a codification of Rash, see, e.g., In re Martinez, 409 B.R. 35, 40 (Bankr.S.D.N.Y. 2009), but they do not hold that § 506(a)(2) is limited to the facts of Rash. Nor does the text of § 506(a)(2) support that conclusion.
Santander also suggests that it is improper to conduct any valuation at all, because Rash "does not state that the court is to pre-determine the value of surrendered vehicles under § 506(a) based on foreclosure value, or any other value standard." (Ini.Br.12.) However, as Santander concedes, § 506(a)(1) bifurcation applies. (Reply Br. 2.) Because bifurcation is premised on the collateral's valuation, "[i]t was permissible for [Brown] to seek a valuation in proposing [his] Chapter 13 plan." Nobelman v. Am. Sav. Bank, 508 U.S. 324, 328, 113 S.Ct. 2106, 2110, 124 L.Ed.2d 228 (1993) ("Petitioners were correct in looking to § 506(a) for a judicial valuation of the collateral to determine the status of the bank's secured claim.").
Nor are we persuaded by Santander's arguments that applying § 506(a)(2) in the surrender context would be absurd. Santander argues that it would be absurd because it allows debtors to surrender collateral in full satisfaction of the debt. This overstates the effect of § 506(a)(2). Surrender would satisfy the creditor's secured claim, not the entire debt. If a creditor holds an undersecured claim, the creditor would still have an unsecured claim to the extent the debt exceeds the collateral's judicially-determined replacement value.
Santander also argues that applying § 506(a)(2) would be absurd because it eliminates creditors' contract and state law rights to liquidate and pursue an unsecured claim for any deficiency. But state law does not govern if the Bankruptcy Code requires a different result. See Butner v. United States, 440 U.S. 48, 55, 99 S.Ct. 914, 918, 59 L.Ed.2d 136 (1979); Raleigh v. Ill. Dep't of Revenue, 530 U.S. 15, 20, 120 S.Ct. 1951, 1955, 147 L.Ed.2d 13 (2000) (holding that creditors' rights are "subject to any qualifying or contrary provisions of the Bankruptcy Code"). Here, the Bankruptcy Code is contrary to state law, as an unsecured claim under § 506(a)(1) and (a)(2) equals the amount that the debt exceeds the property's replacement value — not the amount of post-sale deficiency. Thus, state law cannot apply.
The effect of § 506(a)(2) is different than that of the hanging paragraph.
The district court's order affirming the bankruptcy court is