BEN BARRY, Bankruptcy Judge.
Before the Court are the following: Crain K of Fayetteville, LLC's [Crain or creditor] Motion for Relief from Stay, filed June 26, 2019; the debtor's Response to Motion for Relief from Automatic Stay, filed June 27, 2019; the debtor's Objection to Claim, filed June 26, 2019; Crain's Response to Objection to Claim, filed July 22, 2019; and Crain's Objection to Confirmation of Amended Plan, filed August 6, 2019. The Court held a hearing on the motion, objections, and responses on September 11, 2019 [September 11 hearing]. Todd F. Hertzberg appeared on behalf of the debtor. Stephen L. Gershner appeared on behalf of Crain. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Court took the matters under advisement. For the reasons stated below, the debtor's Objection to Claim is sustained in part. Further, Crain's Motion for Relief from Stay is denied and its Objection to Confirmation of Amended Plan is sustained in part.
The Court has subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(1). These matters are core proceedings under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(B), (G), and (L) and are deemed contested matters under Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9014. This order contains findings of fact and conclusions of law under Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7052(a)(1).
On March 2, 2019, the debtor purchased a vehicle from Crain for her personal use. The debtor and Crain executed a retail installment sales contract [the contract], which Crain immediately assigned to Ally Financial. On April 17, 2019, the debtor filed her chapter 13 bankruptcy case. On June 21, 2019, Ally Financial reassigned the contract to Crain. On June 26, 2019, Crain filed a motion for relief from the automatic stay and proof of claim in the debtor's case. Crain's claim consisted of principal of $25,101, accrued interest of $132.17 owed as of the petition date, and $1500 in post-petition attorney fees. On the same day, the debtor filed her objection to Crain's claim pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 506(b), objecting to the portion of the claim seeking post-petition attorney fees.
On July 18, 2019, debtor filed her amended chapter 13 plan. On August 6, 2019, Crain filed its objection. On July 22, 2019, Crain filed its response to the debtor's objection to its claim, arguing that the "hanging paragraph" of 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(9) makes § 506 inapplicable to a 910-car claim.
As additional support for its claim for post-petition attorney fees, Crain referenced the contract, which states in relevant part:
Because the address on the front of the contract is Fayetteville, Arkansas, Crain contends that Arkansas law applies, and, in particular, Arkansas Code Annotated § 16-22-308.
At the September 11 hearing, the parties stipulated that the value of the vehicle in question is less than the debt owed; that the debtor purchased the vehicle within 910 days of the date she filed her petition; and that the attorney fees requested in Crain's claim were incurred post-petition. The debtor's attorney stipulated that the amount to be paid under the plan was insufficient, but also represented that the chapter 13 trustee's confirmation order would include a payment in an amount sufficient to confirm the plan. The debtor's attorney also stated that the debtor was only contesting the post-petition attorney fees included in Crain's claim, clarifying that the issue before the Court is whether a 910-car creditor can "tack on" post-petition attorney fees to its secured claim. Crain's attorney argued that the debtor's plan was not feasible and that because the debtor never made a payment prior to filing her bankruptcy case,
During the hearing, the debtor testified that (1) she had maintained full insurance coverage on the vehicle; (2) her plan payments to the chapter 13 trustee are "payroll deducted"; (3) the vehicle was purchased for better gas mileage; (4) the vehicle is properly licensed; (5) her current proposed plan provides for pre-confirmation adequate protection payments of $190 per month; (6) she proposes to pay Crain the amount of $25,233.17, representing principal and accrued interest on the day the petition was filed, together with 6.2% interest over the life of the plan; and, (7) upon confirmation of her amended plan, plan payments of $488 per month would be paid to Crain on its claim.
Section 506 of the bankruptcy code "allows the bifurcation of the claims of secured creditors into secured and unsecured claims based on the value of the creditor's collateral at the time of the bankruptcy filing." In re Fleming, 339 B.R. 716, 722 (Bankr. E.D. Mo. 2006). Under § 506, a chapter 13 debtor may generally "strip down a car creditor's secured claim to the current value of the collateral and treat the balance owed the secured creditor as an unsecured claim."
As an initial matter, the Court finds it relevant that the bankruptcy system is premised upon the theory that "everything stops at a certain date." See Sexton v. Dreyfus, 219 U.S. 339, 344 (1911). Accordingly, § 502(b) provides:
11 U.S.C. § 502(b) (emphasis added). By using the word "shall," § 502(b) mandates that the court determine the amount of a claim as of the date of the filing of the petition. 11 U.S.C. § 502(b); see also In re Waterman, 248 B.R. 567, 573 (B.A.P. 8th Cir. 2000) (holding that "generally, a creditor's claim is determined as of the date of the filing of the bankruptcy petition [internal citation omitted] and that amounts incurred post-petition are not usually permitted as part of the claim"); but see Summitbridge Nat'l Inv. III, LLC v. Faison, 915 F.3d 288, 292 (4th Cir. 2019) (characterizing post-petition fees as allowable contingent claims). Because the amount of post-petition attorney fees cannot be determined as of the petition date, the Court finds that such fees may not be included in the amount of the claim, unless another provision of the code provides an exception to § 502(b)'s directive to determine the amount of a claim as of the petition date.
The code expressly authorizes the recovery of post-petition attorney fees in certain circumstances, for example:
In re Seda France, Inc., No. 10-12948-CAG, 2011 Bankr. LEXIS 2874, at *6-8 (Bankr. W.D. Tex. July 22, 2011). However, there is no code provision that expressly allows an undersecured 910-car creditor to recover post-petition attorney fees. Therefore, the Court finds that allowing an undersecured 910-car creditor to recover post-petition attorney fees from the estate would impermissibly expand the express exceptions that Congress has provided for in the code. See id., at *9.
Further, § 1322(b)(2) "expressly permits modification of [a 910-car creditor's] rights, subject to the limitations set forth in [§] 1325 of the Bankruptcy Code."
Relief from stay may be granted for cause, including a lack of adequate protection, or when the debtor has no equity in the property and the property is not necessary to an effective reorganization. 11 U.S.C. § 362(d)(1)-(2). The Court finds that Crain failed to prove cause under § 362(d)(1): there is no evidence before the Court that the debtor's proposal to pay Crain pre-confirmation adequate protection payments of $190 per month and post confirmation payments of $488 per month is insufficient to adequately protect Crain's interest. While it is undisputed that the debtor has no equity in the property, the Court finds that the debtor proved that the vehicle is necessary for her reorganization. Therefore, the Court denies relief under § 362(d)(2). For these reasons, the Court denies Crain's Motion for Relief.
Further, the Court finds that Crain did not prove that the filing of the debtor's case or plan was not in good faith. "Good faith is not defined by the Bankruptcy Code." In re Wertz, 557 B.R. 695, 702 (Bankr. E.D. Ark. 2016). The Eighth Circuit evaluates good faith under the "totality of circumstances" test. Id. (quoting Handeen v. LeMaire (In re LeMaire), 898 F.2d 1346, 1349 (8th Cir. 1990)). The factors considered under a totality of the circumstances test include (1) whether the debtor stated her debts and expenses accurately; (2) whether the debtor made any fraudulent misrepresentations to mislead the bankruptcy court; or (3) whether the debtor has unfairly manipulated the bankruptcy code. Id. (citing Educ. Assistance Corp. v. Zellner, 827 F.2d 1222, 1227 (8th Cir. 1987)). See also Hansmeier v. McDermott (In re Hansmeier), 558 B.R. 299 (B.A.P. 8th Cir. 2016) (using totality of the circumstances test in determining whether a chapter 13 petition was filed in bad faith). There is no evidence before the Court that the debtor has not stated her debts or expenses accurately, that she has made any fraudulent misrepresentations to mislead the Court, or that she has unfairly manipulated the bankruptcy code. Accordingly, the Court finds that Crain failed to prove bad faith either in the debtor's filing of her chapter 13 petition or in the filing of her proposed plan. As to Crain's Objection to Confirmation to Amended Plan, the debtor admitted that the amount to be paid under her current proposed plan was insufficient to fund the plan. Therefore, Crain's objection to the amended plan is sustained, in part. Within 28 days from the entry of this order, the debtor shall file an amended plan that will provide payments in an amount sufficient to pay Crain's claim of principal and interest, without payment of the post-petition attorney fees. Finally, Crain's argument that the debtor's plan is not feasible is now moot because of this Court's order requiring the debtor to file an amended plan.
IT IS SO ORDERED.