DENNIS, Circuit Judge:
In this bankruptcy appeal, debtor Ricky Kleibrink challenges the district court's affirmance of the bankruptcy court's ruling that creditor Mid State Trust VII holds an enforceable security interest in a property of his, despite his having received a discharge in an earlier bankruptcy proceeding. The debtor filed the instant bankruptcy proceeding in order to avoid the creditor's attempt to foreclose on the property. The bankruptcy court ruled that the earlier bankruptcy proceeding did not extinguish the creditor's lien against the property, because the claim objection filed by the debtor in the earlier proceeding did not afford the creditor due process in two ways. First, the claim objection was not accompanied by clear notice that the debtor was challenging the validity, priority, or extent of the lien, and that the debtor sought to abrogate the creditor's right to look to its collateral. Second, the debtor did not comply with the procedural safeguards set forth in Part VII of the Federal
In the time since the lower courts addressed the merits of this case, the Supreme Court issued its decision in United Student Aid Funds, Inc. v. Espinosa, ___ U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 1367, 176 L.Ed.2d 158 (2010). Espinosa held that a judgment discharging debt in a bankruptcy proceeding is void under Rule 60(b)(4) where the creditor did not receive notice that satisfied the requirements of due process. Id. at 1378. "`An elementary and fundamental requirement of due process in any proceeding which is to be accorded finality is notice reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of the action and afford them an opportunity to present their objections.'" Id. at 1378 (quoting Mullane v. Cent. Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 314, 70 S.Ct. 652, 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950)). Although the procedural posture of the instant case is different from that of Espinosa, the dispositive issue is the same: whether a creditor in a bankruptcy proceeding received notice, satisfying the requirements of due process, that its interest could be extinguished in that proceeding.
Here, the lower courts explained in detail why the debtor's confusing claim objection filings in the earlier bankruptcy proceeding did not give the creditor clear or sufficient notice that its lien could be extinguished. The district court summarized its findings as follows:
In re Kleibrink, 2007 WL 2438359 at *7 (N.D.Tex.2007). We conclude that the notice given to the creditor here did not satisfy the due process standard for notice set forth in Mullane. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the district court's judgment that the creditor's lien survived the earlier bankruptcy proceeding.