Mullendore, In re

• Decision Date: 15 August 1984
• Docket Number: No. 81-1864,81-1864
• Citation: 741 F.2d 306
• Parties: Bankr. L. Rep. P 69,989 In re Eugene C. MULLENDORE and Kathleen Boren Mullendore, Debtors. Kathleen Boren MULLENDORE and Katsy Mullendore Mecom, Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 306

741 F.2d 306

Bankr. L. Rep. P 69,989

In re Eugene C. MULLENDORE and Kathleen Boren Mullendore, Debtors Kathleen Boren MULLENDORE and Katsy Mullendore Mecom, Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 81-1864.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

Aug. 15, 1984.

Seagal V. Wheatley, San Antonio, Tex., (Edward M. Lavin of Oppenheimer, Rosenberg, Kelleher & Wheatley, Inc., San Antonio, Tex., on brief), for appellants.

Cynthia C. Cummings, Atty., Civ. Div. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C. (J. Paul McGrath, Asst. Atty. Gen., David Epstein, Atty., Civ. Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., on brief), for appellee.

Before HOLLOWAY, McKAY and SEYMOUR, Circuit Judges.

HOLLOWAY, Circuit Judge.

Kathleen Boren Mullendore and Katsy Mullendore Mecom timely appeal an order of the district court affirming an order of the bankruptcy court requiring the debtors in possession to pay into the Treasury of the United States $14,265.02 for the additional fee payable to the Referees' Salary and Expense Fund, Sec. 40(c)(2) of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C. Sec. 68(c)(2). We affirm.

I

On July 17, 1979, the bankruptcy judge authorized the payment of the requested attorney's fees and the closing of the estate. On his own motion the bankruptcy judge on November 7, 1979, ordered that the debtor estate or the debtors pay $22,319.80 to the clerk of the bankruptcy court, for deposit into the United States Treasury to the credit of the referees' salary and expense fund. After a hearing the bankruptcy judge in October 1980 amended his order of November 1979 to reflect that the fee payable by the debtor estate or the debtors was the amount of $14,256.06. The order was appealed from to the district court. II R. 394. The district court in June 1981 found nothing clearly erroneous in the decision of the bankruptcy court and affirmed the bankruptcy court's order. II R. 452-53.

II

The appellants contend that the bankruptcy judge erred in the computations on which the fee was assessed; that the judge erred in presuming that earlier the failure of the district judge to assess the fee was merely an oversight; and that there is no legal or equitable justification for imposing the fee.

A bankruptcy estate may be reopened. Title 11 U.S.C. Sec. 11(a)(8) (1976) states that "courts of bankruptcy ... are ... invested ... with such jurisdiction at law and in equity as will enable them to exercise original jurisdiction ... to ... reopen estates for cause shown." ¹ This "recognition of the power of the court to reopen estates 'for cause shown' avoids the restrictive application under former Sec. 2(a)(8) to instances where estates were closed before full administration. No attempt is made to define the outer limits of the court's discretion ..." 1 Collier on Bankruptcy p 2.49 (14th ed. 1976). (footnotes omitted). Even though the bankruptcy court has discretion in many instances whether to reopen an estate, it is the duty of the court to reopen an estate whenever prima facie proof is made that it has not been fully administered. In re Joslyn's Estate, 171 F.2d 159, 164 (7th Cir.1948).

"Application to have the estate reopened may be made by an 'interested party' who would be benefited by the reopening." Moreover, contrary to appellants' contention that the bankruptcy judge had no authority to reopen the estate and enter the order assessing the fee, "it has been suggested that perhaps the court could make a reopening order sua sponte." 1 Collier on Bankruptcy p 2.50 (14th ed. 1976). (footnotes omitted). In In re Int'l Match Corp., 190 F.2d 458, 460-61 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 342 U.S. 870, 72 S.Ct. 113, 96 L.Ed. 655 (1951), the court held that where the referee in bankruptcy had taken excess commissions by fraud and in violation of court orders it was proper for the court, on the recommendation of a special master, to reopen the estate and to order the recovery of the sums involved.

Here we feel that the estate was reopened within a reasonable time after it was closed; this was done in order to complete properly the administration of the estate. ² We find the bankruptcy court did not abuse his discretion in reopening the estate sua sponte for the purpose of ordering the debtor estate to pay $22,319.80, later amended to $14,256.06, to the clerk of the bankruptcy court for deposit in the United States Treasury to the credit of the referees' salary and expense fund. ³

Appellants contend that the bankruptcy court erred in presuming that the earlier failure of the district judge to assess the fee was merely an oversight and that there is no legal or equitable justification for imposing the fee. Regardless of the judge's reasons for failing to assess a fee, fees for the referees' salary and expense fund are chargeable against each case in an arrangement confirmed under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Act. Title 11 U.S.C. Sec. 68(c)(2) (1976) states in mandatory terms:

Additional fees for the referees' salary and expense fund shall be charged, in accordance with the schedule fixed by the conference ... (b) against each case in an arrangement confirmed under chapter 11 of this title.

Appellants say that no services were performed by a referee sufficient to justify an assessment for the referees' salary and expense fund. However, even in those cases administered without a reference to referees, such fees are chargeable. Report of the Judicial Conference of the United States (1948) at p. 31. ⁴

These fees must be paid in full unless waived. Title 11 U.S.C. Sec. 737 (1976) states that at the creditors' meeting, or at any adjournment thereof, the judge or referee shall, after the acceptance of the arrangement--

(2) fix a time within which the debtor shall deposit ... the money necessary to pay all debts which have priority, unless such priority creditors shall have waived their claims on such deposit, or consented in writing to any provision of the arrangement for otherwise dealing with such claims, and the money necessary to pay the costs and expenses of the proceeding.

Bankruptcy Rule 11-38(b) (1976) provides that

[a]ny person who has waived his right to share in the distribution of the deposit or in payments under the plan shall file with the court, prior to confirmation of the plan, a statement setting forth the waiver and any agreement with respect thereto made with the debtor, his attorney, or any other person.

Title 11 U.S.C. Sec. 104(a) (1976) states that

[t]he debts to have priority, in advance of the payment of dividends to creditors, and to be paid in full out of bankrupt estates, and the order of payment, shall be (1) the costs and expenses of administration, including the actual and necessary costs and expenses of preserving the estate subsequent to filing the petition; the fees for the referees' salary and expense fund ...

"An arrangement ... shall be confirmed by the court when the debtor shall have made the deposit required under this chapter and under the arrangement." 11 U.S.C. Sec. 761 (1976). Here the debtors do not contend that fees for the referees' salary and expense fund were waived by the filing with the court of a statement setting forth the waiver as provided by Bankruptcy Rule 11-38(b), nor do we find evidence of such waiver. We conclude that because these fees were not waived, and no deposit covering this debt which has priority was made, the arrangement should not have been confirmed. The arrangement was nevertheless confirmed. I R. 175-76.

Appellants contend that the discharge in bankruptcy released the former debtors in possession from any provable debt owed to the United States. ⁵ Title 11 U.S.C. Sec. 771 (1976) states:

The confirmation of an arrangement shall discharge a debtor from all his unsecured debts and liabilities provided for by the arrangement, except as provided in the arrangement or the order confirming the arrangement, but excluding such debts as, under section 35 of this title, are not dischargeable.

"The term 'unsecured debt' also includes unsecured priority debts." 9 Collier on Bankruptcy p 9.32 (14th ed. 1976). Fees for the referees' salary and expense fund are priority debts, 11 U.S.C. Sec. 104(a) (1976), and were unsecured. However, "[i]n requiring that a debt be 'provided for by the arrangement' in order to be discharged by confirmation, Sec. 371 means that the plan must deal with that debt by providing for the payment of some consideration to the holder of that debt. If a plan does not provide for the payment of some consideration for the modification or alteration of a creditor's rights, the debt owed to that creditor is not affected by the discharge which results from confirmation of the plan." Id. "A plan need not necessarily provide for all debts, and if a debt is not provided for it is not discharged by confirmation of the plan." Id. Appellants admit that the district judge did not assess a fee payable to the referees' salary and expense fund, Brief of Appellants at p. 17, 22-23, and we find that the arrangement did not provide for fees payable to the referees' salary and expense fund; therefore, the fees payable to the fund were not discharged by the confirmation of the arrangement.

Appellants contend further that the bankruptcy judge erred in the computations on which the fee was assessed. Title 11 U.S.C. Sec. 68(c)(2)(b) provides that in an arrangement confirmed under chapter 11, the fees for the referees' salary and expense fund shall be "computed upon the amount to be paid to the unsecured creditors upon confirmation of the arrangement..." The Judicial Conference of the United States fixed the following fee schedule:

Cases filed on and after July 1, 1970, three percent on the first $100,000 of total obligations paid or extended in Chapter XI cases and one and one-half percent on the balance.

2A Collier on Bankruptcy p 40.05[2.1] (14th ed. 1976). It is the duty of the bankrupt to "prepare, make oath to, and file in court ... a schedule of his property,...