In re Kagenveama

• Decision Date: 05 June 2008
• Docket Number: No. 06-17083.,06-17083.
• Citation: 541 F.3d 868
• Parties: In re Laura F. KAGENVEAMA, Debtor. Edward J. Maney, Chapter 13 Trustee, Trustee-Appellant, v. Laura F. Kagenveama, Debtor-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

541 F.3d 868

In re Laura F. KAGENVEAMA, Debtor Edward J. Maney, Chapter 13 Trustee, Trustee-Appellant, v. Laura F. Kagenveama, Debtor-Appellee.

No. 06-17083.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted August 17, 2007.

Filed June 5, 2008.

Amended June 23, 2008.

Ronald L. Hoffbauer, Phoenix, AZ, for the appellant.

Andrew S. Nemeth, Phillips & Associates, Phoenix, AZ, for the appellee.

Edward Himmelfarb, Department of Justice, Washington, DC, amicus in support of the appellant.

M. Jonathon Hayes, Woodland Hills, California, and Tara Twomey, National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, Washington, DC, amicus in support of the appellee.

Appeal from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona; Charles G. Case II, Bankruptcy Judge, Presiding. Bankruptcy Ct. No. 05-28079-PHX-CGC.

Before HARRY PREGERSON, EUGENE E. SILER, JR.,^* and CARLOS T. BEA, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge SILER; Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge BEA.

ORDER AND AMENDED OPINION^** ORDER

The opinion in Maney v. Kagenveama, 527 F.3d 990 (9th Cir.2008) filed June 5 2008, is amended as follows: insert <In re Pak, 378 B.R. 257, 267 (9th Cir.BAP 2007)> before <In re Jass, 340 B.R. 411, 415 (Bankr.D.Utah 2006)> at line 4 of the slip opinion on page 6373.

OPINION

SILER, Circuit Judge:

Edward Maney, as Chapter 13 Trustee, appeals the bankruptcy court's order confirming the plan of the debtor, Laura Kagenveama. He argues that the bankruptcy court erred by (1) calculating Kagenveama's "projected disposable income" by multiplying her "disposable income" over the "applicable commitment period" and (2) finding the five-year "applicable commitment period" inapplicable because Kagenveama's resulting "projected disposable income" was a negative number. We affirm.

I. Background

In 2005, Kagenveama filed a petition for Chapter 13 protection in the bankruptcy court. In her filing she included the required Schedules A through J, a Statement of Financial Affairs, a Master Mailing List, and a Form B22C Statement of Current Monthly Income and Calculation of Commitment Period and Disposable Income. Schedules I and J listed Kagenveama's projected monthly income and expenses. Her Schedule I listed a monthly gross income of $6,168.21, with a monthly net income of $4,096.26. Her Schedule J listed monthly expenses of $2,572.37. Subtracting total monthly expenses from total monthly net income left Kagenveama with $1,523.89 in monthly income available to pay creditors.

Kagenveama filed an amended Form B22C listing an average monthly gross income of $6,168.21 for the six months prior to her bankruptcy petition, yielding an annual income of $74,018.52. Because she was an above-median income debtor, § 1325(b)(3) required her to recalculate her expenses pursuant to § 707(b)(2). This recalculation produced a revised Form B22C listing her "disposable income" as a negative number:-$4.04.

Kagenveama determined that her "projected disposable income" was a negative number because her "disposable income" was a negative number. Because her "projected disposable income" was a negative number, she would not be subject to the "applicable commitment period." However, she voluntarily proposed a plan in which she would pay $1,000 per month with a commitment period of three years. This plan yielded an estimated dividend of $9,444.38 to her unsecured creditors. The Trustee objected because the plan extended only three years, not the five-year "applicable commitment period" under § 1325(b)(4)(A)(ii). The bankruptcy court held that because Kagenveama had no "projected disposable income," she was not required to propose a plan with an "applicable commitment period" of five years. The Trustee appealed, and the bankruptcy court entered an order certifying this case for direct appeal to this court.

II. Analysis

The parties dispute the meaning of two phrases contained in § 1325 of the Bankruptcy Code, as amended by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 ("BAPCPA"), Pub.L. No. 109-8, 119 Stat. 23: "projected disposable income" and "applicable commitment period." This case raises solely questions of law, which we review de novo. In re Alsberg, 68 F.3d 312, 314 (9th Cir.1995).

A. "Projected Disposable Income"

The parties dispute whether "projected disposable income" means "disposable income," as defined by § 1325(b)(2), projected over the "applicable commitment period," as Kagenveama contends, or whether that phrase connotes a forward-looking concept that only uses the "disposable income" calculation as a starting point, as the Trustee contends. Based on the plain meaning of the statute, we hold that the debtor's interpretation is correct.

The starting point for resolving a dispute over the meaning of a statute begins with the language of the statute itself. United States v. Ron Pair Enters., Inc., 489 U.S. 235, 241, 109 S.Ct. 1026, 103 L.Ed.2d 290 (1989). Where statutory language is plain, "the sole function of the courts—at least where the disposition required by the text is not absurd—is to enforce it according to its terms." Lamie v. United States Tr., 540 U.S. 526, 534, 124 S.Ct. 1023, 157 L.Ed.2d 1024 (2004).

Here, each party claims that the plain text of the statute supports its respective interpretation of projected disposable income. Kagenveama argues that the term "disposable income," as used in § 1325(b)(1)(B), is specifically defined in § 1325(b)(2). She asserts that the word "projected" is a modifier of "disposable income" that requires multiplying "disposable income" out over the "applicable commitment period." The Trustee argues that "disposable income" and "projected disposable income" are not directly linked concepts. Under the Trustee's approach, "projected" necessarily implies a forward-looking concept of "disposable income," which would allow a court to depart from the § 1325(b)(2) "disposable income" calculation and consider other evidence to derive "projected disposable income."

We begin our analysis with the statute. If a trustee or holder of an allowed unsecured claim objects to the confirmation of a plan that does not propose to pay unsecured claims in full, the court may confirm the plan only if the plan provides that all of the debtor's "projected disposable income" received during the "applicable commitment period" is applied to make payments under the plan. 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b)(1). "Projected disposable income" is not a defined term in the Bankruptcy Code. However, "disposable income" is defined in § 1325(b)(2).¹ Reading the statute as requiring "disposable income," as defined in subsection (b)(2), to be projected out over the "applicable commitment period" to derive the "projected disposable income" amount is the most natural reading of the statute, and it is the one we adopt.

Courts must give meaning to every clause and word of a statute. Negonsott v. Samuels, 507 U.S. 99, 106, 113 S.Ct. 1119, 122 L.Ed.2d 457 (1993). Section 1325 uses the term "disposable income" in only two places— § 1325(b)(1)(B) ("projected disposable income") and § 1325(b)(2) (defining "disposable income"). The substitution of any data not covered by the § 1325(b)(2) definition in the "projected disposable income" calculation would render as surplusage the definition of "disposable income" found in § 1325(b)(2). There can be no reason for § 1325(b)(2) to exist other than to define the term "disposable income" as used in § 1325(b)(1)(B). "If `disposable income' is not linked to `projected disposable income' then it is just a floating definition with no apparent purpose." In re Alexander, 344 B.R. 742, 749 (Bankr.E.D.N.C.2006). The plain meaning of the word "projected," in and of itself, does not provide a basis for including other data in the calculation because "projected" is simply a modifier of the defined term "disposable income." Therefore, to give meaning to every word of § 1325(b), "disposable income," as defined in § 1325(b)(2), must be "projected" in order to derive "projected disposable income."

Furthermore, "projected disposable income" has been linked to the "disposable income" calculation before BAPCPA. Any change in how "projected disposable income" is calculated only reflects the changes dictated by the new "disposable income" calculation; it does not change the relationship of "projected disposable income" to "disposable income."² Pre-BAPCPA, "projected disposable income" was determined by taking the debtor's "disposable income," under § 1325(b)(2)(A) & (B), and projecting that amount over the "applicable commitment period." In re Anderson, 21 F.3d 355, 357 (9th Cir.1994).

In Anderson, a pre-BAPCPA case, the trustee objected to the confirmation of the debtors' Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan because the debtors proposed to pay only their "projected disposable income" as calculated at the time of the filing of their plan. 21 F.3d at 356. The trustee demanded that the debtors sign a certification that they would devote to the plan all of their actual "disposable income," as determined by the trustee, as a prerequisite for plan confirmation. Id. at 356-57. The bankruptcy court denied plan confirmation because the debtors refused to sign the certification. Id. at 357. We reversed, holding that § 1325(b)(1)(B) requires payment of "projected disposable income" as calculated at the time of confirmation. Id. at 357-58. Anderson shows that, prior to the enactment of BAPCPA, courts determined the debtor's "disposable income" and then "projected" that sum into the future for the required duration of the plan when considering whether to confirm the plan. Id. at 357.

The Trustee presents two lines of authority to support his argument that § 1325(b)(1)(B) requires a forward-looking determination of "projected disposable income." The first line holds that the calculation of "`projected disposable income' must be based upon the debtor's anticipated income during the term of the plan, not...