In Re Burkett
- Reporters:
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- Before:
- Walter
DECISION OVERRULING TRUSTEE’S OBJECTION TO CLAIMS
DISPOSITION
The Chapter 7 Trustee filed an objection to claims of credit card claimholders requesting disallowance of the claims primarily because of the failure to attach sufficient supporting documentation. For the reasons set forth in this decision, the court concludes that the Trustee’s objection is without merit. An objection to a claim based solely on lack of documentation or deviation from the Official Form does not provide a substantive basis for disallowing the claim, especially if a debtor acknowledges the claim as a legitimate debt in his or her schedules.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On January 19, 2005, Chapter 7 Trustee Thomas R. Noland (“Trustee”) filed an objection to several claims in the bankruptcy case of Charles Burkett (“Debtor”). [Doc. 28.] The Trustee primarily objects because of an alleged lack of proper documentation attached to the creditors’ proofs of claim.
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Three credit card claimholders,
In their responses to the Trustee’s objection, creditors Chase Manhattan, American Express Travel and American Express Centurion argue that the documentation requested by the Trustee, including the Debtor’s full credit card account number, credit card application, itemized statement of interest, fees and other charges and monthly account statements for at least the ninety days prior to the bankruptcy filing are not required by the Bankruptcy Code or related rules. Consequently, they argue that the omission of these documents and information from a proof of claim does not form a basis for disallowance of the claim. On March 17, 2005, the court held a hearing to consider the Trustee’s objection as well as similar objections filed by the Trustee in other bankruptcy cases. The parties filed supplemental briefs following the hearing [Docs. 38, 43 and 45] and the court is now prepared to render its decision.
LEGAL ANALYSIS
The Trustee’s objection has touched on a hotly debated topic in the bankruptcy courts: 1) what information and attached documents are required to be submitted with proofs of claim; and 2) if the required information and documents are not attached, can that deficiency be the basis for disallowance of the claim?
A. Proof of Claim Requirements and Objections to Claims
The court begins its analysis with fundamental principles of claims and the
A proof of claim, once filed, is deemed allowed unless a party in interest objects.
If a trustee or other party objects, the court is to determine the amount of the claim as of the date of the bankruptcy petition filing and is to allow the claim except to the extent that one of the enumerated exceptions applies.
Significantly, neither
Instead, these matters are provided for in the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (“Rules”) and related Official Bankruptcy Forms (“Official Forms”) that govern procedure within bankruptcy cases.
Official Form 10, complementing
The creditor’s reward for complying with the requirements of
The purpose behind
Unfortunately, ambiguities in the rule and form leave some important questions unanswered, and it is in addressing those questions that courts have diverged. For example, is a credit card debt based on a “writing” and if so what is the writing on which it is based — the credit card application signed by the debtor or documentation of each of the debtor’s transactions? Furthermore, when does documentation become so voluminous that the creditor need only attach a summary to the proof of claim? If a summary is attached, what must be included in the summary?
Indeed, the increasing number of decisions regarding these issues attests to the fact that the process is by no means simple and is subject to abuse or misapplication by creditors, debtors and even trustees. Many credit card claimants, or their assignees, have whittled down the documentary evidence attached to their proofs of claim to the very bare minimum, often providing no more than a one page “summary” containing the debtor’s name, a minor amount of account information, and a monetary value purporting to be the balance owed on the date of the bankruptcy filing.
See In re Crowe,
In this case, the Trustee objects to the claims for the creditors’ lack of compliance with Official Form 10 and their failure to attach documentation beyond a short summary providing a purported balance at the date of the bankruptcy filing. The Trustee argues that the creditors have even
The court recognizes that the Trustee has found cases supporting many of the detailed documentation requirements he cites in his objections. However, courts disagree about specific document requirements and, more significantly, the impact of a creditor failing to meet them.
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In making its own determination, the court is guided by two principles. First, the exclusive bases for disallowing a proof of claim are not contained in either
Second, full conformance with Official Form 10 has never been required for allowance of a claim.
Instead, this court agrees with the growing number of courts concluding
Unfortunately, the actual documentary evidence needed to establish and verify the claim cannot be reduced to a bright-line test and must be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Sandifer,
On the other hand, if a proof of claim lacking proper attachments does not correlate to a debt scheduled by the debt- or, or aspects of the claim differ from the scheduled debt, this may give rise to a valid objection by the debtor or trustee for lack of verification of ownership and/or the amount of the claim.
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Because the credi
If a creditor whose claim cannot be fully substantiated against a debt- or’s schedules wishes to dispense with this risk of an objection and a hearing requiring the creditor to proceed with the burden of going forward, the creditor need only attach the required documents described in
B. Application of Law to Trustee’s Objection to Claims Filed in This Case
Applying the law to this case, the court will begin by emphasizing once again that a trustee’s objection to claims based on the omission of a complete account number is without merit. The court will not require a full credit card account number on a public document filed with this court. Such a requirement not only compromises a debtor’s privacy, but also conflicts with current laws protecting sensitive financial information as well as the court’s own Administrative Procedures for Electronic Case Filing and revisions to Official Form 10.
The Trustee’s remaining bases for objecting to the three claims at issue in this case are not substantive in nature and do not question the validity, ownership or amount of the claims. Instead, the objection primarily focuses on the lack of appropriate documentation attached to the proofs of claim as purportedly required by
For future guidance, the court recommends that trustees compare the proofs of claim filed in a case against the debtor’s schedules. To the extent they do not match, and the proofs of claim are not substantiated by attachments, a trustee may have a basis for a substantive objection based on the dissimilarities. However, the substantive basis for the objection must be described clearly in the trustee’s objection.
WHEREFORE, the court overrules the Trustee’s objection to the proofs of claim filed by Chase Manhattan Bank, USA, NA [Proof of Claim # 4 as amended by Proof of Claim # 17], American Express Travel [Proof of Claim # 7] and American Express Centurion [Proof of Claim # 9].
SO ORDERED.
Notes
. The Trustee also objects to the claimants’ failure to check the box in paragraph 4 of Official Form 10 and minor modifications to the Official Form. The full text of the Trustee's
Trustee’s objection to the proof of claim filed by Chase Manhattan (# 4):
"Disallow — Fails to provide account number to the Trustee. Failed to provide a signed copy of the credit card application of debt- or^), fails to provide monthly account statements covering the bankruptcy filing date and three months prior, summary is insufficient, only shows a balance and last amount paid and date .... ” (duplicative language in objection omitted).
* Chase Manhattan filed an amended claim, Proof of Claim #17, attaching additional documentary evidence. The amended Proof of Claim reduces the claim amount from $2470.99 to $2359.62.
Trustee’s objection to the proof of claim filed by American Express Travel (# 7):
"Fails to provide Trustee the entire account number. Fails to check paragraph four despite indicating credit card debt which involves interest and additional charges, fails to provide required itemization of all interest and other charges. Fails to provide copy of signed credit card application by debtor(s). Fails to provide monthly account statements covering the bankruptcy filing date and three months prior, one partial statement for January 04 provided."
Trustee's objection to the proof of claim filed by American Express Centurion (# 9):
"Disallow — Fails to provide to the Trustee the entire account number. Fails to check box in paragraph 4, despite stating it is credit card debt that includes interest and other charges. Fails to attach required itemized statement of all interest or additional charges. Altered Official Form 10, fails to provide signed copy of credit card application of debtor(s), attempts to alter burden of filer to attach documents to support claim, representation that documents are burdensome not supported, attempts to alter burden to comply with requirements of paragraph 4. Statement that claim may include interest of contractual late charges is specious since this is a credit card account of over $12,000.00. Fails to provide account statements issued to debtor(s) for the period including the bankruptcy filing date and three months prior, statement provided gives no information re account pre-petition.”
. A majority of courts hold that a failure to attach documents purportedly required by
Other courts reach the contrary conclusion that a failure to attach documents required by
.In addition to documentation to verify the amount of the claim, the Trustee in this case requests other documents to be attached to proofs of claim including account statements dating back at least ninety days from the date of the bankruptcy filing. The apparent purpose for requiring account statements dating back ninety days is to assess whether all or part of the claim would be subject to turnover to the estate via a preference recovery or other adversary proceeding and disallowance under
. The court recognizes circumstances where the debtor’s scheduling of a debt will have much less probative value such as when the debtor schedules an insider's claim or the possibility of collusion exists. The probative value of the debtor’s schedules has not been questioned in this case.
. Of course, if the only basis for a debtor or trustee’s objection to a proof of claim is that the monetary amount of the claim does not match the amount scheduled by the debtor, the proper objection is that the claimant has not established its claim to the extent it is in excess of the amount that the debtor admits is owed and not a request for complete disallowance merely because of inadequate documentation.
Shank,
. This requirement is most often relevant when a claim has been transferred or assigned and the assignee has attached no proof of actual ownership of the claim nor is the assignee’s ownership of the claim substantiated by a debtor's schedules.
See In re Parrish,
. The Trustee may continue to feel that such minimal requirements for proofs of claim will allow creditors or claims buyers to engage in a routine practice of filing unlawful claims or claims that improperly charge post-petition interest, post-petition fees or other unauthorized charges. However, as noted previously, an objection to a claim may well be justified when the amount of the claim is not substantiated by a debtor's schedules. Furthermore, the criminal penalty for presenting a fraudulent claim is a fine of up to $500,000 and/or imprisonment for up to five years.
See
. The Interim Rules and Official Forms Implementing the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 are located on the court’s website at www.ohsb.uscourts.gov.