Lead Opinion
Chief Judge JOHN M. WALKER, JR., dissents in a separate opinion.
Creditor-appellant Brattleboro Housing Authority appeals from the judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont (J. Garvan Murtha, Chief Judge) entered February 14, 2001, reversing the judgment of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Vermont (Colleen A. Brown, Judge) entered September 18, 2000, which had granted creditor-appellant Brattleboro Housing Authority’s motion for relief from automatic stay. Granting the motion for relief from automatic stay permitted Brattleboro Housing Authority to proceed with the eviction of debtor-appellee Laura Stoltz. The bankruptcy court narrowly construed 11 U.S.C. § 525(a), the antidiscrimination provision of the Bankruptcy Code that protects debtors from discrimination by governmental units with regard to certain grants, concluding that section 525(a) does not protect debtor-tenants from eviction by public housing authorities for nonpayment of prepetition rent. By narrowly construing section 525(a), the bankruptcy court sidestepped a potential conflict between section 525(a) and 11 U.S.C. § 365, the executory contracts pro
And it happened that both of them came to a place. Where they bumped. There they stood. Foot to foot. Face to face.
Dr. Seuss, The Sneetches and Other Stories 26 (1961, renewed 1989). For the reasons set forth herein, we conclude that section 525(a) controls over section 365 and precludes the Brattleboro Housing Authority from evicting debtor-appellee Laura Stoltz. We therefore affirm the judgment of the district court.
I. BACKGROUND
Debtor-appellee Laura Stoltz (“Stoltz”) and her three dependents have resided since 1993 in a Brattleboro, Vermont apartment that is part of a government subsidized housing development owned and managed by the Brattleboro Housing Authority (“BHA”). The most recent lease agreement between Stoltz and BHA was executed on August 1, 1996. The month-to-month lease stipulated a rent of $560.00 per month, payment of which on the first of each month would trigger automatic renewal of the lease, so long as Stoltz also complied with the enumerated tenant duties.
The tenant-landlord relationship between Stoltz and BHA was subsequently strained due to Stoltz’s occasional failure to make monthly rent payments during times of financial hardship. In 1997, Stoltz failed to pay rent for July and August. As a result, BHA notified Stoltz on August 1, 1997, that it would terminate the lease on September 1, 1997, if she failed to redeem and reinstate the lease by then.
BHA commenced an eviction proceeding against Stoltz in Windham County Superi- or Court in October 1997. On December 18, 1997, the superior court granted judgment to BHA in the amount of $4,838.73 and awarded BHA possession of the apartment. The superior court’s judgment was entered on December 23, 1997, by order indicating that a writ of possession would issue on December 31, 1997. Stoltz filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition and reorganization plan on December 26, 1997. Stoltz’s bankruptcy filing triggered an automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a), staying the issuance of the writ of possession.
In her reorganization plan, Stoltz proposed to cure her default by paying all backrent and to assume the lease. BHA opposed Stoltz’s motion to assume the lease and moved for relief from the automatic stay. The bankruptcy court issued an order on June 3, 1998, denying Stoltz’s motion to assume the lease and granting BHA’s motion for relief from stay. The bankruptcy court concluded that Stoltz’s lease had expired according to its own terms upon Stoltz’s failure to make the 1997 rent payments, a conclusion that required the denial of Stoltz’s motion to assume the lease, as only unexpired leases may be assumed by Chapter 13 debtors. 11 U.S.C. § 365(a) (2001). The bankruptcy court lifted the automatic stay on the
On appeal by Stoltz, the district court concluded that Stoltz’s lease had not expired under Vermont state law because the writ of possession had not issued. Because Stoltz therefore retained a possessory interest in the lease, the district court reversed the bankruptcy court’s denial of Stoltz’s motion to assume the lease, to the extent it was based on the erroneous conclusion that the lease had expired prepetition. The district court remanded the case to the bankruptcy court for determination of whether Stoltz’s motion to assume the lease should nonetheless be denied on alternative grounds. The district court’s judgment implicitly reversed the bankruptcy court’s decision to lift the automatic stay.
BHA appealed to this Court, and the bankruptcy court postponed its hearing, regarding Stoltz’s Chapter 13 reorganization plan pending the appeal. By judgment entered on November 29, 1999, this Court affirmed the district court’s decision, similarly concluding that Stoltz’s lease had not expired under Vermont law. Brattleboro Hous. Auth. v. Stoltz, (In re Stoltz),
In light of this Court’s decision, the bankruptcy court subsequently accepted Stoltz’s Chapter 13 reorganization plan. Stoltz thereafter made payments of $1,433.63 toward her past due rent of approximately $3,400.00.
Stoltz remained current on her rent for the majority of the two-year period following her Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing, but she again faltered while experiencing financial difficulties at the end of 1999. Stoltz did not pay rent in October, November, and December 1999, or in January 2000. As a result of this nonpayment of rent, BHA filed a new motion for relief from stay on January 20, 2000, in order to commence eviction proceedings.
The bankruptcy court granted Stoltz’s request to convert her Chapter 13 case to a Chapter 7 case in February 2000. By order dated February 11, 2000, Stoltz’s prepetition debts were discharged with an effective conversion date of February 7, 2000. The conversion to Chapter 7 mooted Stoltz’s motion to assume the lease.
On appeal by Stoltz, the district court reversed the bankruptcy court’s decision and reinstated the automatic stay, concluding that section 525 prohibits a public housing authority from evicting a tenant, even though section 365 requires a debtor or bankruptcy trustee to cure defaults in order to assume an unexpired lease. This appeal followed.
II. DISCUSSION
This appeal presents an internal Bankruptcy Code conflict that has divided the bankruptcy courts and district courts that have considered it. Section 525(a), also known as the antidiscrimination provision of the Code,
Depending on the breadth attributed to section 525(a), a conflict between sections 525(a) and 365 may arise in situations, like Stoltz’s, where a debtor seeks to retain an executory contract or unexpired lease with a governmental unit after having her debt discharged in bankruptcy, but without curing the related prepetition defaults. If the public housing grant protected under section 525(a) includes the public housing lease itself, or, put another way, includes the debtor-tenant’s current right to participate in the public housing program, then the antidiscrimination provision is at odds with the executory contract provision, which would require Stoltz to cure, not simply have discharged, her debt to BHA as a precondition of assuming the public
A. Standard of Review
The rulings of a district court acting as an appellate court in a bankruptcy case are subject to plenary review. In re Mazzeo,
B. Development of the Antidiscrimination Provision
1. Codification of Perez v. Campbell
Section 525(a) evolved from Perez v. Campbell,
[A] governmental unit may not deny, revoke, suspend, or refuse to renew a license, permit, charter, franchise, or other similar grant to, condition such a grant to, discriminate with respect to such a grant against, deny employment to, terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against, a person that is or has been a debtor under this title or a bankrupt or a debtor under the Bankruptcy Act, or another person with whom such bankrupt or debtor has been associated, solely because such bankrupt or debtor is or has been a debtor under this title or a bankrupt or debtor under the Bankruptcy Act, has been insolvent before the commencement of the case under this title, or during the case but before the debtor is granted or denied a discharge, or has not paid a debt that is discharge-able in the case under this title or that was discharged under the Bankruptcy Act.
11 U.S.C. § 525(a) (2001) (emphasis added). Notably, the text of Section 525(a) does not limit its scope to the facts presented in Perez. Section 525(a) applies to any governmental unit, not just a State agency or department; it covers not only licenses, but also permits, charters, franchises, and other similar grants; and it applies regardless of whether the governmental unit involved is the creditor whom the debtor failed to pay, or is simply a grantor conditioning a grant on the debt- or’s satisfaction of a discharged debt owed to a third party.
2. Case Law Development of Section 525(a)
In the nearly twenty-four years that have passed since its enactment, section 525(a) has been interpreted by the courts to protect debtors from discrimination in a wide variety of contexts, including a debt- or’s right to operate a motor vehicle, see, e.g., In re Adler,
Despite more than twenty years of judicial consideration, however, the scope of Section 525(a)’s protection in the context of public housing is still unsettled. No circuit court has yet spoken on the issue, and the bankruptcy courts and district courts that have done so have done so inharmoniously. It is undisputed that a public housing authority is a governmental unit within the meaning of 525(a).
C. The Public Housing Grant Protected Under Section 525(a)
In addition to its concession that it falls within section 525(a)’s definition of a “governmental unit,” BHA also concedes that Stoltz’s prepetition defaults have been discharged, and that it may not discriminate against Stoltz with regard to a section 525(a) grant because of her prepetition defaults. Nonetheless, BHA argues that the eviction it seeks is not proscribed by section 525(a) because a public housing lease is not an “other similar grant[]” within the meaning of section 525(a). BHA appears to argue that a public housing tenant’s future right to participate in the public housing program is the only protected public housing grant under section 525(a). In this scenario, Stoltz’s protected public housing grant would not be disturbed by eviction because eviction would not limit her right to participate in the public housing program in the future. If this line of thinking were correct, section 525(a) would prohibit BHA only from denying Stoltz, upon reapplication, a future lease because of her prepetition defaults.
We reject this artificially narrow construction of section 525(a) because the plain language of the provision indicates that eviction would revoke a protected grant, i.e., the lease, in violation of section 525(a). “[W]e begin [statutory interpretation] with the understanding that Congress says in a statute what it means and means in a statute what it says.” Hartford Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Union Planters Bank,
The text of section 525(a) states that it protects a debtor’s interest in a “license, permit, charter, franchise, or other similar grant” provided by a governmental unit. The term “other similar grant” is not defined by the code.
The common qualities of the property interests protected under section 525(a), i.e., “lieense[s], permit[s], eharter[s], franchisees], and other similar grants,” are that these property interests are unobtainable from the private sector and essential to a debtor’s fresh start. For instance, a real estate license, state university transcript, or driver’s license may only be obtained from a particular governmental unit. A debtor who cannot obtain her real estate license will be unable to pursue her chosen profession; a debtor who cannot obtain his transcript will be unable to apply for certain jobs or further schooling; a debtor who cannot obtain a driver’s license will be unable to commute to many jobs or school.
Public housing leases, too, are property interests unobtainable from the private sector and essential to a debtor’s fresh start. Public housing leases are, by definition, obtainable only from governmental entities.
BHA urges us to follow, as did the bankruptcy court below, the reasoning of In re Bacon,
We see two serious errors with this approach. First, the Bacon court’s interpretation of section 525(a)’s protected grant in the public housing context is not based on the text of section 525(a). Bacon constructed its interpretation of a protected public housing grant based on its belief that it need not preserve the debtor-tenant’s right to fully participate in the government program, but instead need only preserve the debtor-tenant’s right to participate in the public housing program to some degree. Bacon,
Second, the text of section 525(a) expressly proscribes revocation and suspension of a protected grant, not just denial of or refusal to renew a grant upon application. Because eviction results in revocation of the debtor-tenant’s current participation in the public housing program, eviction revokes the protected grant in violation of 525(a). Permitting the debtor only to reapply to receive future housing benefits does not ameliorate the discriminatory revocation of the debtor-tenant’s protected public housing lease.
Beyond its incompatibility with the text of section 525(a), Bacon’s holding is also problematic because it does not comport with the congressional intent underlying section 525. Section 525(a) was enacted to protect debtors from bankruptcy-based discrimination by governmental units that provide essential services. Yet, Bacon’s holding would effectively protect the debt- or’s interest in essential services only where the governmental unit is a non-creditor. Where the governmental unit is a grantor and a creditor — that is, where the governmental unit is even more involved, and private actors are not involved-the debtor would effectively receive no protection from section 525(a) against the governmental unit’s bankruptcy-based discrimination. This incongruous result cannot be what Congress intended.
D. Whether Eviction is “[S]olely [Bjecause” of Discharged Prepetition Rent
Alternatively, BHA focuses on section 525(a)’s “solely because” language and argues that it desires to evict Stoltz only because she breached her public housing lease, not because she failed to pay prepetition rent that was discharged in bankruptcy. This unpersuasive argument is premised on an “illusory distinction” between the breach of the lease and the nonpayment of the discharged prepetition rent. Bacon,
Because we have discerned from the plain text of section 525(a) that a public housing lease, and therefore the debtor-tenant’s current right to participate in the public housing program, is a protected grant, it is unnecessary to delve into section 525(a)’s legislative history. We note briefly, however, that the legislative history fully supports our interpretation of “other similar grants” as inclusive of public housing leases.
E. Resolving the Conflict Between Sections 525(a) and 365
Because section 525(a) protects debtor-tenants like Stoltz from eviction for nonpayment of discharged prepetition rent, section 525(a) conflicts with section 365. The bankruptcy trustee did not assume the lease under section 365(b)(1); accordingly, Stoltz’s public housing lease has been deemed rejected under section 365(d)(1), thus permitting BHA to pursue state law remedies on the ground that Stoltz breached the lease prepetition, see section 365(g).
1. Specificity Analysis
Many courts have resolved this impasse by concluding that either section 525(a) or section 365
It is a “basic principle of statutory construction that a specific statute ... controls over a general provision,” HCSC-Laundry v. United States,
Our determination that section 525(a) should control on the basis of specificity is supported by sound public policy and the overarching goals of the Bankruptcy Code. The Code seeks to give debtors like Stoltz a fresh start. “Congress made it a central purpose of the bankruptcy code to give debtors a fresh start in life and a clear field for future effort unburdened by the existence of old debts.” In re Bogdanovich,
Of course, creditors also receive protection from the Bankruptcy Code. In order to assume an unexpired lease, the executory contract provision requires the bankruptcy trustee to cure defaults, 11 U.S.C. § 365(b)(1)(A), compensate for losses, 11 U.S.C. § 365(b)(1)(B), and provide adequate assurance, 11 U.S.C. § 365(b)(1)(C), thereby protecting the creditor’s pecuniary interests before requiring a creditor to continue a contractual relationship with a debtor. If a debtor or trustee does not assume an unexpired lease under section 365(b)(1), then the lease is deemed rejected under section 365(d)(1). The landlord may then pursue state law remedies for breach, so long as the landlord does not attempt to reaffirm the debt in violation of section 524.
Giving section 525(a) its full effect, however, will only marginally abbreviate the benefit BHA receives under section 365. It is undisputed that BHA, as a governmental unit, may not deny Stoltz a future public housing lease on the basis of the discharged prepetition rent. The only benefit BHA seeks, therefore, is eviction. Whether Stoltz remains in her apartment or is evicted and later readmitted to BHA’s public housing, she is obligated to pay all postpetition rent. Neither Stoltz’s discharge nor section 525(a) diminishes her obligation to pay postpetition rent, and the Code expressly prohibits Stoltz from receiving another discharge under bankruptcy for at least six years. 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(8). In the interim, Stoltz may be evicted if she breaches her lease by post-petition default. Therefore, all of BHA’s creditor-interests are protected, regardless of whether Stoltz is evicted or not.
Given the serious harm posed to Stoltz’s fresh start, and the minimal benefit BHA would receive, curtailment of BHA’s state
III. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court’s reversal of the bankruptcy’s court’s order to lift the automatic stay. Section 525(a) protects debtor-tenants like Stoltz from eviction on the basis of nonpayment of discharged prepetition rent. To the extent sections 525(a) and 365 of the Bankruptcy Code conflict, the rules of statutory construction and sound bankruptcy policy dictate that section 525(a) must prevail. BHA is therefore permanently enjoined from enforcing its judgment for possession against Stoltz.
Accordingly, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
Notes
. Whereas the Bankruptcy Code specifically gives a Chapter 11 debtor the authority to assume an unexpired lease, see 11 U.S.C. § 1107(a), "there is no corresponding provision in the code for a chapter 7 debtor.” In re Rodall,
. Although courts and commentators generally refer to section 525(a) as the antidiscrimination provision, section 525 contains two additional antidiscrimination provisions, which were added after the 1978 enactment of section 525(a). Section 525(b), enacted in 1984, prohibits discrimination against debtors by private employers. 11 U.S.C. § 525(b)(1999). Section 525(c), enacted in 1994, prohibits discrimination against debtor-borrowers on the basis of discharged, unrepaid loans by governmental units operating a student loan or grant program. 11 U.S.C. § 525(c) (2001). Section 525(c) signaled congressional disapproval of Goldrich v. New York State Higher Educ. Servs. Corp.,
. The Bankruptcy Code defines "governmental unit” to include: "United States; State; Commonwealth; District; Territory; municipality; foreign state; department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States (but not a United States trustee while serving as trustee in a case under this title), a State, a Commonwealth, a District, a Territory, a municipality, or a foreign state; or other foreign or domestic government.” 11 U.S.C. § 101(27).
Paragraph 27’s legislative history indicates that "governmental unit” is defined "in the broadest sense. The definition encompasses the United States, a State, Commonwealth, District, Territory, municipality, or foreign state, and a department, agency or instrumentality of any of these entities. 'Department, agency, or instrumentality’ does not include an entity that owes its existence to State action, such as the granting of a charter or a license but that has no other connection with a State or local government or the Federal Government. The relationship must be an active one in which the department, agency, or instrumentality is actually carrying out some governmental function.” S.Rep. No. 95-989, at 24 (1978), reprinted in 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5787, 5810; see also H. Rep. No. 95-595, at 311 (1977), reprinted in 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5963, 6268.
. The omission of a statutory definition for the term "other similar grant” is unsurprising in light of the antidiscrimination provision's legislative history, which indicates that "... the section is not exhaustive. The enumeration of various forms of discrimination against former bankrupts is not intended to permit other forms of discrimination ...” and delegates to the judiciary the responsibility "to mark the contours of the anti-discrimination provision in pursuit of sound bankruptcy policy.” H. Rep. No. 95-595, at 366-67 (1977), reprinted in 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5963, 6323.
. Section 8 leases, on the other hand, arguably do not fall within the protection of section 525(a) because they are government-subsidized leases for privately owned housing units between a qualifying tenant and a private landlord. See In re Rosemond,
. The legislative history specifically rejects a narrow construction of the antidiscrimination provision and makes clear that 525(a) protects the debtor's fresh start.
[S]ection [525(a)] is not exhaustive. The enumeration of various forms of discrimination against former bankrupts is not intended to permit other forms of discrimination. The courts have been developing the Perez rule. This section permits further development to prohibit actions by governmental or quasi-governmental organizations that perform licensing functions, such as a state bar association or a medical society, or by other organizations that can seriously affect the debtors' livelihood or fresh start, such as exclusion from a union on the basis of discharge of a debt to the union's credit union. The effect of the section, and of further interpretations of the Perez rule, is to strengthen the anti-reaffirmation policy found in section 524(b). Discrimination based solely on nonpayment could encourage reaffirmations, contrary to the expressed policy.
H. Rep. No. 95-595, at 367 (1977), reprinted in 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5787, 6323.
. Section 365(b)(1) states, in relevant part, that:
If there has been a default in an ... unexpired lease of the debtor, the trustee may not assume such ... lease unless, at the time of assumption of such . .. lease, the trustee — (A) cures, or provides adequate assurance that the trustee will promptly cure, such default; (B) compensates, or provides adequate assurance that the trustee will promptly compensate, a party other than the debtor to such ... lease, for any actual pecuniary loss to such party resulting from such default; and (C) provides adequate assurance of future performance under such ... lease.
11 U.S.C. § 365(b)(l)(A)-(C). Section 365(d)(1) states, in relevant part, that:
In a case under chapter 7 of this title, if the trustee does not assume or reject an ... unexpired lease of residential real property ... of the debtor within 60 days after the order for relief, ... then such ... lease is deemed rejected.
11 U.S.C. § 365(d)(1). Section 365(g)(1) states, in relevant part, that:
[Rejection of an ... unexpired lease of the debtor constitutes a breach of such ... lease ... immediately before the date of the filing of the petition....
11 U.S.C. § 365(g)(1).
. Some courts argue that section 365(b)(1), which sets forth the requirements for assumption of an unexpired lease, is more specific than section 525(a). Others refer to 365(d)(1), which states that an unexpired lease that has not been assumed or rejected by the bankruptcy estate within sixty days of the bankruptcy filing will be deemed rejected, as the more specific provision. We consider both sections, alone and in combination.
. In its amicus curiae brief, the United States contends that section 525(a) should be construed narrowly to avoid "undermin[ing] ...
. Eviction would not run afoul of section 524's antireaffirmation policy, which prohibits public and private creditors from seeking to reaffirm prepetition debt discharged in bankruptcy. 11 U.S.C. § 524.
. Perhaps BHA seeks the benefit of the lengthy public housing waiting lists, a "benefit” not contemplated by the text of section 365, that would enable it to evict Stoltz and then deny her public housing for years on the basis of the waiting list.
Dissenting Opinion
Chief Judge, dissenting:
Because I believe that 11 U.S.C. § 525(a) of the Bankruptcy Code does not apply to residential leases and that 11 U.S.C. § 365 does apply to public housing leases, I respectfully dissent.
Like the Majority, I start with the text of § 525(a). “[A] governmental unit may not deny, revoke, suspend, or refuse to renew a license, permit, charter, franchise, or other similar grant ... solely because” a person is or has been bankrupt. 11 U.S.C. § 525(a). Because a residential lease is not included among the four enumerated governmental grants to which § 525 applies, the question is whether a residential lease is a “similar grant.”
The Majority states that the common quality connecting “license, permit, charter [and] franchise” is “that these property interests are unobtainable from the private sector and essential to a debtor’s fresh start.” Maj. Op., supra, at 90. But the fact that these interests are unobtainable from the private sector derives from the fact that § 525(a) is directed to “government unit[s]” and not to the particular character of licenses, permits, charters and franchises, as these interests can also be obtained from the private sector. Nor does the quality of being “essential to the debtor’s fresh start” plainly derive from “license, permit, charter, [and] franchise.” Although some interests such as a vendor license, may be essential to a bankrupt’s fresh start, others, such as a recreational fishing license, are not. The Majority seems to have read “similar” out of the statute because its definition of “similar grant” is likely to encompass all possible government grants to individuals.
The specified grants — license, permit, charter, and franchise — share a more definite similarity: Each allows the grant-holder to engage in certain regulated conduct. The government grants real estate, drivers, liquor, or medical licenses; building or emissions permits; bank or corporate charters; and cable television or electricity distribution franchises. As the Sixth Circuit recently stated, the common thread is the “government’s role as a gatekeeper in determining who may pursue certain livelihoods.” Toth v. Mich. State Hous. Auth.,
Therefore, I read § 525(a) not to apply to a residential lease. Such leases do not directly enable their holders to engage in the kind of an income-generating activity as do licenses, permits, charters, and franchises. This reading finds additional support from the fact that Congress specifically refers to leases elsewhere in the Bankruptcy Code, see, e.g., 11 U.S.C. §§ 363, 365, 929, and 1169, but failed to include leases among § 525(a)’s enumerated interests.
Any lingering uncertainty about this interpretation evaporates when one considers § 525(a) in the context of the entire Bankruptcy Code. “[Ejvery part of a statute must be construed in connection with the whole, so as to make all the parts harmonize.... ” Market Co. v. Hoffman,
Thus, the potential conflict between § 365 and § 525(a) is properly considered when interpreting § 525(a). As the Majority recognizes, if we read § 525(a) to apply to residential leases, it is placed in direct conflict with § 365 of the Bankruptcy Code. Maj. Op., supra, at 92. Thus, as a matter of sound statutory construction, if it is reasonable to construe “similar grants” as not including residential leases, that course is preferable if it will avoid creating a conflict.
Finally, construing § 525(a) to not include leases makes sense as a matter of public housing policy. It is important to recognize that Stoltz is not simply asking to be allowed to keep her lease; she is asking for a preference over other families waiting for public housing whose need for housing is as great as hers. Moreover, governments depend on the rent received on public housing leases to sustain the viability of the entire program. Congress emphasized the importance of requiring prompt rental payments from public housing tenants when it conditioned contributions to public housing agencies on “the establishment of satisfactory procedures designed to assure the prompt payment and collection of rents and the prompt processing of evictions in the case of nonpayment of rent.” 42 U.S.C. § 1437d(c)(4)(B). The Majority’s interpretation will remove the incentive for bankrupt public housing tenants to assume the lease and cure pre-petition debts to the public housing authority as is required by § 365. See 11 U.S.C. § 365(b)(1)(A). My interpretation will better enable public housing systems to remain viable through a regime of prompt rental receipts. Replacing delinquent tenants who have rejected their lease during bankruptcy with the next needy family in line will encourage assumption of residential leases during bankruptcy and enhance the system as a whole.
I respectfully dissent.