An unsecured junior lien on the debtors' residential real estate may be avoided after the debtors complete Chapter 13 plan payments. The case law in the Eighth Circuit permits wholly unsecured liens to be stripped off.

The debtor objected to a lender's claim in her Chapter 13 case because she believed she was no longer liable on the debt, as the debt and the property securing it had been awarded to her former spouse in their divorce, and she also believed that whatever liability she might have had on the debt had been discharged in her previous Chapter 7 case. However, she was still named on the promissory note and mortgage, and neither the debt nor the creditor was listed in the Chapter 7, so the debt was not discharged.

The court granted summary judgment to a debtor seeking to remove a purported lien from the title to her car. She had borrowed money from the defendant and signed a promissory note, but did not grant the defendant a security interest in the vehicle. The defendant nevertheless recorded a lien on the vehicle's title. The court avoided the lien and ruled that the debt was unsecured.

A secured creditor sought denial of the debtors' discharge under §§ 727(a)(6)(A) and (a)(7) for the debtors' failure to turn over property pursuant to a court order in the debtors' previous bankruptcy case. The court denied the creditor's motion for summary judgment, despite the debtors' failure to object, because the facts did not establish the elements pleaded in the complaint.

After trial, the court granted the debtor's request to discharge her student loans. She has a stable job, although not in her field of study, but has been unable to find a better-paying job in the Lincoln area and is unlikely to earn significantly more in the future. Her monthly expenses are modest and reasonable. The stress of financial problems, including repayment of these student loans, has had an impact on the debtor's emotional health and caused difficulties in her personal relationships.

The debtors had previously filed a lender liability lawsuit in Rhode Island. Upon filing bankruptcy in Nebraska, the debtors filed an adversary proceeding containing the same allegations.

The court granted summary judgment to the debtors, ordering that a wholly unsecured junior lien on the debtors' residential real estate may be avoided after the debtors complete Chapter 13 plan payments.

The debtors moved to avoid a judicial lien which impaired their homestead exemption. Under the § 522(f)(2) formula, only a portion of the judicial lien actually impaired the exemption and was subject to avoidance. Two other judicial liens on the property had already been avoided, so those liens were not part of the statutory calculation. The debtors were directed to file an amended post-confirmation plan to clarify how they would deal with the secured claim represented by the unavoided portion of the judicial lien.

In a priority dispute between the man who sold cattle to the debtor but didn't receive payment for them and the lender and  feedlot that financed and fed the cattle for the debtor, the court granted summary judgment to the lender and the feedlot. The seller sent a valid bill of sale with the cattle, which transferred title to the debtor. The seller relied on the debtor's word and took no steps to protect himself against the risk of non-payment. Title did not revest in the seller when the debtor failed to pay.

The bankruptcy court remanded a state-court lawsuit filed by debtors concerning the basis for the creditors' claim. The issues raised, including state-law causes of action and arguments regarding preclusion, are not unique to bankruptcy and can be decided in state court.