[PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

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No. 14-11408

Non-Argument Calendar

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D.C. Docket Nos. 1:14-cv-00460-WSD,

Bkcy No. 11:bkc-70660-CRM

In re: YVONNE ROBERTS WAITS,

 Debtor.

_______________________________________________________

BANK OF AMERICA BANK, NA, 

 Plaintiff - Appellant,

versus

YVONNE ROBERTS WAITS, 

 Defendant - Appellee. 

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Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of Georgia

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(July 16, 2015)

ON REMAND FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

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Before TJOFLAT, JORDAN and BLACK, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM: 

This case is before this Court for consideration in light of Bank of America, 

N.A. v. Caulkett, 575 U.S. __, 135 S. Ct. 1995 (2015). We previously affirmed the 

district court’s affirmance of the bankruptcy court’s order granting the debtor’s 

motion to strip Bank of America’s junior mortgage lien. See Bank of Am., N.A. v. 

Waits, 578 F. App’x 827 (11th Cir. 2014). The Supreme Court vacated the opinion 

and remanded the case to us for consideration in light of Caulkett. See Bank of 

Am., N.A. v. Waits, __ S. Ct. __ (2015). After consideration, we deny Bank of 

America’s motion for summary reversal, vacate the district court’s judgment, and 

remand for further proceedings consistent with Caulkett and this opinion.

1

 

In this Chapter 7 case, the debtor, Yvonne Roberts Waits, had two 

mortgages on her house, a senior mortgage lien and a junior mortgage lien. The 

outstanding balance on the senior mortgage lien exceeded the house’s current 

value. Bank of America’s junior mortgage lien was thus completely underwater. 

Waits moved to “strip off” Bank of America’s junior lien under § 506(d) of 

the Bankruptcy Code, which states, “To the extent that a lien secures a claim 

against the debtor that is not an allowed secured claim, such lien is void.” 11 

 1 On June 15, 2015, the parties were directed to file supplemental letter briefs addressing 

how the Caulkett decision applies to this case. Bank of America timely filed its brief. To date, 

however, this Court has not received a response from Waits, whose brief was due July 13, 2015. 

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U.S.C. § 506(d). The bankruptcy court granted Waits’s motion, and this Court 

affirmed. We explained our prior precedents in In re McNeal, 735 F.3d 1263 (11th 

Cir. 2012), and Folendore v. United States Small Business Administration, 862 

F.2d 1537 (11th Cir. 1989), dictated the conclusion that § 506(d) allows a Chapter 

7 debtor to void a junior mortgage lien when the senior lien exceeds the home’s 

value. 

In Caulkett, the Supreme Court vacated two Eleventh Circuit decisions that 

followed this same reasoning. The Supreme Court held “a debtor in a Chapter 7 

bankruptcy proceeding may not void a junior mortgage lien under § 506(d) when 

the debt owed on a senior mortgage lien exceeds the current value of the 

collateral.” Caulkett, 575 U.S. __, 135 S. Ct. at 2001. 

In light of the Supreme Court’s holding in Caulkett, our holdings in McNeal 

and Folendore are overruled. Accordingly, the district court erred in affirming the 

bankruptcy court’s grant of Waits’s motion to strip off Bank of America’s junior 

lien. We deny Bank of America’s motion for summary reversal, vacate the district 

court’s judgment affirming the bankruptcy court, and remand for further 

proceedings consistent with Caulkett and this opinion. 

VACATED AND REMANDED. 

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