Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-1421_p8k0.pdf
Page Number: 6

4 

BANK OF AMERICA, N. A. v. CAULKETT 

Opinion of the Court 

claim’ ” in §506(a), she contended that her creditors’ claim
was  “secured  only  to  the  extent  of  the  judicially  deter-
mined  value  of  the  real  property  on  which  the  lien  [wa]s 
fixed.”  Id., at 414. 

The  Court  rejected  her  argument.    Rather  than  apply
the  statutory  definition  of  “secured  claim”  in  §506(a),  the
Court  reasoned  that  the  term  “secured”  in  §506(d)  con-
tained  an  ambiguity  because  the  self-interested  parties 
before  it  disagreed  over  the  term’s  meaning.  Id.,  at  416, 
420.  Relying on policy considerations and its understand-
ing  of  pre-Code  practice,  the  Court  concluded  that  if  a 
claim “has been ‘allowed’ pursuant to §502 of the Code and 
is secured by a lien with recourse to the underlying collat-
eral, it does not come within the scope of §506(d).”  Id., at 
415; see id., at 417–420.  It therefore held that the debtor 
could not strip down the creditors’ lien to the value of the 
property  under  §506(d)  “because  [the  creditors’]  claim 
[wa]s  secured  by  a  lien  and  ha[d]  been  fully  allowed  pur-
suant  to  §502.”    Id.,  at  417.    In  other  words,  Dewsnup
defined  the  term  “secured  claim”  in  §506(d)  to  mean  a
claim supported by a security interest in property, regard-
less  of  whether  the  value  of  that  property  would  be  suffi-
cient  to  cover  the  claim.  Under  this  definition,  §506(d)’s
function  is  reduced  to  “voiding  a  lien  whenever  a  claim 
secured  by  the  lien  itself  has  not  been  allowed.”    Id.,  at 
416. 

Dewsnup’s  construction  of  “secured  claim”  resolves  the 
question  presented  here.  Dewsnup  construed  the  term 
“secured claim” in §506(d) to include any claim “secured by 
a lien and . . . fully allowed pursuant to §502.”  Id., at 417. 
Because the Bank’s claims here are both secured by liens
and allowed under §502, they cannot be voided under the 
definition  given  to  the  term  “allowed  secured  claim”  by 
Dewsnup.