Opinion ID: 402179
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Prior Court Decisions

Text: 23 At the outset it may be noted that both the bankruptcy courts and the courts of appeal are divided with respect to the retroactive applicability of § 522(f) (2)(A). Bankruptcy courts in Oklahoma, Colorado, Oregon, Michigan, Washington, Kansas, and New Mexico have held that it cannot be applied to liens perfected before the Reform Act's enactment date. 2 This holding was followed by the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Rodrock v. Security Industrial Bank, 642 F.2d 1193 (10 Cir. 1981), prob. jur. noted, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 969, 71 L.Ed.2d 108 (U.S.1981) and by the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in In the Matter of: Willis R. Gifford and Jacqueline M. Gifford, 669 F.2d 468, 474, (7 Cir. 1982) (Gifford). 3 Bankruptcy courts in Ohio, Utah and Wisconsin have held that § 522(f)(2)(A) may be applied to pre-enactment liens. 4 This holding was followed by the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in In re: Charles E. Ashe and Susan J. Ashe, t/a C & S Fuel Service, Debtors, et al., 669 F.2d 105 (3 Cir. 1982) (Ashe). 24 Bankruptcy courts in Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin, Nevada (dealing with § 522(f)(1)-judicial liens), Texas, Oregon, Colorado, Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas, Georgia and Ohio have held that § 522(f)(2)(A) may be applied to liens created after the Reform Act's enactment date but before its effective date, i.e., in the so called gap period. 5 Both Ashe and Gifford 6 impliedly support this holding, while Rodrock is equivocal. 7 Courts in Michigan, Washington, Oklahoma, Colorado (dealing with § 522(f)(1)-judicial liens) Kansas and Florida have held that the effective date is controlling and that § 522(f)(2)(A) cannot be applied to liens vested before that date. 8 It will be noted that the bankruptcy courts in Colorado and Kansas are themselves divided. In In Re Henderson, 10 B.R. 19 (Bkrtcy.N.D. Indiana 1980), the court ruled against giving retroactive effect to § 522 but left open the question of whether the controlling date was the enactment date or the effective date. Aside from what is implied in Ashe and Gifford, no appellate court has directly ruled on the applicability of § 522(f) to liens vested during the gap period.