Court Opinion

ID: 2743046
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2014-10-16 16:01:05.815978+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:05:29.467078
License: Public Domain

Case: 14-11373   Date Filed: 10/16/2014   Page: 1 of 3

                                                     [DO NOT PUBLISH]

            IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

                    FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
                    ___________________________

                              No. 14-11373
                          Non-Argument Calendar
                      ___________________________

        D. C. Docket Nos. 3:14-cv-00200-BJD; 3:13-bkc-00346-PMG

In re: PHALLY LANG,

                                                              Debtor.

                   _____________________________

THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON,
f.k.a. Bank of New York,

                                                            Plaintiff-Appellant,

                                  versus

PHALLY LANG,
                                                          Defendant-Appellee.

                   ______________________________

               Appeal from the United States District Court
                   for the Middle District of Florida
                 _______________________________

                            (October 16, 2014)
               Case: 14-11373     Date Filed: 10/16/2014   Page: 2 of 3

Before TJOFLAT, JORDAN, and EDMONDSON, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

      Bank of America, N.A., as servicer for The Bank of New York Mellon,

appeals the district court’s summary affirmance of the bankruptcy court’s order

voiding a wholly unsecured second priority lien on residential property owned by a

Chapter 7 debtor.

      The bankruptcy court granted Debtor’s request to “strip off” the unsecured

junior lien, based on this Court’s binding precedent in McNeal v. GMAC Mortg.,

LLC (In re McNeal), 735 F.3d 1263 (11th Cir. 2012) (citing Folendore v. United

States Small Bus. Admin. (In re Folendore), 862 F.2d 1537 (11th Cir. 1989)). In

McNeal, this Court concluded that a Chapter 7 debtor is allowed to “strip off” a

second priority lien on his home, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 506(a) and (d), when the

first priority lien exceeds the value of the property.

      Bank of America acknowledges that this panel is bound by the Court’s

decisions in McNeal and Folendore, but reserves the right to seek reconsideration

of the issue by the en banc Court. Cf. United States v. Smith, 122 F.3d 1355, 1359

(11th Cir. 1997) (“Under the prior panel precedent rule, we are bound by earlier

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              Case: 14-11373    Date Filed: 10/16/2014   Page: 3 of 3

panel holdings . . . unless and until they are overruled en banc or by the Supreme

Court.”).

      AFFIRMED.

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