Brinley v. LPP Mortgage, Ltd.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(A) a judicial lien .... (2)(A) For the purposes of this subsection, a lien shall be considered to impair an exemption to the extent that the sum of&emdash; (i) the lien, (ii) all other liens on the property; and (iii) the amount of the exemption that the debtor could claim if there were no liens on the property; exceeds the value that the debtor’s interest in the property would have in the absence of any liens. 4”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In re Gokay · In re Hettinger

2. “Having carefully considered these conflicting precedents, we find no sufficient basis for concluding that the statutory formula produces, in this situation, a result “demonstrably at odds with the intentions of its drafters,” To be sure, the Bankruptcy Code usually looks to state law to define the property rights and priorities of creditors, including secured creditors. But § 522(f) is an exception to that policy. It was enacted to permit the avoidance of judicial liens that can interfere with the debtor’s post-petition fresh start. This selective avoidance gives an advantage under federal law to secured creditors holding consensual liens, typically, residential mortgage lenders. But Congress intended to treat consensual lienholders more favorably.... ... With the competing equities both hard to weigh and finely balanced, our task is simply to apply § 522(f)(2)(A) as Congress wrote it.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In re Gokay · Trahan v. Day Kimball Hospital (In Re Trahan)

3. “[Section] 522(f)(2)(A) is a federal definition of impairment ... and, in light of its explicit language, we no longer look to state law to define impairment. [T]he plain language of the statute provides for inclusion of all liens.... There is nothing in § 522(f)(2) that authorizes the court to pick and choose which liens to include in the impairment analysis.... To the contrary, § 522(f)(2) expressly instructs the court to include any and all hens in making any impairment analysis. Accordingly, the court is unable to deviate from this express instruction by Congress.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In re Kindall