Case Summary:
Debtors filed a voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and creditor John Deere Financial Services moved for relief from the automatic stay to enforce its contractual rights regarding a tractor and lawn mower deck. Deere submitted evidence that it had security interests in the collateral and that Debtors had failed to make postpetition payments. Debtors’ scheduled value of the collateral showed that there was no equity in the equipment. Debtors, however, maintained that they were sovereign citizens, that they were the secured creditors, that all their bills are paid by a trust the government holds under Mrs. Sloniker’s Social Security number, and that unspecified fraud had been committed. The Court refused to entertain Debtors’ arguments based on their sovereign-citizenship theory. The Court granted Deere’s motion and ordered the Chapter 7 trustee to abandon the collateral. Also, the Court noted that stay relief may not be necessary in the first place under section 362(c)(3). But the Court acknowledged that seeking stay relief was best practice.
Statute/Rule References:
11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3)
11 U.S.C. § 362(d)
11 U.S.C. § 554 -- Abandonment of property of the estate
Key Terms:
Abandonment
Automatic Stay
Equity
Sovereign Citizen