Bank of America Nat. Trust and Sav. Assn. v. 203 North LaSalle Street Partnership, 526 U. S. 434 (1999)

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Cite as: 526 U. S. 434 (1999)

Opinion of the Court

liquidate the property, and instead extended the exclusivity period for cause shown, under § 1121(d).5

The value of the mortgaged property was less than the balance due the Bank, which elected to divide its under-secured claim into secured and unsecured deficiency claims under § 506(a) and § 1111(b).6 126 F. 3d, at 958. Under the plan, the Debtor separately classified the Bank's secured claim, its unsecured deficiency claim, and unsecured trade debt owed to other creditors. See § 1122(a).7 The Bankruptcy Court found that the Debtor's available assets were prepetition rents in a cash account of $3.1 million and the 15 floors of rental property worth $54.5 million. The secured claim was valued at the latter figure, leaving the Bank with an unsecured deficiency of $38.5 million.

So far as we need be concerned here, the Debtor's plan had these further features:

5 The Bank neither appealed the denial nor raised it as an issue in this appeal.

6 Having agreed to waive recourse against any property of the Debtor other than the real estate, the Bank had no unsecured claim outside of Chapter 11. Section 1111(b), however, provides that nonrecourse secured creditors who are undersecured must be treated in Chapter 11 as if they had recourse.

7 Indeed, the Seventh Circuit apparently requires separate classification of the deficiency claim of an undersecured creditor from other general unsecured claims. See In re Woodbrook Associates, 19 F. 3d 312, 319 (1994). Nonetheless, the Bank argued that if its deficiency claim had been included in the class of general unsecured creditors, its vote against confirmation would have resulted in the plan's rejection by that class. The Bankruptcy Court and the District Court rejected the contention that the classifications were gerrymandered to obtain requisite approval by a single class, In re 203 N. LaSalle Street Limited Partnership, 190 B. R. 567, 592-593 (Bkrtcy. Ct. ND Ill. 1995); Bank of America, Illinois v. 203 N. LaSalle Street Partnership, 195 B. R. 692, 705 (ND Ill. 1996), and the Court of Appeals agreed, 126 F. 3d, at 968. The Bank sought no review of that issue, which is thus not before us.

439

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