Laserfiche WebLink
(In re Lionel Cotp.), 722 F.2d 1063, 1070.71 (2d Cir. 1983), applies to a § 554(a) motion <br />seeking abandonment of a major asset in a chapter.ll case. <br />To reach this conclusion, the court compared the polity supporting <br />abandonment in chapter 7 cases to additional considerations in chapter 11 cases that are <br />distinct from expeditious liquidation of estate property: <br />A finding that burdensomeness or of "inconsequential value and benefit" is <br />generally sufficient to justify abandonment in a Chapter 7 case because it <br />serves "the overriding purpose of bankruptry liquidation: the expeditious <br />reduction of the debtor's property to money, for equitable distnbution to <br />creditors ...:' <br />Beker Indus:, 64 B.R. at 908 (quoting Midlantic Nat'! Bank v. New Jersey Dept of EnvtL <br />Protection, 474 U.S. 494, 508 (1986)(Rehnquist, J., dissenting)(citation omitted). But even <br />in chapter 7 cases, restrictions on the trustee's power to abandon are not limited to <br />considerations of the property's value or burdensomeness to the estate. In Beker Industries, <br />abandonment of a major asset posed the danger of circumventing the plan process. In <br />adopting application of the Lionel test to chapter 11 abandonment cases, Judge Buschman <br />noted that "[j]ust as Congress could not have intended § 554(a) to swallow up environmental <br />protection statutes and ordinances, it could not have intended § 554(a) to swallow up <br />Chapter 11's safeguards or its purpose:' Beker Indus., 64 B.R. at 909. <br />However, chapter 11 contemplates not only business reorganization plans but <br />liquidation plans as well. § 1123(a)(5)(D). Under the terms of the chapter 11 plan <br />confirmed in this case shortly after the hearing on abandonment of the Quarry, CF&I made <br />no provision for continued ownership of the Quarry. The confirmed plan liquidated the <br />majority of CF&I's assets. As a reorganized debtor, CF&I is no longer engaged in steel <br /> <br />