In re Enriquez, 244 B.R. 156 (Bankr. S.D. Cal. 2000)

The Chapter 13 debtors attempted to strip off the second lien of FirstPlus Financial from his residence. The Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel had ruled that a debtor could do so despite the provisions of 11 U.S.C. 1322 when there is insufficient equity in the property to secure even a portion of the lien in In re Lam, 211 B.R. 36 (BAP 9th Cir. 1999).

Despite the Lam decision, Malcolm Cisneros, representing FirstPlus, convinced the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California to hold that debtors could not strip the lien. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals later followed Lam in a later unrelated case holding that a debtor can strip off a totally undersecured lien.