Eastern Savings Bank, FSB v. LaFata

STAHL, Senior Circuit Judge.

At issue in this case of first impression is whether the Bankruptcy Code’s protection of mortgage lenders against modification of claims secured by a principal residence applies when the residence in fact lies mostly on a lot abutting the mortgaged property. This case arises out of a bizarre set of facts. The debtor in this case and his then-wife mistakenly built a house on the property line between two lots owned by the debtor’s ex-wife, a fact which was not discovered until after a mortgage on the lot believed to include the house had already been granted.…