Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/572

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DEWSNUP v. TIMM Opinion of the Court

and reasoned that once property was abandoned it no longer fell within the reach of § 506(a), which applies only to “property in which the estate has an interest,” and therefore was not covered by § 506(d). The United States District Court, without a supporting opinion, summarily affirmed the Bankruptcy Court’s judgment of dismissal with prejudice. App. to Pet. for Cert. 12a. The Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, in its turn, also affirmed. In re Dewsnup, 908 F. 2d 588 (1990). Starting from the “fundamental premise” of § 506(a) that a claim is subject to reduction in security only when the estate has an interest in the property, the court reasoned that because the estate had no interest in abandoned property, § 506(a) did not apply (nor, by implication, did § 506(d)). Id., at 590–591. The court then noted that a contrary result would be inconsistent with § 722 under which a debtor has a limited right to redeem certain personal property. Id., at 592. Because the result reached by the Court of Appeals was at odds with that reached by the Third Circuit in Gaglia v. First Federal Savings & Loan Assn., 889 F. 2d 1304, 1306– 1311 (1989), and was expressly recognized by the Tenth Circuit as being in conflict, see 908 F. 2d, at 591, we granted certiorari. 498 U. S. 1081 (1991). II As we read their several submissions, the parties and their amici are not in agreement in their respective approaches to the problem of statutory interpretation that confronts us. Petitioner-debtor takes the position that §§ 506(a) and 506(d) are complementary and to be read together. Because, under § 506(a), a claim is secured only to the extent of the judicially determined value of the real property on which the lien is fixed, a debtor can void a lien on the property pursuant to § 506(d) to the extent the claim is no longer secured and thus is not “an allowed secured claim.” In other words, § 506(a) bifurcates classes of claims allowed under § 502 into secured