Hartford Underwriters Insurance Co. v. Union Planters Bank, N. A.

Summary

The Supreme Court held that 11 U.S.C. § 506(c), which permits recovery from collateral of the reasonable, necessary costs of preserving or disposing of encumbered property, may be invoked only by the trustee (and a debtor-in-possession exercising the trustee's powers under § 1107), and therefore does not give an administrative claimant an independent right to charge its claim against a secured creditor's collateral. Applying the plain-meaning approach, the Court reasoned that a statute naming the party empowered to act confers the right exclusively on that party, that the absence of the word 'only' does not broaden the provision, that thin pre-Code practice cannot overcome clear text, and that policy objections are for Congress. Assuming without deciding that the workers' compensation premiums benefited the secured creditor, the Court affirmed the Eighth Circuit's en banc judgment. No separate opinions were filed.