MEMORANDUM ON MOTION TO WITHDRAW OR AMEND REQUEST FOR ADMISSIONS DEEMED ADMITTED PURSUANT TO RULE 36(b) SUZANNE H. BAUKNIGHT , Bankruptcy Judge . Before the Court is the Motion to Withdraw or Amend Request for Admissions Deemed Admitted Pursuant to Rule 36(b) ("Motion to Withdraw") filed by Defendants on January 14, 2020 [Doc. 26], 1 and Plaintiff's Response to Defendants' Motion to Withdraw or Amend Request for Admissions Deemed Admitted Pursuant to Rule 36(b) ("Response") filed on...
MEMORANDUM SUZANNE H. BAUKNIGHT , Bankruptcy Judge . Before the Court is the question of whether summary judgment should be entered for Defendant for the reasons raised by the Court under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(f)(2) and (3) based on the record submitted by the parties on Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment that was denied on July 26, 2019. I. PROCEDURAL POSTURE Plaintiff filed the Complaint for Determination of Dischargeability Pursuant to Section 523 of the Bankruptcy...
MEMORANDUM OPINION SHELLEY D. RUCKER , Bankruptcy Judge . I. Procedural History On February 21, 2019, Douglas R. Johnson, chapter 7 trustee of the debtors' bankruptcy estate ("Trustee" or "Plaintiff"), filed a complaint in this adversary proceeding against Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, as Trustee for Stanwich Mortgage Loan Trust A, Stanwich Mortgage Loan Trust A, and Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, a/k/a/ WSFS Bank ("WSFS" or "Defendants"). 1 [Doc. No. 1]. 2 The parties'...
MEMORANDUM SUZANNE H. BAUKNIGHT , Bankruptcy Judge . Plaintiffs commenced this adversary proceeding by filing the Complaint for Determination that Debts Are Not Dischargeable ("Complaint") on March 9, 2018 [Doc. 1], seeking a nondischargeable judgment against Defendant in the amount of $2,000,000.00, plus punitive damages of $2,000,000.00, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(2)(A), (a)(4), and/or (a)(6). The Complaint also asserts that "[t]o the extent that Abbacas and Rooney obtained a...
MEMORANDUM Marcia Phillips Parsons , Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge . This chapter 11 case, the debtors' second, is before the court on a motion to dismiss case or, alternatively, for relief from the automatic stay filed by Tennessee State Bank ("TSB"), the debtors' largest secured creditor. TSB contends the debtors filed their current case in bad faith in order to prevent TSB from enforcing its liens after the debtors defaulted under the terms of their confirmed plan in their first...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Shelley D. Rucker , UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE . I. Summary On January 18, 2018, Hardwick Clothes, Inc. ("Plaintiff") filed a complaint in this adversary proceeding against Richard P. Jahn, Jr., chapter 7 trustee of the Debtor's bankruptcy estate ("Trustee" or "Defendant"). [Doc. No. 1]. 1 The complaint was amended on November 9, 2018. [Doc. No. 44]. The controversy between the parties stems from an asset purchase agreement ("APA") and bill of sale (together the "...
Not for publication. This opinion has limited precedential value. ORDER AND MEMORANDUM OPINION SHELLEY D. RUCKER , Bankruptcy Judge . On September 30, 2019, the debtor filed a notice of intent to sell property, specifically the property located at 3606 Weldon Drive, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37412, more particularly described in a deed recorded in the Hamilton County Register of Deeds Office, Deed Book 10444, Page 970 ("the property"). [Doc. No. 53]. The sale was to be for the consideration...
MEMORANDUM MARCIA PHILLIPS PARSONS , Chief Bankruptcy Judge . Marcia Phillips Parsons, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge . In this adversary proceeding, Credit Bureau Systems, Inc. ("CBS") seeks a denial of discharge and a determination that the claims it is pursuing in state court against debtor Lauren Elam, a former employee, are nondischargeable. The debtor in a countercomplaint asserts her own claims for damages against CBS. In the motion before the court, CBS contends that the...
MEMORANDUM Shelley D. Rucker , UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE . This case is pending before the court on the objection to confirmation of the debtors' Chapter 13 plan filed by creditor First National Bank of Middle Tennessee ("FNB"). The court previously overruled FNB's objection and confirmed the debtors' plan. [Doc. Nos. 40-41, 57]. FNB had argued that the debtors' plan impermissibly modified its rights under 11 U.S.C. 1322(b)(2) by proposing to bifurcate a single mortgage securing...
MEMORANDUM OPINION SHELLEY D. RUCKER , Bankruptcy Judge . I. Factual Background This matter was before the Court on August 15, 2019 on the chapter 13 trustee's amended objection to confirmation of the debtor's proposed chapter 13 plan. [Doc. No. 30]. The debtor proposed a plan on May 2, 2019, in which creditors Ridge Loan Company, World Finance Corporation, and Credit Central, LLC, were treated as secured creditors under Section 3.2 of the plan. [Doc. No. 2]. The plan also provides that...
MEMORANDUM SUZANNE H. BAUKNIGHT , Bankruptcy Judge . Because Plaintiff raised before the state court a claim based in fraud and the state court's decision did not include a factual finding of fraudulent conduct, the Court finds that Plaintiff is bound by issue preclusion so that summary judgment in favor of Defendants is proper. I. PROCEDURAL POSTURE Plaintiff filed a Complaint in each of the foregoing adversary proceedings on October 22, 2018, asking the Court to determine that a state-...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ON ATTORNEYS' LIEN SUZANNE H. BAUKNIGHT , Bankruptcy Judge . Following a May 23, 2019 status hearing on the Motion to Compromise State Court Action ("Motion to Compromise") filed by W. Grey Steed, Chapter 7 Trustee ("Trustee") [Doc. 36], in addition to setting an evidentiary hearing and pretrial deadlines, the Court set a briefing schedule on a preliminary issue 1 raised at the hearing concerning the existence of an attorneys' lien asserted against the potential...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Shelley D. Rucker , UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE . I. Background George Hanson and Mary Hanson ("the Debtors") filed a motion to change venue that seeks to transfer their case back to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, where it originated. [Doc. No. 436]. Secured creditor First Community Bank of Tennessee ("First Community Bank") 1 objects to the transfer. [Doc. No. 437]. The Court heard both matters on April 15, 2019 and...
ORDER AND MEMORANDUM SHELLEY D. RUCKER , Bankruptcy Judge . I. Summary Pending before the court is the plaintiff's "Motion to Abstain from Adversary Proceeding and Remand to State Court." [Doc. No. 65]. In his motion, the plaintiff requests that the court abstain from hearing this adversary proceeding under the doctrine of mandatory abstention. [ Id. at 5]. The plaintiff further requests that, to the extent the court concludes that mandatory abstention does not apply, the court should...
ORDER AND MEMORANDUM Shelley D. Rucker , UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE . This matter is before the Court on the chapter 13 trustee's motion to modify the confirmed chapter 13 plan of debtors James Moore and Labridget Moore ("the Debtors") [Doc. No. 56] and the Debtors' objection [Doc. No. 59]. Also before the Court is the Debtors' related Motion for Consent to retain inheritance money to purchase a vehicle [Doc. No. 44], which was filed before the motion to modify, and the trustee's...
MEMORANDUM MARCIA PHILLIPS PARSONS , Bankruptcy Judge . In this adversary proceeding, the plaintiffs Woodbourne Investments, LLC and Walter Schwab Irrevocable Trust seek a determination that the state court judgments they hold against the debtor Jimmy Holland Boyd for breach of contract are nondischargeable under 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(2)(A) and (B), (a)(4), and (a)(6). The judgments arise out of the plaintiffs' failed investments in the debtor's wholly-owned company, Slidell Excavating and...
MEMORANDUM and ORDER SHELLEY D. RUCKER , Bankruptcy Judge . This matter came on for hearing on January 22, 2019, upon the objection to confirmation of the debtor's chapter 13 plan filed by Frances Janet Green. [Doc. No. 34]. Mrs. Green appeared pro se, and the court heard testimony from both Mrs. Green and the debtor. Based upon the argument of counsel for the debtor, the testimony of the witnesses, and the pleadings filed in this matter, the court finds that Mrs. Green's objection will be...
MEMORANDUM SUZANNE H. BAUKNIGHT , Bankruptcy Judge . This adversary proceeding is before the Court on the Complaint to Determine Dischargeability ("Complaint") filed on April 6, 2018 [Doc. 1], asking the Court to determine that marital debt owed to Plaintiff by Defendant is nondischargeable under 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(15). Defendant filed her Answer on May 11, 2018 [Doc. 6], denying the allegations in the Complaint. Pursuant to the Joint Statement of Issues filed by the parties on September...
MEMORANDUM ON MOTION TO COMPROMISE DISPUTE SUZANNE H. BAUKNIGHT , Bankruptcy Judge . The contested matter before the Court is the Motion to Compromise Dispute ("Motion") [Doc. 58] filed by Michael H. Fitzpatrick, the Chapter 7 Trustee (the "Trustee"), on May 18, 2018, seeking approval of a compromise and settlement between Debtor's bankruptcy estate and Debtor's former spouse, Clifton Boone, Jr. ("Boone"). Objections were filed by Debtor and creditors Raymond and Doris Davis ("the Davises"...
MEMORANDUM SHELLEY D. RUCKER , Bankruptcy Judge . I. Introduction This case came to be heard on July 23, 2018, upon the Motion of Debtors for Modification of Their Confirmed Chapter 11 Plan filed pro se by Debtor George Robert Hanson and Joint Debtor Mary Darlene Hanson ("the Debtors") on May 21, 2018. (Doc. No. 372). 1 Also before the Court are objections to the Debtors' motion to modify filed by the U.S. Trustee (Doc. No. 387) and creditor Nationstar Mortgage, LLC, d/b/a Mr. Cooper ("...