MEMORANDUM OPINION ROBERT L. JONES , Bankruptcy Judge . This "adversary proceeding" is a lawsuit that was recently filed in Potter County, Texas, and then removed here. The parties to this suit first met during the chapter 11 bankruptcy case of American Housing Foundation ( AHF ). The AHF bankruptcy case began with an involuntary bankruptcy petition filed by several parties, four of which are plaintiffs in this action—Robert Templeton, the Estate of Frances Maddox (of which Templeton is...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER DENYING MOTION TO DISTRIBUTE HOMESTEAD SALE PROCEEDS TO NON-DEBTOR SPOUSE, PURSUANT TO 11 U.S.C. 363(j) [DE # 45] OR OTHER AUTHORITY [DE # 52] STACEY G. JERNIGAN , Bankruptcy Judge . I. INTRODUCTION This Memorandum Opinion and Order ("Wiggains Opinion: Part II") addresses the final, "follow up" issue presented in the above-referenced adversary proceeding ("Adversary Proceeding")—the court having previously, on April 28, 2015, issued a memorandum opinion...
FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER CONFIRMING PLAN DEBTORS' SECOND AMENDED JOINT PLAN OF REORGANIZATION PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 11 OF THE BANKRUPTCY CODE [RELATES TO DOCUMENT NO. 770] STACEY G. JERNIGAN , Bankruptcy Judge . WHEREAS Sears Methodist Retirement System, Inc., Sears Caprock Retirement Corporation, Sears Methodist Centers, Inc., Sears Methodist Foundation, Sears Panhandle Retirement Corporation, Sears Permian Retirement Corporation, Sears Plains Retirement Corporation,...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Robert L. Jones , United States Bankruptcy Judge . Defendants, CitiGroup Global Markets, Inc. and CitiBank, N.A. (collectively, Citi), seek dismissal of Trustee's Second Amended Complaint [Doc. No. 69], contending that a newly alleged (and late-filed) fraudulent obligation claim cannot relate back to the original complaint, Trustee's Complaint to Recover Avoidable Transfers and Obtain Other Relief (Original Complaint) [Doc. No. 1]; and, further, that the claims of...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Robert L. Jones , United States Bankruptcy Judge . In this involuntary bankruptcy case, Positron Corporation, the alleged debtor, moves for dismissal or, alternatively, to transfer venue to the bankruptcy court for the Northern District of Illinois. Venue is proper in Texas, and within this district, the Northern District, as Positron is a Texas corporation that has maintained operations in the Northern District, specifically Lubbock, Texas. 28 U.S.C....
MEMORANDUM OPINION ROBERT L. JONES , Bankruptcy Judge . The dictates of Bankruptcy Rule 3001(e)(2) are simple: if a creditor files a proof of claim in a bankruptcy case and such claim is later transferred to another person, then such person—the "transferee"—shall file evidence of the transfer with the court. Then, if the creditor—the presumed or "alleged" transferor—does not object to the transfer, the transferee is substituted for the transferor. As a result, all parties that need to...
MEMORANDUM OPINION REGARDING ORDER DENYING MOTION OF THE OFFICIAL COMMITTEE OF UNSECURED CREDITORS TO TRANSFER VENUE HALIN DE WAYNE HALE , Bankruptcy Judge . On June 12, 2015, this Court entered its Order Denying Motion of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors to Transfer Venue. 1 The Court now issues this memorandum opinion to further explain its reasons for denying the request to transfer venue. In addressing the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors' request to transfer...
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW STACEY G.C. JERNIGAN , Bankruptcy Judge . On the 21 st day of October 2015 came on for trial the Complaint to Determine Dischargeability of Debt. After review of the exhibits entered into evidence and hearing testimony and arguments in this case, the Court makes the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law: I. Findings of Fact 1. This Court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1334. 2. This is a core proceeding...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ON OBJECTIONS TO DEBTOR'S CLAIMED HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION BARBARA J. HOUSER , Bankruptcy Judge . Before the Court are objections to William Rowland Edwards' (the " Debtor ") claimed homestead exemption in a residence located at 6502 Trammel Drive, Dallas, Texas (the " Trammel Property ") filed by Chapter 7 Trustee Robert Yaquinto, Jr. (the " Trustee ") and the Ad Hoc Probate Creditors' Committee. A joinder in the Ad Hoc Probate Creditors' Committee's objection was...
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION TO THE DISTRICT COURT THAT IT ADOPT THE ATTACHED, PROPOSED MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BANKRUPTCY COURT, THAT WOULD GRANT SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON COUNT 1 OF FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT, AND DECLARE THAT DEFENDANT JAMES RUSSELL WILLIAMS HAS NO INTEREST IN DEBTOR'S REAL PROPERTY STACEY G. JERNIGAN , Bankruptcy Judge . This Report and Recommendation to the District Court is made pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 157(c)(1). As further explained below, while bankruptcy subject...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER BARBARA J. HOUSER , United States Bankruptcy Judge On July 28, 29, 30, and 31, 2015, the Court conducted an evidentiary hearing (the " Confirmation Hearing ") to consider both confirmation of the Debtor's Second Amended Plan of Reorganization [ECF No. 261] (the " Plan ") 1 filed by Couture Hotel Corporation (the " Debtor ") and a motion to lift stay [ECF No. 156, as supplemented by ECF No. 285] (the " Motion to Lift Stay ") filed by Mansa Capital, LLC ("...
SUPPLEMENTAL FINDINGS OF FACT AND SUPPLEMENTAL AND AMENDED CONCLUSIONS OF LAW ROBERT L. JONES , Bankruptcy Judge . The Court hereby issues the following Supplemental Findings of Fact and Supplemental and Amended Conclusions of Law to supplement and amend the Court's findings and conclusions issued on March 31, 2015 [Docket No. 226]: The Court issues the following supplemental finding of fact as finding 110: The AHF Plan 110. The AHF plan prioritizes creditors' claims into 19 classes;...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Robert L. Jones , United States Bankruptcy Judge . This matter stems from the trustee's objections to exemption claims by the debtors, Steven and Melissa Crump. The Crumps filed for bankruptcy on October 6, 2014; they filed their Schedule C — Property Claimed as Exempt on October 17, 2014. On December 12, 2014, the trustee filed the Trustee's Objections to Property Claimed as Exempt [Doc. No. 33]. The Crumps filed their reply, styled Response to Trustee's Objections...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Barbara J. Houser , United States Bankruptcy Judge . This dispute arose out of a foreclosure sale that took place one month after Curtis and Beverly Williams (the "Debtors" ) filed their joint bankruptcy petition to commence this case. The buyer at the foreclosure sale, American Homes 4 Rent Properties Eight, LLC, ( "AH4R" ) filed this motion to retroactively annul the automatic stay due to what it characterized as bad faith by the Debtors. For the reasons...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER: (A) SUSTAINING IN PART AND OVERRULING IN PART TRUSTEE'S OBJECTIONS [DE ## 246 & 313] 1 TO DEBTOR'S CLAIM OF RURAL HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION, AS AMENDED; AND (B) SHIFTING CERTAIN ATTORNEY'S FEES TO DEBTOR AND DEBTOR'S COUNSEL, PURSUANT TO SECTION 105(A) OF THE BANKRUPTCY CODE AND THE ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE [DE # 308] STACEY G. JERNIGAN , United States Bankruptcy Judge I. INTRODUCTION This Memorandum Opinion and Order is issued in a contested matter involving a...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING, IN PART, AND DENYING, IN PART, PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AND ORDER TO DEPOSIT FUNDS INTO THE REGISTRY OF THE COURT BARBARA J. HOUSER , Bankruptcy Judge . Before the Court is Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction ("Motion") filed by Robert Yaquinto, Jr., chapter 7 trustee (the "Trustee") of the bankruptcy estate of Lloyd Ward (the "Debtor"). Responses in opposition to the Motion were filed on behalf of Defendants, Lloyd Ward,...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Robert L. Jones , United States Bankruptcy Judge . Sections 548 and 544 (with 544 incorporating state law) of the Bankruptcy Code provide that a trus tee may avoid a debtor's fraudulent transfer. Such provisions are raised in this action brought by Custom Food Group, LP (CFG) against Jonell McCulloch; CFG is a creditor of the debtors in the underlying bankruptcy case, Rodney and Donna Wilson. McCulloch moves to dismiss CFG's complaint, contending that CFG, as a...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER BARBARA J. HOUSER , Bankruptcy Judge . Before the Court is a motion to enforce the automatic stay (the "Motion" ) that the debtor, Caroline "Dee" Wyly ( "Dee" ), brought against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC" ) after it named her as a relief defendant in its amended complaint filed in a separate civil action pending in the Southern District of New York. Oral argument on the Motion was originally scheduled for December 17, 2014 and was...
