Contested Matter MEMORANDUM OPINION Kevin R. Huennekens , UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE . Before the Court in this contested matter is the Motion for Relief from the Automatic Stay (the "Motion") filed by Mine Service Company, Inc. ("Mine Service") against James River Coal Company and its subsidiaries (the "Debtors"). 1 The Court conducted a hearing on the Motion on June 25, 2015 (the "Hearing"). Mine Service seeks relief from the automatic stay imposed by 11 U.S.C. 362 in order to...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Objection to Proof of Claim 2 of Chesapeake Marine Railway, LLC ROBERT G. MAYER , Bankruptcy Judge . This case concerns the costs of repairs made to the Miss Ann, a classic 126-foot fan tail motor yacht built in 1926 by Pusey and Jones. It is a Presidential Yacht comparable to Sir Winston Churchill's yacht "Welch Liberty" and General Douglass MacArthur's former Navy signal vessel. The Miss Ann was due for a Coast Guard inspection to extend its Certificate of...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Kevin R. Huennekens , UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE . On November 4, 2015, the Court conducted an evidentiary hearing (the "November Hearing") (i) on an Order for Nnika E. White ("White") in her capacity as counsel for the Debtors to Show Cause why she should not be sanctioned for her conduct in this case (the "Order to Show Cause") and (ii) on a Motion filed by the Chapter 13 Trustee (the "Motion") to convert the Debtors' Chapter 13 Case to one under Chapter 7 of the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Kevin R. Huennekens , UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE . Before the Court is (i) the complaint (the "Complaint") filed by plaintiff MT Technology Enterprises LLC ("MT") against the defendant, Bruce Bernard Nolte ("Nolte"), initiating this Adversary Proceeding (Case No. 15-03130-KRH, the "Adversary Proceeding"), and (ii) the objection of Nolte to the proof of claim filed by MT in Nolte's underlying Bankruptcy Case. 1 The Complaint sought to have MT's $8,843,411.80 claim...
MEMORANDUM OPINION KEVIN R. HUENNEKENS , Bankruptcy Judge . Before the Court is the Objection (the "Objection") of The Bank of Southside Virginia ("BSV") to Confirmation of Chapter 13 Plan filed by Samuel Leon Draper ("Debtor"). The Objection seeks to deny confirmation of the Debtor's Chapter 13 Plan on the grounds that the plan modifies the rights of BSV in violation of 1322(b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code. 1 On October 14, 2015, the Court conducted an evidentiary hearing on the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER KEITH L. PHILLIPS , Bankruptcy Judge . Before the Court is Plaintiff's Motion for Reconsideration ("the Motion" or "the Motion to Reconsider") of Footnote 10 of the Court's memorandum opinion ("the Memorandum Opinion") issued February 23, 2015. 1 For the reasons set forth below, the Court denies the Motion in part and grants it in part. Background . On March 18, 2014, Plaintiff Tiffany D. Smith filed a complaint ("the Complaint") against Defendant/Debtor...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Brian F. Kenney , United States Bankruptcy Judge . The Plaintiffs in this action seek a declaration of non-dischargeability based upon a judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia finding the Defendant liable for torture, indiscriminate killings and human rights abuses. Docket No. 1 (Complaint). The Plaintiffs are all former residents of Somalia, or in one case, the representative of decedents' estates for former residents of Somalia....
MEMORANDUM OPINION Robert G. Mayer , United States Bankruptcy Judge . This case was before the court on September 3, 2015, on the chapter 13 trustee's motion to dismiss this case because the debtor was not eligible to be in chapter 13. The trustee argued that she was over the debt limit of $1,149,525 for secured debts. 11 U.S.C. 109(e). The debtor attempted to show that the outstanding balance of the loan was less than the 109(e) eligibility limit. She testified that she and her non-...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Robert G. Mayer , United States Bankruptcy Judge This case is before the court on the motion of Gordon Properties, LLC, brought under 11 U.S.C. 107(b)(2) to seal eight letters filed by members of First Owners' Association of Forty Six Hundred Condominium, Inc., ("FOA") which the debtor asserts contain "scurrilous, if not defamatory, statements regarding ... the managing member" of the debtor. 1 Debtor's Motion to Seal Documents at 1. Two unit owners who each...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Robert G. Mayer , United States Bankruptcy Judge . The question presented in this chapter 7 case is whether the debtors may claim their two mortgage debts as expenses in their chapter 7 means test calculation when they intend to surrender the property. The trustee and the debtors agree that if the debtors may claim the two mortgage debts then there is no presumption of abuse under 11 U.S.C. 707(b)(2); otherwise, there is a presumption of abuse. 1 This question was...
MEMORANDUM OPINION Keith L. Phillips , United States Bankruptcy Judge . Before the Court is the motion of Debtor Larry Dexter Brown, Sr., for a waiver of the requirement of 109(g)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code, which provides that an individual may not be a debtor in any chapter of the Bankruptcy Code within 180 days of that debtor's voluntary dismissal of a bankruptcy case "following the filing of a request for relief from the automatic stay provided by section 362 of this title." 11 U....
MEMORANDUM OPINION Robert G. Mayer , United States Bankruptcy Judge The question presented in this case is the relative priority of various unsecured claims, in particular, whether the claims of creditors who loaned money to the debtor in reliance on security agreements that were ineffective to grant liens on real property have priority over the unsecured claims of a creditor who was not an owner of the debtor but who controlled the debtor and knew that the security agreements were...
MEMORANDUM OPINION KEITH L. PHILLIPS , Bankruptcy Judge . Before the Court is the motion to dismiss (the " Motion ") filed by the Counterclaim Defendants, Sterne Agee Group, Inc. and Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc. (together, " Sterne Agee "), seeking dismissal of counterclaims (the " Counterclaim ") filed by Bruce E. Robinson, Trustee (the " Trustee ") for the bankruptcy estate of Anderson & Strudwick, Incorporated (the " Debtor " or "A&S"), in response to the complaint filed by...
