MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER SUSTAINING TRUSTEE'S OBJECTION TO CLAIM NO. 424 K. Rodney May , United States Bankruptcy Judge . The Internal Revenue Service assessed penalties of $347,490 against the Debtor pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 6698(a), 1 because the Chapter 7 Trustee filed the partnership's tax return for the year ending April 30, 2011 (the "2011 Return") by the date to which the filing deadline could have been extended, but without having timely requested the extension. The United...
MEMORANDUM DECISION ON COMPLAINT TO DETERMINE DISCHARGEABILITY OF DEBT FOR TAXES AND TO SET ASIDE TAX LIENS CATHERINE PEEK McEWEN , Bankruptcy Judge . The Bankruptcy Code evinces public policy favoring payment of taxes in providing an exception to discharge for debtors who do not "make an honest and reasonable effort to comply with the tax laws." 1 The Plaintiffs in this proceeding, chapter 7 debtors, seek a determination that their chapter 7 discharge extended to their substantial 2001...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEBTOR'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND SUSTAINING DEBTOR'S OBJECTION TO CLAIM K. Rodney May , United States Bankruptcy Judge . The parties have filed competing motions for summary judgment on the Debtor's objection to the proof of claim filed by the United States of America on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service (the "United States"). 1 The United States asserts that the Debtor's liability from a Tax Court judgment, for his having received about...
FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND MEMORANDUM OPINION PAUL M. GLENN , United States Bankruptcy Judge . THIS CASE came before the Court for a two-day trial in this adversary proceeding. Lafayette State Bank (the Bank) commenced the proceeding by filing a Complaint Objecting to the Entry of the Debtors' Discharge and to Determine Dischargeability of Debt. Generally, the Bank alleges that the Debtors, John Riley O'Steen and Ashley Koon O'Steen, transferred or concealed cattle and...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ON CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT K. Rodney May , United States Bankruptcy Judge . In this adversary proceeding, the Debtor, whose Chapter 11 plan was confirmed more than 20 years ago, seeks a declaratory judgment that recently-filed lawsuits in Alabama state court are barred by its 1995 bankruptcy discharge. The parties have filed motions for summary judgment and they agree that the outcome depends on application of the principles enunciated in Epstein v....
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW JERRY A. FUNK , Bankruptcy Judge . This case is before the Court for confirmation of Debtor's Chapter 13 Plan (Doc. 4) and on an objection to confirmation raised by the Chapter 13 Trustee (the "Trustee") at the confirmation hearing held on October 3, 2017. Upon the stipulated facts and argument presented at the confirmation hearing, the Court makes the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. FINDINGS OF FACT In April 2017, Debtor filed...
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW ROBERTA A. COLTON , Bankruptcy Judge . THIS CASE came before the Court at a hearing on October 26, 2017, to consider and act upon motion (Doc. No. 86) by Debtor, Diana Lynn Abshier, for garnishment judgment against JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("Garnishee"). The Court finds and concludes as follows: A. Background . 1. On May 1, 2017, this Court entered a judgment (the "Primary Judgment") (Doc. No. 63) against Jeffrey Kahn and iKAHN Capital LLC (the "...
AMENDED 1 MEMORANDUM DECISION ON COMPLAINT TO DETERMINE DISCHARGEABILITY OF DEBT FOR TAXES AND TO SET ASIDE TAX LIENS Catherine Peek McEwen , United States Bankruptcy Judge . In providing an exception to a discharge in bankruptcy for debtors who do not "make an honest and reasonable effort to comply with the tax laws," 2 the Bankruptcy Code evinces public policy favoring payment of taxes. The Plaintiffs in this proceeding are Matthew L. and Kathleen M. Feshbach, chapter 7 debtors....
MEMORANDUM OPINION ON (1) PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL AND (2) PLAINTIFF'S COMPLAINT TO DETERMINE DISCHARGEABILITY OF DEBT AND OBJECTION TO DISCHARGE CARYL E. DELANO , Bankruptcy Judge . The aftermath of a relationship breakup is not always pretty. Particularly when, as here, there are serious allegations of fraud. During Plaintiff and Defendant's relationship, Defendant managed their commingled finances. After the parties' breakup, Plaintiff accused Defendant of opening credit card...
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW Michael G. Williamson , Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge . In its first bankruptcy case, the Debtor confirmed a plan that expressly acknowledged that the Debtor owed TD Bank, which held a mortgage on the Debtor's property, $2,001,929.63 on the parties' loan. Although the Debtor was only obligated to pay TD Bank $1.4 million under the plan in the Debtor's first case, that plan provided that TD Bank would be owed the full $2,001,929.63 (less any...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT K. Rodney May , United States Bankruptcy Judge . Plaintiffs ask for summary judgment, on Counts I and II of their Complaint, to obtain an award of damages against Debtor for copyright and trademark infringement and a determination that such damages are excepted from discharge under 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(6). 1 Their principal contention is that Debtor, through a wholly-owned company, sold electronic devices with...
FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND MEMORANDUM OPINION PAUL M. GLENN , Bankruptcy Judge . THIS CASE came before the Court for a final evidentiary hearing on the Complaint filed by the Debtor, Scott E. Fravala, against the Defendant, E Holdings, Ltd. (Doc. 1). The Defendant asserts a claim based on the Debtor's Guaranty of a Lease Agreement between the Defendant as landlord and the Debtor's corporation as tenant. The claim was not listed in the Debtor's bankruptcy schedules, and the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ON MOTION TO COMPEL ASSUMPTION OR REJECTION OF UNEXPIRED PERSONAL PROPERTY LEASE 1 Caryl E. Delano , United States Bankruptcy Judge . Property rights in a bankruptcy case are determined under state law. Under Florida law, an agreement for the lease of personal property for personal or household use with a term of less than four months is deemed to be a lease and not a security agreement. Because the debtor here entered into a rental-purchase agreement of personal...
MEMORANDUM OPINION OVERRULING CREDITOR'S AMENDED OBJECTION TO DEBTOR'S CLAIMED EXEMPTION IN FLORIDA HOMESTEAD Karen S. Jennemann , United States Bankruptcy Judge . Creditor, Alice Migell, objects to the Debtor's, Andrew Bruce Migell's, claimed exemption for Florida homestead property located at 11 Timicuan Drive, Ormond Beach, Florida ("Homestead"). 1 Finding that the Creditor failed to meet her burden of proof, the Court overrules Creditor's Amended Objection to Debtor's Florida...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ON TRUSTEE'S OBJECTION TO CLAIM Cynthia C. Jackson , United States Bankruptcy Judge . This matter came before the Court on the objection of Marie E. Henkel, as Chapter 7 Trustee, to a proof of claim filed by the John Michael Eddy Trust of 1982 (the "JME Trust"), an insider of the Debtors. By the objection, the Chapter 7 Trustee asks the Court to disallow the entire claim, or in the alternative, to equitably subordinate the claim to all other claims in the case. The...
ORDER ON ORDERS TO SHOW CAUSE TO GREEN TREE SERVICING, LLC CATHERINE PEEK McEWEN , Bankruptcy Judge . THE CASES REFERENCED ABOVE came on for hearing on July 20, 2015, and for continued hearing on November 9, 2015, for consideration of the Court's Orders to Show Cause (Docs. 28 and 29, respectively) directing Green Tree Servicing, Inc. ("Green Tree") to appear and show cause why the Court should not impose sanctions against Green Tree under Rule 9011, Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure,...
MEMORANDUM OPINION GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT K. Rodney May , United States Bankruptcy Judge . The court-appointed receiver ("Receiver") for the entities involved in a Ponzi scheme seeks the imposition of an equitable lien and constructive trust on the Florida homestead of Vernon Lee (the "Debtor") and his wife ("Sommers-Lee"). 1 Between 2005 and 2008, the Debtor, then unmarried, received distributions from the Ponzi scheme totaling $2,942,264, which...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ON REMAND K. Rodney May , United States Bankruptcy Judge . This adversary proceeding is before the Court after remand from the District Court, which vacated this Court's entry of a $44,953.93 judgment against pro se defendant Eric Moore ("Mr. Moore"). 1 This Court initially ruled that Mr. Moore had fraudulently induced the Debtor to enter into a Consulting Agreement, dated July 11, 2012. 2 Thus, the Consulting Agreement was void and unenforceable. But, even if that...
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ENJOINING RELITIGATION OF DISMISSED CLAIMS K. RODNEY MAY , Bankruptcy Judge . Target National Bank ("TNB") has filed a motion seeking an injunction barring the Trustee from relitigating in state court FCCPA claims that were dismissed by this Court with prejudice. 1 The Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1334(b). Having considered the underlying pleadings, the accompanying memoranda, 2 and the oral arguments of the parties, the Court will grant...
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW Jerry A. Funk , United States Bankruptcy Judge . This case came before the Court upon Christopher Walker as Trustee for Bondholders' Motion to Dismiss Debtor's Voluntary Petition (Doc. 22) and Christopher Walker as Trustee for Bondholders' Motion for Relief from Automatic Stay (Doc. 21) (collectively, the "Motions"). The Court conducted a hearing on the Motions on May 18, 2017 and elected to take the matters under advisement. Upon the evidence and...
