MEMORANDUM OPINION REGARDING COMPLAINT OBJECTING TO DISCHARGE UNDER 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(5) [Adv. Doc. No. 1] JEFF BOHM, Chief Judge. I. INTRODUCTION This dispute arises from a contested divorce between Samuel Woodward (the Plaintiff) and Susan M. Ehrler-Nugent, the defendant in this adversary proceeding and one of the debtors in the main Chapter 7 case (the Debtor). The state court issued a judgment that, among other things, awarded their marital homestead to the Debtor, but required her to...
MEMORANDUM OPINION REGARDING PEARLAND STATE BANK'S MOTION TO DISMISS [Main Case Doc. No. 32] JEFF BOHM, Chief Judge. I. INTRODUCTION The dispute at bar involves what is, in bankruptcy parlance, referred to as a "Chapter 24." In 2010, Pearland State Bank (the Bank) negotiated with John Michael McMahan (the Debtor) and agreed to a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization (the Chapter 11 Plan). Upon the Chapter 11 Plan's confirmation, and after ten months of plan payments, the Debtor defaulted....
MEMORANDUM OPINION REGARDING: (1) PLAINTIFFS' OBJECTION TO DISCHARGE UNDER 11 U.S.C. 727(a); and (2) DEFENDANTS' COUNTERCLAIM AGAINST PLAINTIFFS, JERRY CAROOM AND MARY CAROOM PURSUANT TO 11 U.S.C. 362(k) [Adv. Docket Nos. 1 & 10] JEFF BOHM, Chief Judge. I. INTRODUCTION It would be a gross understatement to characterize the dispute in this adversary proceeding as acrimonious. The Plaintiffs, who are the Chapter 7 Trustee and the two largest creditors in the main case, assert that the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION MARVIN ISGUR, Bankruptcy Judge. Franek Olstowski and ATOM Instrument Corporation's ("ATOM") 1 Motion for Summary Judgment, (ECF No. 11), is denied. 2 Jurisdiction The District Court has jurisdiction over this proceeding under 28 U.S.C. 1334(a). Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 157(a), this proceeding has been referred to the Bankruptcy Court by General Order 2012-6. Bankruptcy Court's Authority This Court may not issue a final order or judgment in matters that are within...
MEMORANDUM OPINION MARVIN ISGUR, Bankruptcy Judge. As part of the confirmation of Tri-Union Development Corporation's chapter 11 Plan, parties to this adversary proceeding entered into the Turnkey Agreement and Term Sheet. The Turnkey Agreement and Term Sheet provided for the plugging and abandonment ("P & A") of Tri-Union's offshore oil and gas properties in accordance with federal regulations. In the Term Sheet, Tri-Union, Palm Energy Partners, LLC ("PEP"), Greenwich Insurance Company,...
MEMORANDUM OPINION MARVIN ISGUR, Bankruptcy Judge. The Plaintiffs and Intervenors assert claims against former officers and directors of NC12, the debtor in the underlying bankruptcy case. NC12 was a technology company engaged in developing catalytic gasification processes. Plaintiffs and Intervenors allege that the Defendants stripped NC12 of assets, misappropriated corporate assets, engaged in self-dealing, and improperly removed other directors from NC12's board. The Plaintiffs sue for...
MEMORANDUM OPINION MARVIN ISGUR, Bankruptcy Judge. On January 24, 2012, Plaintiff Discover Bank filed a motion to reconsider the Court's January 23, 2012 judgment entered in favor of Defendant Yolanda Fuentes for Discover's failure to appear at trial. A hearing was held on May 14, 2012. Discover argued that it deserved relief from the judgment because of excusable neglect and a meritorious defense. The meritorious defense was that Discover should have been given a default judgment for Ms....
MEMORANDUM OPINION REGARDING DEBTOR'S MOTION FOR REDEMPTION PURSUANT TO 722 [Doc. Nos. 237 & 244] JEFF BOHM, Bankruptcy Judge. I. INTRODUCTION The Court writes this Memorandum Opinion to underscore two points to the consumer bankruptcy bar. First, even though a Chapter 13 plan assigns a value to property that establishes the amount of a secured claim, the Court is not bound by that value once the debtor converts to Chapter 7 and seeks to redeem that property; BAPCPA modified the...
ORDER DISMISSING THIS ADVERSARY PROCEEDING FOR LACK OF SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION [Adv. Doc. Nos. 16, 19, & 20] JEFF BOHM, Bankruptcy Judge. I. Procedural Background On December 3, 2007, Mark Eugene Childs (Childs) filed a Chapter 13 petition. [Main Case Doc. No. 1]. On April 28, 2008, this Court confirmed Childs's Chapter 13 plan (the Plan). [Main Case Doc. No. 39]. Then, approximately one year later on April 6, 2009, this Court granted the Chapter 13 trustee's motion to dismiss and...
MEMORANDUM OPINION MARVIN ISGUR, Bankruptcy Judge. Victor Harris, Liquidating and Plan Trustee under Capco Energy, Inc.'s chapter 11 Plan, has sued Pyramid GOM, Inc. and Ilyas Chaudhary under two guaranty agreements. Pyramid and Chaudhary guarantied the obligations of Green Star Resources, Inc., which is no longer a party to the adversary proceeding, 1 under a purchase and sale agreement that was executed as part of Capco's chapter 11 Plan. The guarantied obligations include (i) the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION MARVIN ISGUR, Bankruptcy Judge. Defendant Tomball Forest, Ltd. has moved for summary judgment. The chapter 11 Plan for Debtors Bison Building Holdings, Inc.; Bison Multi-Family Sales, LLC; Bison Construction Services, LLC; Bison Building Materials Nevada, LLC; Bison Building Materials, LLC; Bison Building GP, Inc.; HLBM Company; and Milltech, Inc. (collectively, "Bison") established a Post-Confirmation Committee. The Committee sued Tomball Forest to avoid allegedly...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ON PLAINTIFFS' AMENDED COMPLAINT [Adv. Doc. No. 2] JEFF BOHM, Bankruptcy Judge. I. INTRODUCTION In the suit at bar, the Chapter 13 Debtors, Charles J. Ruth, III and Jennifer L. Ruth (the Plaintiffs) request this Court to disallow the proof of claim, specifically Claim No. 10, filed by Resurgent Capital Services and LVNV Funding, Inc. (the Defendants) and request affirmative relief in the form of sanctions for abuse of the proof of claim process and a damages award for...
MEMORANDUM OPINION ON THIS COURT'S DENIAL OF THE CHAPTER 7 TRUSTEE'S APPLICATION TO EMPLOY ADAIR & MYERS, P.L.L.C. [Docket No. 22] JEFF BOHM, Bankruptcy Judge. I. INTRODUCTION The Court writes this Memorandum Opinion on what has heretofore generally been a relatively routine request from a Chapter 7 trustee: namely, an application to employ counsel. The Court has heretofore been willing to approve fairly generic applications to employ such as the one presently pending in the case at bar....
MEMORANDUM OPINION IN SUPPORT OF CERTIFICATION FOR DIRECT APPEAL MARVIN ISGUR, Bankruptcy Judge. The Court has certified its Order denying confirmation of Lively's chapter 11 plan, (ECF No. 115), to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit under 28 U.S.C. 158(d)(1)(A)(i) and (ii). This Memorandum Opinion is issued in support of that certification. See FED. R. BANKR.P. 8001(f). The issue is whether the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 ("BAPCPA") abrogated the...
MEMORANDUM OPINION REGARDING THE CHAPTER 7 TRUSTEE'S OBJECTION TO DEBTOR'S CLAIM OF EXEMPTION [Doc. Nos. 42, 45, 53, 66, & 73] JEFF BOHM, Bankruptcy Judge. I. INTRODUCTION In two recent opinions, this Court has addressed whether a debtor may exempt proceeds from the settlement of a lawsuit over an insurance policy covering the debtor's homestead. In In re Okwonna-Felix, this Court held that the debtor could exempt these proceeds under the federal "wild card" exemption provided by 11 U.S....
MEMORANDUM OPINION ON PLAINTIFFS' COMPLAINT FOR DETERMINATION OF LIEN STATUS AND REMOVAL AND RELEASE OF LIEN [Adv. Doc. No. 1] JEFF BOHM, Bankruptcy Judge. I. INTRODUCTION This adversary proceeding concerns, ultimately, whether the debtors' Chapter 13 plan will be able to "strip" the lien on their homestead held by a homeowners' association. The debtors seek a declaratory judgment that: (1) the lien held by the homeowners' association on their homestead is subordinate to the lien held...
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW REGARDING THE TRUSTEE'S TRADITIONAL MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT [Adv. Docket Nos. 25, 38, 43, & 45] JEFF BOHM, Chief Judge. I. INTRODUCTION Debtor Sonya M. Porretto (Porretto) and Defendant Darryl A. Nelson (Nelson) entered into an Agreed Divorce Decree whereby Nelson was obligated to pay certain creditors and to indemnify Porretto and hold her harmless for any damages arising front his failure to pay. Nelson did, in fact, fail to pay and,...
