DECISION AND ORDER ON MOTION FOR RELIEF FROM INJUNCTION Susan V. Kelley , Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge . Are obligations owed to the State of Wisconsin for failure to maintain worker's compensation insurance dischargeable in bankruptcy The State's Department of Workforce Development, Worker's Compensation Division ("DWD") has asked for a determination that such a claim survived the confirmation of Brian Hansen's Chapter 11 plan. DWD assessed a penalty against H & S Landscape Products, Inc....
MEMORANDUM DECISION SUSAN V. KELLEY , Chief Bankruptcy Judge . Background and Facts On April 26, 2017, the Chapter 11 Debtor filed an adversary complaint against the City of Milwaukee (the "City"). The complaint asserts that the City's taking of an eight-unit rental property through in rem tax foreclosure was a fraudulent transfer. The Court held a trial on September 19, 2017. Leonard G. Leverson appeared for the Debtor and Kevin P. Sullivan and Hannah R. Jahn appeared for the City....
OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING ABILITY INSURANCE COMPANY'S MOTION TO DISMISS THIS CASE Beth E. Hanan , United States Bankruptcy Judge . The debtor, Green Box NA Green Bay LLC, has been dogged by the long shadow of its former managing member, Ronald Van Den Heuvel. A year after declining the U.S. Trustee's request to dismiss this case, a request largely based on structural and documentation problems attributable to Van Den Heuvel, the court is faced once again with calls to dismiss or convert...
DECISION AND ORDER AVOIDING TRANSFER SUSAN V. KELLEY , Bankruptcy Judge . On September 22, 2017, the Debtors filed a complaint to set aside the City of Milwaukee's (the "City's") in rem tax foreclosure of their homestead (the "Property") as a constructively fraudulent transfer. Pursuant to Bankruptcy Code 522(h), a debtor may use the trustee's avoidance power under 548 to the extent the debtor could have exempted the property if the trustee had avoided the transfer. The Court held a...
DECISION AND ORDER ESTIMATING CLAIMS OF MONTY TITLING TRUST 1 FOR PURPOSES OF VOTING AND DISTRIBUTION Susan V. Kelley , Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge . The Debtors in these jointly-administered cases own commercial properties in New Mexico. M & I Marshall & Ilsley Bank ("M & I") made loans to enable the Debtors to purchase the properties, and the Debtors' principals, Warren and Steven Blumenthal, personally guaranteed the loans. The lending relationship between the Blumenthals and M & I...
MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS SUSAN V. KELLEY , Chief Bankruptcy Judge . Law enforcement authorities pulled over Michael Marks while he was driving a truck ostensibly owned by Marks Family Trucking, LLC. The truck contained illegal drugs. A grand jury indicted Mr. Marks and included a forfeiture allegation against the truck. On July 13, 2017, Marks Family Trucking, LLC filed this Chapter 11 case, and fifteen days later, the United States District Court for the...
MEMORANDUM DECISION SUSAN V. KELLEY , Bankruptcy Judge . This case involves the valuation of leasehold interests that were terminated on the eve of the Debtor's Chapter 11 case. Great Lakes Quick Lube Limited Partnership (the "Debtor") operated a number of Valvoline Instant Oil Change stores. On February 10, 2012, the Debtor entered into a lease termination agreement terminating two subleases with T.D. Investments I, LLP ("TD"). (Docket No. 46-1.) 1 Under the agreement, in exchange for...
MEMORANDUM DECISION GRANTING PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT SUSAN V. KELLEY , Chief Bankruptcy Judge . Associated Bank, N.A. (the "Bank") filed this dischargeability adversary proceeding against a personal guarantor despite having been paid virtually in full in a corporate Chapter 11 case pending in Chicago. The guarantor, Robert M. Kraft ("Kraft"), has answered and moved for summary judgment. Summary judgment is appropriate if the pleadings and affidavits on file show there is no genuine...
DECISION AND ORDER G. Michael Halfenger , United States Bankruptcy Judge . The Estate of Peter Margolis ("Margolis") holds a judgment against Michael A. Gral and his wife, Julia Gral, entered by the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Case No. 16-21329, Claim No. 3-2. Margolis domesticated that judgment in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Id.; see also Case No. 16-21329, CM-ECF Doc. No. 119 at 6. Margolis then commenced a state-court collection action in Miami-Dade County against Michael and...
DECISION AND ORDER G. Michael Halfenger , United States Bankruptcy Judge . Jamiela Flournoy and Vernon Shaw jointly incurred debt to purchase a car. They gave the lender a lien on the car to secure repayment. Flournoy alone filed a chapter 13 case. She seeks to modify the creditor's rights through her chapter 13 plan so that the lien terminates when she receives a discharge. The creditor objects to plan confirmation. Because the Bankruptcy Code does not authorize Flournoy to eliminate the...
MEMORANDUM DECISION GRANTING MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT Susan V. Kelly , Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge . This case involves the "strong arm powers" used to avoid transfers of a debtor's property that are not properly perfected under state law. See 11 U.S.C. 544(a). The Chapter 7 Trustee, Bruce A. Lanser, is asserting these powers to avoid liens held by First Bank Financial Centre (the "Bank") on two pieces of property: (1) insurance renewal commissions due Stephen Voboril (the "...
DECISION G. MICHAEL HALFENGER , Bankruptcy Judge . Capital Ventures, LLC, the debtor-in-possession, commenced this adversary proceeding to request a declaration that a mortgage it executed in favor of Peter Margolis, defendant Estate of Peter Margolis's predecessor-in-interest, is invalid. This decision will refer to the defendant as the "Estate." The Estate filed a two-count counterclaim. CM-ECF, Adv. Case No. 16-2140, Doc. No. 4 at 4-8. 2 Count I requests a damages judgment against...
MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER Susan V. Kelley , Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge . This case lies at the delicate intersection of an important bankruptcy policy and a party's due process rights. The issue is whether a final, non-appealable order approving a real estate sale could extinguish a right of first refusal without affording the holder of the right formal notice and the opportunity to object. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company ("ADM") purchased assets pursuant to a confirmed...
DECISION AND ORDER ON MOTION TO TERMINATE ADVERSARY PROCEEDING SUSAN V. KELLEY , Chief Bankruptcy Judge . Roger Rinaldi and Desa Rinaldi (the "Debtors") filed a voluntary Chapter 7 petition on October 14, 2011. On March 21, 2012, the Court granted their motion to convert to a Chapter 13 proceeding. The Debtors' bankruptcy case followed entry of a foreclosure judgment against their residence in favor of HSBC Bank, U.S.A., National Association, as Trustee for Wells Fargo Asset Securities...
