Opinions

 

All court opinions may be accessed at no charge via PACER through the "Written Opinions" link on the Reports page. You must, however, have an account to access the report via CM/ECF or PACER.

 

Access to opinions from 1997 to present, that are PDF searchable, unrestricted & unsealed, are also available through the Government Printing Office using the Advanced Search for Government Publications. There is no login required and publications are available free of charge.


Court Opinions Database

The court's provides free access of some opinions, at the discretion of the judges, for the years 1998 to present. The results shown below are automatically displayed for all years, all judges, and all keywords/topics.

A search may be performed using the Search box above, or filtering by year, judge, and/or keyword/topic. To search for more than one judge and/or keywords/topics simultaneously, hold down the Ctrl key (or Command key) and select each item.

Keywords/Topic Date Title Description Judge
Abstention, Adversary, Chapter 11, Core Proceedings     01/20/2022     Jet Sales West LLC.     

Debtor filed an adversary proceeding, asserting two counts. Count one asked the Court to determine Debtor’s tax liability to the City of El Paso. Count two asked the Court to award money damages for alleged wrongful acts taken in connection with the assessment and collection of the disputed tax. The El Paso Central Appraisal District (“CAD”) moved to dismiss the adversary proceeding, or for the Court to abstain. The Court denied CAD’s motion to dismiss, holding Debtor preserved its right to challenge Texas’ jurisdiction to tax. However, the Court limited Debtor’s arguments at trial.

Judge David T. Thuma
Chapter 11, Proof of Claim     01/18/2022     S-Tek 1, LLC     

Debtor sought to strike an amended proof of claim filed after the claims bar date which substituted the named creditor. The Court denied the motion, determining that the claim was properly amended to substitute the name of the correct creditor and related back to the date of the filing of the original claim where 1) the original claim gave Debtor adequate notice of the existence, nature, and amount of  the claim, 2) except for the name of the creditor, the amended claim did not materially change the original claim, 3) the creditor filing the amended claim bore a substantial relationship to the original claimant inasmuch as both creditors where wholly owned by the same two individuals, and the same counsel represented both creditors and filed the proof of claim and the amended claim, 4) the mistaken identity of the claimant in the original claim should have been obvious to the Debtor for a variety of reasons; and 5) the amendment did not prejudice the Debtor or other creditors.

 

Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz
Adversary, Discharge, Fraudulent Transfers     01/07/2022     Ilene J. Lashinsky, United States Trustee vs. Felix Candelaria Jr. and Sarah Candelaria     

The United States Trustee filed a complaint seeking denial of Debtors discharge in their chapter 7 bankruptcy case. The complaint was based on alleged fraudulent vehicle transfers and numerous false oaths in Debtors’ bankruptcy schedules, at the Section 341 meeting, and in depositions. After a trial of the merits the Court concluded that Debtors’ discharge must be denied based on the allegations in the complaint, which the United States Trustee proved by a preponderance of the evidence, and on Debtors’ numerous false oaths at trial.

Judge David T. Thuma
Settlement, Statutory Construction     12/23/2021     S-Tek 1, LLC     

Recognizing a split in the case law, the Court held that under the Uniform Commercial Code a security interest does not attach to rights under an agreement settling a commercial tort claim or in the settlement funds unless the commercial tort claim that was settled, the settlement agreement, or the settlement funds are specifically described original collateral. A general security interest in commercial tort claims, general intangibles, payment intangibles, accounts and contract rights is insufficient. The Court also held that an after-acquired property clause in a security agreement was valid, despite some redundant language. Therefore, the security party has a security interest in the debtor’s after-acquired accounts receivable.

 

Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz
Abstention, Adversary, Chapter 11, Core Proceedings     12/22/2021     Jet Sales West, LLC v. City of El Paso, et al.     

Debtor filed an adversary proceeding, asserting two counts. Count one asked the Court to determine Debtor’s tax liability to the City of El Paso. Count two asked the Court to award money damages for alleged wrongful acts taken in connection with the assessment and collection of the disputed tax. The City moved to dismiss the adversary proceeding, or alternatively for the Court to abstain. The Court denied the City’s motion, reasoning Debtor had standing to bring the adversary proceeding, the City waived sovereign immunity, mandatory abstention did not apply because the tax dispute was a core proceeding, and the facts of the case weighed against permissive abstention.

 

Judge David T. Thuma
Chapter 11, Dismissal, Good Faith     12/15/2021     Jet Sales West, LLC     

The City of El Paso moved to dismiss Debtor’s bankruptcy case as having been filed in bad faith. The City alleged Debtor filed bankruptcy for the sole purpose of gaining a tactical advantage in a tax dispute. The Court denied the motion, reasoning Debtor filed bankruptcy to obtain the benefit of the automatic stay; to be able to pay any taxes it owes the City over time; and for the Court to determine its tax liability to the City. The Court did not rule on whether it could and/or should determine Debtor’s tax liability to the City.

 

Judge David T. Thuma
Summary Judgment     12/10/2021     S-Tek 1, LLC v. Surv-Tek, Inc. et al     

The Court granted in part and denied in part defendants/counter-plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment. As counter-plaintiffs, they sought partial summary judgment on claims for liability for breaches of loan documents, pending resolution of defenses at trial. The Court denied the partial summary judgment on liability, because liability cannot be determined where there are defenses to liability. As defendants, they also sought summary judgment denying the requested relief in six claims brought against them. The Court granted summary judgment on one count, denied it on two counts, and granted it in part and denied it in part on two counts; it was moot as to the sixth claim, which had been withdrawn.

 

Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz
Valuation     12/09/2021     S-Tek 1, LLC     

For purposes of plan confirmation, collateral a debtor will retain for its post-confirmation busines should be valued under § 506(a) as of or near the date of the confirmation hearing, although the Court left open the possibility of using a different date in unusual circumstances.

 

Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz
Chapter 11, Confirmation     12/09/2021     S-Tek 1, LLC     

A separately classified undersecured creditor making the § 1111(b) election to treat its entire claim as secured does not automatically forfeit its right to vote its secured claim. If its secured claim is impaired under the plan, such creditor making the § 1111(b) election may vote its impaired secured claim to accept or reject the debtor’s plan and only relinquishes its right to vote what would otherwise be its unsecured deficiency claim. 

Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz
Claim Objection     12/06/2021     Trucking & Contracting Services     

The Court sustained the debtor’s objection to creditor’s claim and disallowed the claim in its entirety. Creditor did not meet its burden of demonstrating by clear and convincing evidence (or even by a preponderance of the evidence) that a scrivener’s error in a guaranty agreement identifying a non-debtor entity in the signature block was the result of the parties’ mutual mistake sufficient to warrant reformation of the agreement under New Mexico law.

 

Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz

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