Opinions
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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.
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Keywords/Topic | Date | Title | Description | Judge | |
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Subchapter V | 01/03/2025 | Rosa Linda Guzmam Ghaffari |
11 U.S.C. § 1187 and 11 U.S.C. § 308 require an individual subchapter V debtor to disclose social security income in monthly operating reports, together with supporting bank account statements, notwithstanding the exempt nature of social security income pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 407.
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Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz | |
Abstention, Chapter 13, Remand | 12/12/2024 | FC Marketplace, LLC v. Autodoc, LLC and Brian Patrick Booth |
The Court remanded this removed adversary proceeding to state court under the permissive abstention and equitable remand statutes: 28 U.S.C. § 1334(c)(1) and 28 U.S.C. § 1452(b). Plaintiff asserted state law claims against the debtor and his limited liability company (“LLC”) based on the LLC’s alleged breach of a business loan agreement and based on the debtor’s alleged breach of his personal guaranty of the LLC’s indebtedness to Plaintiff. Although mandatory abstention under 28 U.S.C. § 1334(c)(2) may apply to Plaintiff’s non-core claim against the LLC, the Court determined that equitable factors used to determine permissive abstention and equitable remand weighed in favor of remand. The Court noted that upon remand the automatic stay will continue to apply to the claim against the debtor unless and until the stay is modified with respect to the claim.
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Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz | |
Judicial Liens - Avoidance | 12/06/2024 | Patrocinio and Teresa Dominguez |
The Court granted debtor’s motion for summary judgment avoiding creditor’s judicial lien. Debtor’s affidavit opinion of value established the value of the property on the petition date as a fact not subject to genuine dispute where creditor did not file a response in opposition to the motion for summary judgment offering other valuation evidence. Application of § 522(f)’s formula to the facts not subject to genuine dispute resulted in total avoidance of the creditor’s judicial lien.
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Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz | |
Adversary Proceedings - Procedural Matters, Chapter 11, Dismissal, Venue | 12/03/2024 | Lashinsky v. Lincoln |
The Court denied Defendant’s request that the Court dismiss this adversary proceeding, brought by the United States Trustee (“UST”), due to improper venue. Defendant argued that the UST’s claims must be brought in the district in which he resides because her claims seek monetary relief in amounts below the limits in 28 U.S.C. § 1409(b), which governs venue for claims or proceedings brought by “a trustee in a case.” The Court concluded that “a trustee in a case” refers generally to a person who is appointed or selected to serve as trustee in a particular case under sections 701, 702, 703, 1104, 1163, 1183, 1202, or 1302, and that, while a United States trustee may serve in a dual capacity as a United States trustee and a trustee in a case under certain circumstances, the United States trustee does not act as a “trustee in a case” unless appointed or selected to do so in a specific case. Because the UST has not been appointed or selected to serve as a “trustee in a case” in Debtor’s bankruptcy, she was not serving in the capacity of a “trustee in a case” when she commenced this adversary proceeding. Hence, § 1409(b) does not limit venue to the district where Defendant resides. Rather, § 1409(a) permits the UST to bring this adversary proceeding in the District of New Mexico, the “home court.”
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Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz | |
Equitable Remedies, Exemptions, Fraud, Judicial Liens - Avoidance, Nondischargeability | 12/02/2024 | Albirio D. Mirabal and Teri L. Mirabal |
Debtors moved to avoid judicial liens as impairing homestead exemption under 522(f). Creditors argued the liens should not be avoided due to alleged fraudulent conduct in underlying judgments. The Court ruled consistent with Law v. Siegel that it lacks legal and equitable power to deny Debtors’ 522(f) lien avoidance based on Debtors’ alleged fraud in creating underlying claims.
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Judge David T. Thuma | |
Adversary, Standing, Summary Judgment | 10/11/2024 | Pidcock v. McCune, et al |
The Court denied Defendant Chuck McCune’s motion for summary judgment, in which he asserted, among other things, that Plaintiff Robert Pidcock, as personal representative of the estate of Thomas W. Kuehn, lacked standing in the adversary proceeding. After determining that Mr. Pidcock had constitutional and statutory standing, the Court addressed prudential standing. The Court explained that to have prudential standing before the bankruptcy court a plaintiff must assert a right to relief of its own, not a third party’s right to relief. However, Congress may expressly grant a right of action to persons who otherwise would be barred by prudential standing limitations. In this case, the Court determined that Mr. Pidcock has prudential standing because § 523 expressly grants a right of action to creditors (such as Mr. Pidcock) to object to the dischargeability of debts. In addition, the Court held that Mr. Pidcock has prudential standing because, as the personal representative of the Kuehn Estate, he is asserting his own rights on behalf of the Kuehn Estate, not the rights of a third party. Finally, the Court held that Mr. McCune’s summary judgment motion was untimely and, even if it had been timely, it would have been denied.
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Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz | |
Judicial Liens - Avoidance | 09/30/2024 | Kimberly Gonzales |
Debtor sought to avoid creditor’s judicial liens under § 522(f) as impairing her homestead exemption. In determining the value of the Debtor’s property, the court was not bound by either the Debtor’s or the creditor’s appraisal and formed its own opinion of value based on the evidence. In applying the statutory lien avoidance formula, Debtor was entitled to avoid the creditor’s lien in its entirety.
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Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz | |
Automatic Stay, Reconsideration, Rooker-Feldman | 09/20/2024 | Leland Glen Shook and Corey Levelle Shook |
Creditor moved for reconsideration of an order ruling that creditor had violated the automatic stay by pursuing state court litigation postpetition. Creditor’s primary argument in support of reconsideration was the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. The court held that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine did not bar a bankruptcy court from determining whether post-petition pursuit of a state court action violated the stay, even if the state court ruled that the stay did not prevent pursuit of the litigation.
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Judge David T. Thuma | |
Chapter 13, Dismissal | 09/16/2024 | Richard Jaramillo |
The court determined that debtor was ineligible to be a debtor in bankruptcy pursuant to § 109(g)(1). The debtor’s prior bankruptcy case was pending within 180 days of the current bankruptcy case, and it was dismissed due to debtor’s “willful failure to appear before the court in proper prosecution of the case.” Specifically, the court ruled that debtor’s intentional failure to appear at two hearings—on the motion to dismiss the prior case and debtor’s motion to reconsider the dismissal—constituted willful failure to appear before the court for purposes of § 109(g)(1). On such basis, the court dismissed the current bankruptcy case.
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Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz | |
Adversary Proceedings - Procedural Matters, Jurisdiction | 08/30/2024 | HRV Santa Fe, LLC v. Jay Wolf et al |
Defendant removed state court action and filed motion to change venue to the district of Delaware. Plaintiff opposed the motion. The Court held that Defendants had not carried their burden of proving that venue transfer was either in the interest of justice or for the convenience of the parties, as required under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1412.
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Judge David T. Thuma |