Debtor argued that a debt to a housing cooperative, where she was a member, was unsecured and therefore discharged by the Court’s discharge order.  The Court concluded when the Occupancy Agreement, Articles, By-Laws, and Certificate are read together, the documents created a security interest in the Debtor’s membership.  The security interest “rode through” the bankruptcy case and survived discharge.

Creditor sought to declare debt owed to it nondischargeable, or alternatively to deny Debtor’s discharge on multiple counts.  The Court denied debtor’s discharge under §§ 727(a)(2) and (a)(4) for concealing and omitting assets.

The Court granted the Chapter 7 Trustee’s motion to sell the estate’s interest in a condominium under § 363(b).  The estate’s purported interest in the condominium was only a life estate interest.  The purchaser, the estate’s largest unsecured creditor, agreed to withdraw its claim in addition to paying $12,000 cash to purchase the estate’s interest in the Condo, without warranty.  The Trustee had sound business reasons for the sale, gave adequate and reasonable notice of the sale, and obtained a fair and reasonable price, and the buyer acted in good faith.  The cash purchase price, combined with the withdrawal of the creditor’s claim, approximated the fair market value of a life estate interest in the condominium, and provided a meaningful distribution to unsecured creditors. 

Law firm’s simultaneous representation of the debtor and a related debtor entity was a disqualifying actual conflict of interest that could not be cured by hiring independent “conflicts counsel.”   The related debtor entities had too many adverse interests central to their respective organization efforts for conflicts counsel to ameliorate the risk that the law form would be unable to give each debtor its undivided loyalty and provide to each debtor untainted advice and assistance.