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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collateral Estoppel, Dischargeability, Res Judicata, Summary Judgment | 06/12/2014 | Charles B. Duff et al v. Richard Ayala et al |
Plaintiff moved for summary judgment in its Sec. 523(a)(6) action, based on a prior state court judgment. The Court held that claim preclusion did not apply, but that issue preclusion did apply. The Court then compared the elements of a 523(a)(6) action with the findings of the state court, and determined that issue preclusion left some key facts undetermined. The Court denied summary judgment but limited the facts to be litigated at trial to those that were not determined by the prior state court judgment. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Discharge | 06/12/2014 | Kirtland Federal Credit Union v. Mesibov |
Creditor brought 727(a)(4) action, claiming that debtor made false statements about her income. After trial the court ruled that the statements were more in the nature of honest mistakes rather than intentionally false, and would not have changed the result of the Means Test. Judgment for Debtor. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Avoidance Actions, Res Judicata | 05/29/2014 | Edward Alexander Mazel v. Barry A. Hopkins et al |
On plaintiff's motion, the court struck two of defendant's affirmative defenses on res judicata and relevance grounds. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Chapter 13, Valuation | 05/23/2014 | Ruben Authur Lucero |
Court heard testimony of the debtor and an appraiser and made findings about the value of a residential lot in rural New Mexico. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Collateral Estoppel, Dischargeability, Nondischargeability, Summary Judgment | 05/06/2014 | Benjamin Bates v. Raymond Siggins et al |
Plaintiff sued debtor alleging that a debt was nondischargeable due to fraud. Debtor moved for summary judgment, arguing that a limitation of remedies in the subject contract precluded entry of a nondischargeable money judgment. The court denied the motion, holding, inter alia, that state court judgment entered pre-petition foreclosed such an argument under Rooker-Feldman and related doctrines. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Classification of Claims, Punitive Damages, Unfair Discrimination | 04/23/2014 | Joe Michael Hyatt |
At disclosure statement stage, Court determined that the Debtor’s proposed separate classification of an unsecured claim based on a guaranty secured by non-debtor, third-party collateral was proper. Debtor also proposed to separately classify the punitive damages portion of a creditor’s unsecured claim resulting in the subordination of the claim to other general unsecured creditors. The Debtor could not rely on § 510(c) to equitably subordinate the punitive damages claim, but could attempt to achieve subordination through separate classification and treatment, subject to the requirements for separate classification under § 1122 and subject to the prohibition against unfair discrimination found in § 1129(b)(1). This requires further evidence to be presented at confirmation. |
Chief Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz | |
| Discharge, Dismissal, Reconsideration | 04/21/2014 | Hari Simran Kaur Khalsa |
Debtor sought to reopen her bankruptcy case, closed ten years before, so she could amend her schedules to delete all creditors. The Court determined that such a course of action was impermissible for a number of reasons, and further that it likely would not benefit the debtor in the way she intended. The motion was denied. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Chapter 11, Dismissal, Dismissal or Conversion, Good Faith | 04/11/2014 | Melanie Milasinovich |
U.S. Trustee filed motion to dismiss debtor's Chapter 11 case for cause. Based on the record and docket, the Court found that there was cause to dismiss the case with prejudice to refiling for 180 days. The cause included the inability to effectuate a plan, improper purpose for filing, and bad faith. The dismissal with prejudice was based upon debtor's willful failure to attend hearings and prosecute the case. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Automatic Stay, Relief from Stay | 04/04/2014 | Sunland, Inc. |
Business injury claimant moved for relief from stay to pursue pending jury trial action against the debtor in federal court; Although the movant was willing to limit its recovery to the insurance proceeds, it appeared that there was not enough insurance to pay all claims. This fact, coupled with the prospect that the trustee could monetize the insurance proceeds and distribute them pro rata to allowed claimants, prompted the court to deny stay relief. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Dismissal, Dismissal or Conversion, Good Faith | 04/04/2014 | Scott Walter Snyder |
Single creditor of Debtor with relatively high income sought dismissal or conversion of Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. The Debtor alleged that he filed the case in good faith because, despite his high income, he could not both repay this single creditor and save for retirement. The court held that bad faith is an appropriate basis to dismiss a case, but found that it was inappropriate to dismiss this case based on a 16 factor analysis of good faith. |
Judge David T. Thuma |