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Dudley v. Southern VA Univ. (In re Dudley) (Case No. 10-50840; A.P. No. 11-05040) 7/23/2013

Debtor filed motion for contempt against Southern Virginia University (“SVU”) for continuing collection action after the issuance of the bankruptcy discharge order.  SVU asserted that the debt was a qualified educational loan that was non-dischargeable under section 523(a)(8).  Debtor then filed complaint alleging that a default judgment on a debt allegedly owed by debtor to SVU was void as debtor did not receive actual notice of the judgment proceedings and that even if judgment was not void, the debt had been discharged.  Based on Massachusetts law, defendant failed to show that it was entitled to enforce the note.  The Court held that without such a showing, it could not conclude that the debt underlying the state court default judgment was the same debt as evidenced by the note.  Therefore, as creditor failed to meet its burden, the Court found that the debt was a dischargeable debt that was discharged by the discharge order.

Date: 
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Category: 
Burden of Proof
Default Judgment
Discharge
Dischargeability
Jurisdiction
Student Loan
Chapter: 
7