The summaries on this website are summaries of the opinions issued by the judges of the Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia from October 2004 to date. The opinions may be searched by year, judge, category and chapter. For a more detailed search, enter a keyword in the search box above. This opinion bank, however, is not an exhaustive list of opinions issued by the judges of the Western District. These summaries are not intended to replace other research methods, but may be used as a starting point for your research. These summaries do not contain information as to whether an opinion has been published, appealed or the disposition of any such appeal, or otherwise overruled or affected by subsequent case law or statute. These summaries have been prepared for the convenience of the researcher and in no way constitute an interpretation by the Court of the opinion summarized. Please rely on the opinion not the summary. Please contact Judge Connelly's chambers or Judge Black's chambers regarding any questions or errors.
The Court exercised its discretion in abstaining from and remanding a state law cause of action to the state court where the action was pending at the time of the bankruptcy filing and lifted the automatic stay to allow the plaintiff to continue prosecuting the suit against the Debtor.
On the Debtors' motion to reopen their Chapter 7 case and rescind a reaffirmation agreement, the Court determined that the agreement, which was never filed with the Clerk of Court, was void and of no effect.
Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(1)(B)(iv), and Standing Order #6 entered by this Court on October 14, 2005, the debtors are required to file with the trustee “copies of all payment advices or other evidence of payment received within 60 days before the date of the filing of the petition, by the debtor from any employer of the debtor.” Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 521(i), if the debtors fail to file the payment advices within 45 days of the date of the filing of the petition, “the case shall be automatically dismissed effective on the 46th day after the date of the filing of the petition.” The trustee moved for administrative/automatic dismissal pursuant to Section 521(i). The Court denied the trustee's motion, finding that the debtors timely filed "copies of all payment advices or other evidence of payment received within 60 days before the date of the filing of the petition" with the trustee. The Court held that the pay stubs previously submitted to the trustee, along with the year-to-date totals found on these pay stubs, constitute "other evidence of payment" sufficient to satisfy the requirements of 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(1)(B)(iv).
Debtors filed a motion to redeem a vehicle. Creditor argued that the replacement value is $8,400. Debtors submitted a "Vehicle Condition Report," which values the vehicle at $6,300. The Court held that the "Vehicle Condition Report" submitted by the debtors does not represent the "price a retail merchant would charge for" the vehicle, and therefore does not represent an accurate "replacement value." The Court valued the vehicle at $8,325, the amount on N.A.D.A., adjusted for mileage and condition.
The only remedy provided to creditors under 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(6) when a debtor fails to redeem the collateral or reaffirm the debt within 45 days of the date first set for the meeting of creditors is that the stay is terminated. The amount to be used when determining the "replacement value" is the amount of money a lender is willing to lend to the debtors if given a security interest in the collateral, not the amount of money it would cost the debtors to replace the collateral. The N.A.D.A. value, adjusted for mileage and condition, represents the amount that a merchant would charge for the vehicle.
The Court declined to dismiss the Chapter 7 Debtors' case under section 707(b) for substantial abuse, despite the fact that the Debtors had monthly disposable income, after anayzing the factors outlined in Green v. Staples (In re Green), 934 F.2d 568 (4th Cir. 1991).
The Chapter 13 Trustee objected to a proof of claim as untimely filed because the creditor filed a proof of claim nearly five months after the deadline had passed. The Court found that although the creditor was not included in the creditor mailing matrix, the creditor had actual knowledge of the Debtors' bankruptcy approximately a month before the claims filing period expired. Therefore, the Court sustained the Trustee's objection, and disallowed the claim in its entirety.
The Court held that only the right to receive future accruing rents passed to the grantees of real estate deeds and, because the grantees undertook to pay daily rent until consummating the purchase, the Trustee could recover unpaid rents for the entire pre-transaction period as well as prejudgment interest and and taxable costs incurred.
The court granted the Debtors' motion to impose the automatic stay in their third pending case within one year, because no creditor objected, the male Debtor secured regular employment, and the dental conditions that contributed to the second dismissal had been resolved.
The matter before the Court is the Chapter 7 Trustee's application for compensation and reimbursement of expenses. The Court analyzed whether the fees were reasonable under 11 U.S.C. § 330, and partially disallowed the compensation sought as excessive.