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 dismissed an adversary proceeding concerning equitable subordination of a claim under 11 U.S.C. § 510(c) because the parent case will be dismissed and the plaintiff will obtain no relief even if it prevails to the fullest extent of its prayer for relief.
The Court confirmed the debtors' Chapter 13 plans because (1) at least in cases in which no contrary position is asserted by some party in interest, 11 U.S.C. § 1325 (a)(5)(B)(iii) does not preclude the continuation of adequate protection payments post-confirmation until all administrative expenses have been paid in full, (2) interest begins to accrue on the secured loan balance on the date of confirmation, and (3) based on 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(5)(B)(i)(I) and (II), non-bankruptcy law (rather than plan provisions) controls how post-confirmation payments are applied to secured loan balances.
The Court denied the United States Trustee’s complaint seeking to revoke debtors’ discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 727(d)(1) because (1) the party (an anonymous creditor) requesting the revocation of such discharge was clearly aware of the facts that gave rise to the alleged fraud before the discharge was granted and (2) the United States Trustee failed to prove all of the elements of fraud because debtors did not intend to deceive by not including certain income on their schedules.
In a discovery dispute involving an involuntary Chapter 7 petition, the Court limited the petitioning creditor's discovery from the alleged debtor's retirement plan administrator.
The court granted the U.S. Trustee's motion to dismiss under 11 U.S.C. § 707(b) for substantial abuse, because the Debtor filed inconsistent schedules and could fund a 38% distribution to unsecured creditors in a Chapter 13 plan after factoring out excessive and unreasonable expenses from the Debtor's budget.
The court dismissed its own show cause order regarding the credit counseling requirement, because the Debtor had received credit counseling slightly more than 180 days before filing and again shortly after the show cause order was issued.
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.
The Court denied a motion for default judgment on the dischargeability of claims without prejuidice until the underlying dispute was resolved in the Circuit Court.
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).
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.