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.
Debtor sanctioned under Rule 9011 for violating Court order requiring particular objection to claim. Evidence of bad faith where debtor filed numerous Chapter 13 petitions for the purpose of taking advantage of automatic stay without intentions of confirming or completing a plan.
The Court determined that the relatively high income debtors' Chapter 7 case did not constitute substantial abuse, because the debtors did not have to include overtime pay in their schedules for disposable income calculation and "free wheel" spending does not include incurring secured debt.
The Court granted the debtor's motion to avoid lien and for turnover of garnished wages because the debtor is entitled to avoid the lien of writ of fieri facias pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 522(f) because it impaired an exemption to which the debtor would otherwise be entitled. Virginia’s homestead exemption can “trump” the lien from the writ of fieri facias because before the Court orders the garnishee to make payment to the judgment creditor or the garnishee pays the withheld funds to the Court, the debtor still maintains an interest in the garnished wages withheld by the garnishee. Accordingly, the Court ordered that the garnished wages be returned to the debtor as property exempted from the bankruptcy estate under the homestead exemption pursuant to Va. Code Ann. § 34-4.
The Court denied the U.S. Trustee's Motion to Convert the Chapter 11 case to one under Chapter 7 before the debtor had a reasonable opportunity to proceed.
The court denied the competing motions for summary judgment and ordered an evidentiary hearing on the issue of whether documents executed by the Debtor created an equitable assignment of exempt property to pay a discharged debt.
The Court denied the Chapter 13 Trustee's oral motion to dismiss under 11 U.S.C. § 109(g)(2) because the serious nature and consequences of such a motion warrant a written motion being filed and noticed for hearing.
The Court held that notice of foreclosure that was sent pursuant to a consent decree but to the wrong address, was defective so the foreclosure violated the automatic stay.
The Court granted a creditor's motion to extend the time to file a complaint objecting to the dischargeability of its debt.
Automatic stay does not apply to the collection of any support from property that is not property of the estate. Property of the estate for Chapter 13 purposes includes post-petition earnings of the debtor only to the extent paid to Trustee or directly to creditors, as provided for in the plan or confirmation order. 11 U.S.C. section 1327(b) (excluding remaining earnings from estate). Vacated order quashing support garnishment not provided for in Chapter 13 plan.
Court held that it had "related to" jurisdiction to consider the nature and extent of lien at issue. As creditor did not consent, Court held that Bankruptcy Code did not accord it any power to invalidate a voluntary pre-bankruptcy grant of a security interest by the debtor to secure a purchase money loan. Court declined to enter default order requiring creditor to release its lien rights in property which debtor sought to hold as exempt. Creditor entrusted the lien documentation to the debtor who was to note security interest on the certificate of title with the DMV, but the debtor did not fulfuill this responsibility until after petition was filed.