The debtor filed a complaint seeking the return of $7100 the Department of Treasury withheld from the debtor's tax refund in partial satisfaction of a debt the debtor owed to the Department of Education. The debtor's theory was that the offset was a preferential transfer under s. 547 because it occurred within 90 days of the filing or, alternatively, an impermissible setoff under s. 553(b) because the DOE improved its position. The court found that the setoff did not improve the position of the DOE and that the setoff was permissible under s. 553. Because the setoff was permissible, s. 547 was not applicable.
You are here
Opinions
Notice: Not all of the Judges Opinions will be made available on this site. Individual Judges have the option of specifying that all, some or none of their opinions be posted.
Judge Ben T. Barry
In this case, the court found that the IRS proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the debtor was aware of her duty to pay taxes for the tax years 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, that she had the resources to pay the taxes, and that she took steps to avoid paying the taxes. As a result, the court found that the debtor willfully attempted to evade or defeat her taxes and held that the taxes were nondischargeable under § 523(a)(1)(C).
The court dismissed this case and another case because the debtors failed to file a motion to extend time to file schedules within 45 days from the date of the petition. The court had no discretion under section 521(i) but to deny the late-filed motion to extend and dismiss the case.
Wells Fargo filed a proof of claim with an attached note and mortgage that did not include an indorsement memorializing an alleged transfer of the note and mortgage. When another copy of the note and mortgage was provided to the debtor with an additional indorsement, the debtor brought this AP arguing that Wells Fargo did not own the note and alleging fraud on the court. The court denied the complaint.
The court granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment after finding that the plaintiff’s statement of undisputed facts were deemed true and admitted for the purpose of the summary judgment motion. The facts established the elements of defalcation in a fiduciary relationship relating to the PACA trust.
The court denied Bank of America’s [BOA] motion to enjoin the PACA creditors from proceeding against BOA in New York to pursue proceeds and payments received by BOA to the extent the funds received by BOA were found to be PACA trust assets.
The court denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss the complaints filed by the PACA creditors for the disgorgement of funds paid to the defendants in an amount sufficient to pay the remainder of the PACA creditors’ claims in full.
The court overruled the creditor’s objection to confirmation of the debtor’s plan for the debtor’s failure to file an insurance claim for pre-petition damage to the debtor’s vehicle. The debtor stated an approximate value of the damaged vehicle in her petition but the creditor argued that it was not adequately protected because the debtor refused to file a claim for the damage with her insurance company.
Based upon the court's findings that (1) the debtor could not effectuate a confirmable plan of reorganization and (2) the debtor's estate had incurred substantial and continuing losses and was not reasonably likely to be rehabilitated, the court converted the chapter 11 case filed by a bank holding company to a case under chapter 7 pursuant to § 1112(b) upon the motions of three of the debtor's creditors.
The debtors’ amended their confirmed plan to require the creditor to release its lien on a vehicle upon completion of the debtors’ payments under the plan, even though the debtors were not paying the contract rate of interest under their plan. At issue was a third party’s ownership interest in the subject vehicle. The court found that because the third party had also given a security interest in the vehicle to the creditor, the debtors could not provide for the release of the creditor’s lien in their amended plan unless the underlying debt as determined by non-bankruptcy law was paid.