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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 Richard D. Taylor

Law of the case is a discretionary doctrine, the primary purpose of which is to prevent relitigation of settled issues in a case. Value of the non-exempt portion of indivisible homestead property that exceeds area allowed by Arkansas Constitution to be determined based on value of the land in its unimproved state and then determining value per square foot of the non-exempt portion.

The Court found that the trustee could avoid a series of monthly payments made by the debtor to a charitable remainder trust and its immediate or mediate transferee on the basis of constructive fraud pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 548 and Ark. Code Ann. § 4-59-204(a).

Late filed objection to confirmation of plan not timely, even though it was filed prior to confirmation. General Order Number 20 establishes 10 days after the conclusion of first meeting of creditors to file objections.

The debtor's objection to the unsecured claim of the bank is overruled. The bank's purchase of the property at the foreclosure sale did not benefit the debtor anymore than if a third party had purchased the property. consequently, the debtor does not receive any further relief from debt when the bank later sells the property to a third party for a greater amount.

The trustee's and creditor's objections to debtor's claim of exemptions were sustained because debtor did not impress homestead character or maintain actual occupancy on the remaining homestead property sufficient to allow debtor to claim a right to homestead exemption.

Motion to add joint debtor by amending his voluntary petition is denied for the following reasons: (1) to avoid prejudice to creditors and (2) because there was no clear authority permitting such an amendment.

Audrey R. Evans

Dismissal for cause under Sec. 707(a) warranted in light of sheer number of bankruptcy filings (10 prior filings), the bases for their dismissal, the minimal time gap between dismissal and refiling in a number of Debtors' previous petitions, Debtors' patently false statements on their current petition, and overall abuse of the bankruptcy process. Debtors barred from refiling under any chapter of the Bankruptcy Code for 8 years. Not selected for publication.

Motion for new trial denied. Creditor's objection to confirmation overruled as untimely under General Order 20, (establishing 10 day deadline from 341(a) meeting to file objections), even though objection was filed prior to confirmation. Not selected for publication.

To redeem collateral, a debtor has to pay the lesser of the collateral's value or the amount of total debt. For purposes of chapter 7 redemption, wholesale value is used as starting point for collateral's value. In this case, loan amounts (including credit card debt) were aggregated due to cross-collateralization language in car notes, but because the total debt exceeded the collateral's stipulated wholesale value, Debtor only had to pay wholesale value of vehicles to redeem them. Remainder of debt is unsecured.Not selected for publication.

Despite a letter from Clerk of Court informing him that it was impermissible to file pleadings on behalf of another attorney, Debtors' attorney continued to do so. Accordingly, he is ordered to show cause regarding his multiple failures to abide by the Administrative Procedures for Electronically Filed Cases and Related Documents, as adopted by General Order 19. Not selected for publication.

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