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Opinions

United States Courts Opinions

United States Courts Opinions (USCOURTS) collection is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) to provide public access to opinions from selected United States appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts.

The District of Nebraska offers a database of opinions for the years 1997 to current, listed by year and judge. For a more detailed search, enter the keyword or case number in the search box above.

Summary judgment was granted to creditors whose claims were based on a stock sale agreement and promissory notes from the debtor. Res judicata prevented the debtor from changing his position on liability based on the outcome of the creditors' dispute with a co-debtor on similar claims.

In this action brought by the Chapter 7 trustee to avoid and recover a pre-petition transfer of funds from the debtors to their residential landlord as a preference, the court denied the trustee's motion for summary judgment. While the landlord's § 365(p) argument regarding the assumption of a personal property lease was inapplicable here, the affirmative defenses in the preference statute were viable. The debtors' pre-payment of a month's rent could be considered an substantially contemporaneous exchange for new value, while the lump-sum payment of a six-month arrearage requires a factual inquiry into whether that was part of the parties' ordinary course of business dealings or financial affairs.

The claim of the debtor's former wife should be allowed as a general unsecured claim rather than as a domestic support obligation. The claim was based on the parties' property settlement agreement, under which the debtor was to make a lump-sum payment to his former wife within five years after entry of the decree of dissolution. Nothing about the debt indicated it was "in the nature of support," so it was not entitled to priority or excepted from discharge.

The court denied the debtor's motion to reopen her bankruptcy case for purposes of determining the dischargeability of judgment debt for violations of state deceptive trade practices and consumer protection laws. Bankruptcy Code § 350(b) calls for reopening a case to administer assets or accord relief to the debtor. While resolution of the dischargeability  issue may provide some relief to the debtor, it would not affect the bankruptcy estate or its creditors, which weighs against reopening the case. In addition, the state court that rendered the judgment has concurrent jurisdiction to determine whether the debt is dischargeable under § 523(a)(7) as a fine, penalty or forfeiture.

The debtor is the beneficiary of a living trust. The Chapter 7 trustee claimed the debtor's interest in the trust as an asset of the bankruptcy estate. Construing the trust agreement in its entirety, the court overruled the trustee's motion, finding that the trust is subject to an enforceable spendthrift provision and is excluded from property of the bankruptcy estate pursuant to § 541(c)(2).

The court overruled the debtor's objection to the lender's claims on two grounds: (1) judicial estoppel does not bar a creditor from amending its claim to correct the calculation of the balance due on the petition date, and (2) long-standing legal authority allows a creditor to assert a claim for the full amount of the debt owed, without deducting amounts recovered from third parties. "The confirmed plan is not a recovery or payment in full. Instead, it is a promise to pay. The foregoing authorities are clear that until such time as ANB has received payment in full, it is entitled to assert the balance due against all responsible parties."

The court overruled the debtor's objection to the lender's claims on two grounds: (1) judicial estoppel does not bar a creditor from amending its claim to correct the calculation of the balance due on the petition date, and (2) long-standing legal authority allows a creditor to assert a claim for the full amount of the debt owed, without deducting amounts recovered from third parties. "The confirmed plan is not a recovery or payment in full. Instead, it is a promise to pay. The foregoing authorities are clear that until such time as ANB has received payment in full, it is entitled to assert the balance due against all responsible parties."

The court denied the debtor's uncontested motion to avoid a non-possessory, non-purchase-money security interest in the vehicle she uses to commute to work. Following the holding of In re Cardwell, Case No. BK13-40623 (Sept. 12, 2013), the court ruled that simply using a vehicle for commuting is not sufficient to define it as a tool of the trade under federal law, and federal law determines the availability of lien avoidance.

The court granted summary judgment to a creditor who brought a non-dischargeability action based on a state court judgment against the debtor under the Nebraska False Medicaid Claims Act. The debtor, a mental health practitioner, was found to have filed claims for reimbursement from the Medicaid program for which she had no supporting documentation. She was also found to have made fraudulent representations in connection with those claims. The state court verdicts and judgment, including an award of treble damages, established the elements of § 523(a)(2)(A) and collaterally estopped the debtor from challenging the creditor's allegations in this proceeding.

After remand from the Eighth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, Judge Shon Hastings, sitting by designation, considered the following question: Whether the $1,190,000 received by the trustee of the Tri-State Financial bankruptcy estate from the Tri-State Ethanol bankruptcy estate is property of the Tri-State Financial bankruptcy estate, and if so, who is entitled to the funds. The court ruled the funds became property of the Tri-State Financial estate and were not subject to the claim of equitable ownership by a group of investors who had contributed post-petition funding to Tri-State Ethanol through Tri-State Financial. As property of the bankruptcy estate, the funds were subject to another creditor's perfected security interest, which was superior to the trustee's claim to the funds on behalf of unsecured creditors.

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