The bankruptcy court granted the U.S. Trustee’s motion to appoint a Chapter 11 trustee for cause in this case. The court gave preclusive effect to a pre-petition state district court order finding the debtor had repeatedly breached fiduciary duties owed to his partners in a family trust.

The bankruptcy court approved a settlement between the debtors and their lender to resolve the lender’s objection to the debtors’ Chapter 12 plan. It also settles the lender’s motion for relief from stay in which it seeks to recover and foreclose its liens against collateral still owned by the debtors. Under the settlement, the parties stipulated the total amount owed to the bank, which includes unpaid principal, accrued interest, and attorneys’ fees and costs.

The debtor in this case formerly owned an assisted living facility in Missouri. The State closed the facility due to structural issues, and the building sustained damage on a number of occasions while vacant. The debtor subsequently was authorized by the bankruptcy court to sell the property. The building’s insurer filed this adversary proceeding seeking to interplead the amount of the insurance proceeds for the initial damage claim.

The court granted judgment on the pleadings in the debtor’s favor in this adversary proceeding by the debtor’s former wife seeking to except a property settlement debt from discharge under 11 U.S.C. §§ 523(a)(4) and (15).

After a trial, the bankruptcy court entered judgment against the debtor for knowingly making multiple false representations of material fact on which the plaintiffs relied, and the court excepted the judgment from discharge under §523(a)(2)(B) because the debtor made the representations with an intent to deceive.

The court denied without prejudice a motion to compel production of documents, finding that the documents requested were covered by the attorney-client and work product privileges. This lawsuit is a contract dispute about insurance coverage. The defendant wants to see emails sent between non-attorney employees of the plaintiff concerning coverage for the loss at issue, but those emails are privileged because they discuss the advice and opinions of legal counsel.

After a trial on the debtor’s objection to the claim filed by her ex-husband, the court ruled the debtor should receive credit for alimony and property settlement payments made directly to the creditor.

On the Chapter 13 trustee’s objection to exemptions – particularly to the debtor’s use of the Schedule C check box for “100% of fair market value, up to any applicable statutory limit” – the court ruled:

The court denied a creditor’s motion to extend the deadline to file a complaint objecting to the debtors’ discharge or to determine the dischargeability of debts. The court declined to equitably toll the deadline because the creditor’s counsel did not act diligently to preserve the creditor’s rights, instead waiting until the afternoon of the last day to contact debtors’ counsel about extending the deadline, then encountering technical difficulties in attempting to file the agreed-upon motion.

The debtor and his parents filed separate adversary complaints seeking to subordinate or disallow the claims of a creditor and to rescind or reform deeds of trust in which that creditor is beneficiary. After a trial on the complaints, the court ruled that because the deeds of trust from the debtor’s parents contain a cross-collateralization clause not within the intent of the parties, the plaintiffs’ claims for reformation are partially granted to remove the clause.