After trial, the court granted the debtor's request to discharge her student loans. She has a stable job, although not in her field of study, but has been unable to find a better-paying job in the Lincoln area and is unlikely to earn significantly more in the future. Her monthly expenses are modest and reasonable. The stress of financial problems, including repayment of these student loans, has had an impact on the debtor's emotional health and caused difficulties in her personal relationships.

The debtors had previously filed a lender liability lawsuit in Rhode Island. Upon filing bankruptcy in Nebraska, the debtors filed an adversary proceeding containing the same allegations.

The court granted summary judgment to the debtors, ordering that a wholly unsecured junior lien on the debtors' residential real estate may be avoided after the debtors complete Chapter 13 plan payments.

The debtors moved to avoid a judicial lien which impaired their homestead exemption. Under the § 522(f)(2) formula, only a portion of the judicial lien actually impaired the exemption and was subject to avoidance. Two other judicial liens on the property had already been avoided, so those liens were not part of the statutory calculation. The debtors were directed to file an amended post-confirmation plan to clarify how they would deal with the secured claim represented by the unavoided portion of the judicial lien.

In a priority dispute between the man who sold cattle to the debtor but didn't receive payment for them and the lender and  feedlot that financed and fed the cattle for the debtor, the court granted summary judgment to the lender and the feedlot. The seller sent a valid bill of sale with the cattle, which transferred title to the debtor. The seller relied on the debtor's word and took no steps to protect himself against the risk of non-payment. Title did not revest in the seller when the debtor failed to pay.

The bankruptcy court remanded a state-court lawsuit filed by debtors concerning the basis for the creditors' claim. The issues raised, including state-law causes of action and arguments regarding preclusion, are not unique to bankruptcy and can be decided in state court.

An unsecured junior lien on the debtors' residential real estate may be avoided after the debtors complete Chapter 13 plan payments. The case law in the Eighth Circuit permits wholly unsecured liens to be stripped off.

In a case to determine the extent, validity, and priority of certain judgment liens against the debtors' residential real estate, the judgments had either been satisfied or the liens had ceased to exist because the judgments were dormant, so summary judgment was granted in favor of the debtors.

After a trial on the dischargeability of the debtor's student loan indebtedness, the court ruled that the debt was excepted from discharge. The evidence indicated the debtor's income is likely to increase in the foreseeable future, as a result of higher salaries as well as a reduction in expenses.

An unsecured junior lien on the debtors' residential real estate may be avoided after the debtors complete Chapter 13 plan payments. The case law in the Eighth Circuit permits wholly unsecured liens to be stripped off.