The court granted summary judgment to the Chapter 7 trustee on the trustee’s complaint to recover a preferential payment to an unsecured creditor. The defendant did not file a resistance to the motion.

The court granted the plaintiff’s motion to dismiss an amended complaint in intervention for lack of standing. The debtor, Earl Brice Equipment, leased heavy equipment to a related company, M & S Grading, that also was in bankruptcy. During the pendency of the bankruptcy cases, M & S made adequate protection payments to creditors holding liens on the equipment of Earl Brice Equipment. Eventually, both debtors ceased operations and the equipment was sold.

The court granted summary judgment to the IRS in this adversary proceeding in which the plaintiffs, who held a claim against the bankruptcy estate for unpaid ERISA plan payments, sought to use equitable estoppel or equitable subordination to move their claim ahead of the IRS’s administrative expense claim for unpaid post-petition payroll taxes. The court held that the plaintiffs had “not borne their burden of proving each of the necessary elements of equitable subordination or equitable estoppel, in particular the existence of misconduct on the part of the IRS.”

The plaintiffs, who held a claim against the bankruptcy estate for unpaid ERISA plan payments, filed this adversary proceeding against the IRS, which held an administrative expense claim for post-petition payroll taxes, to make the IRS establish that it actually held an administrative claim and, if it did, then to use equitable estoppel or equitable subordination to move the plaintiffs’ claim ahead of the IRS.

After a trial, the court found that the debtor knowingly and intentionally submitted false claims for payment through the Nebraska Medicaid program, and the false and fraudulent nature of her claims for payment excepted the debt from discharge pursuant to § 523(a)(2)(A). The court awarded damages as requested by the State, including double and treble damages under Nebraska law, and attorneys’ fees and costs.

The court denied summary judgment to the U.S. Department of Education in this student loan dischargeability case, finding that genuine issues of material fact existed as to the actual monthly expenses of the debtor and her dependents, and as to the debtor’s reasonable future financial resources in light of her history of low-paying employment outside of her field of study.

The court granted summary judgment under § 523(a)(2)(A) to the creditor for actions of company's president, director, and shareholder regarding fraudulent misrepresentations concerning grain purchases, based on state court summary judgment.

Summary judgment was granted to the lender on the issue of 11 U.S.C. section 552(b), finding that under the plain language of the statute, the bank's pre-petition security interest in milk should be given effect post-petition as well.

Motion for relief from stay under section 362(d) denied because collateral (hotel) was not declining in value and was necessary for effective reorganization.

Published at 208 B.R. 470. The property settlement agreement reached as part of the parties' marital dissolution obligated debtor to pay one-half of a loan taken out during the marriage to cover family medical expenses. That obligation is non-dischargeable under section 523(a)(15).