Subscribe to All Opinions17 B 20163
The issue was whether Debtor Adger's filing of a Chapter 13 case on July 5, 2017 at 6:26 p.m., rather than before 5 p.m. when the Cook County Clerk's office closed was filed timely for purposes of allowing the debtor to treat a tax purchaser's claim over the life of a Chapter 13 plan. The court analyzed the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, the Illinois Supreme Court's Electronic Filing Standards and Principles and our local Bankruptcy Court's Administrative Procedures for CM/ECF that govern electronic filing. Generally those Rules and Standards provide that a document filed on the due date before midnight is timely filed. The Amended Motion to Modify Automatic Stay was denied.
Opinions
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Judge Jacqueline P. Cox
In re Demetrius Adger
September 20, 2017
September 20, 2017
Christine F. Hernandez v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
September 13, 2017
September 13, 2017
09 B 49112, 17 A 00280
The Debtor sued Wells Fargo Home Mortgage alleging that it violated the discharge injunction when it sent her three informational letters concerning its lien. The court found that the creditor did no more than what Bankruptcy Code Section 524(j) allows mortgagees to do post-discharge: communicate with debtors to maintain periodic payments on residential property in lieu of the creditor pursuing in rem relief to enforce the lien.
16 B 8776, 16 A 00356
Debtor Erin V. McDougal defaulted on rent payments under an apartment lease. Her lessor asked that the debt owed be found to be non-dischargeable due to representations made by the Debtor alleged to be false. During the period the representations were being made the Debtor paid $35,000 to the lessor in an effort to satisfy her obligations. The court found (1) that the representations were promises to become current, not false representations made with intent to deceive and (2) that her failure to become current was a contract breach because the statements could not be held to be false representations where the creditor can not prove that a debtor never intended to make payments.
Judge Deborah L. Thorne
Trinity 83 Development, LLC v. ColFin Midwest Funding, LLC (In re Trinity 83 Development, LLC)
September 13, 2017
September 13, 2017
17 A 00286, 16 B 24652
Judge Timothy A. Barnes
15 A 00819, 14 B 17886
Upon the chapter 7 trustee’s complaint under 11 U.S.C. § 363(h) seeking to sell all interests in real property held in a living trust in which the estate also has an interest, held: The trustee has established each element of section 363(h) to sell the real property free of the other interests therein. Therefore, judgment will be rendered in favor of the trustee and the trustee is authorized to sell the property.
In re Trina D. Whitlock-Young
August 10, 2017
August 10, 2017
17 B 05030
Upon the motion of a debtor statutorily without automatic stay protection to enforce the co-debtor stay, held: The debtor has standing to enforce the co-debtor stay regardless of whether or not she is protected by the automatic stay. As the postpetition judicial sale violated the co-debtor stay, the sale is void. The debtor has, however, failed to demonstrate an entitlement to damages. As a result, the debtor’s motion is GRANTED insofar as it seeks to have the sale and subsequent acts related thereto determined to be void but, in all other respects, is DENIED.