23 A 20
Plaintiffs hired Defendant as a general contractor to build a house.  In the middle of construction, they discovered that the sworn statements he had been sending with his draw requests were not accurate.  Before they could obtain a judgment in state court, Defendant filed for relief under chapter 7.  Plaintiffs sought a finding that the debt Defendant owed to them was not dischargeable pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 523(a)(2)(A) and (a)(6).  On summary judgment, the court found no issue of fact that Defendant made false representations on which Plaintiffs relied.  The court conducted a trial on the remaining issues.  HELD: Defendant made the false representations with a reckless disregard for the truth and with the intent to deceive Plaintiffs, so his debt to them was nondischargeable as based on false representations.  The misrepresentations cheated the Plaintiffs in an unfair way, so the debt was also nondischargeable due to actual fraud.  However, Plaintiffs did not establish that the debt was incurred through willful and malicious injury.  Defendant intended to deceive Plaintiffs, but the evidence did not show that his intent was to harm them.