In re Clark is not just a means-test case. It is also a reminder that even if a debtor stumbles into Chapter 7 eligibility math, § 707(b)(3) still looms large—and can be dispositive—when the court looks at bad faith and the totality of the circumstances.
Judge Pamela W. McAfee used both tools, methodically and unapologetically.
In re Clark is not just a means-test case. It is also a reminder that even if a debtor stumbles into Chapter 7 eligibility math, § 707(b)(3) still looms large—and can be dispositive—when the court looks at bad faith and the totality of the circumstances.
Judge Pamela W. McAfee used both tools, methodically and unapologetically.
Judge Warren’s latest sanctions order reads like a greatest-hits compilation of the Eastern District’s prior encounters with bankruptcy document forgery—Wilds, Purdy, and now Williams—but with one glaring distinction: unlike Ms. Sugar, whose saga wound its way to the Fourth Circuit and back on the strength of a plausible (and ultimately successful) reliance on counsel argument, Deja Williams had no attorney to blame but herself.
Judge Warren’s most recent opinion in In re Sugar (Bankr. E.D.N.C. Aug. 15, 2025) follows remand from both the U.S. District Court and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case began with the dismissal of Christine Sugar’s Chapter 13 in 2023, coupled with a five-year nationwide bar on refiling, after she sold her residence without prior court approval in violation of E.D.N.C. Local Bankruptcy Rule 4002-1(g)(4).
