Western District

Summary:

Morrone filed Chapter 13, without his spouse, listing as his main asset the marital residence, valued at $400,000 and owned as Tenants by the Entireties. Liens against this property consisted of first and second mortgages totaling $317,434.32, leaving $82,565.68 in equity in the property.

Additionally, John Brettell had judgment lien for a non-consumer debt against both the Morronne and his spouse for $57,000.

Summary:

A pro se debtor failed to obtain the pre-bankruptcy credit counseling required by 11 U.S.C. § 109(h) and the bankruptcy court sua sponte issued an Order to Show Cause why the case should not be dismissed. Despite opposition from the Chapter 7 trustee, who, having been alerted by Wells Fargo, believed there were non-exempt funds available, the bankruptcy court held that the case must be dismissed.

Summary:

Chris Miller, appearing pro se, appealed a ruling from the bankruptcy court but failed to file a designation of items from the bankruptcy docket for inclusion on the appellate record. After explicitly providing Mr. Miller 30 additional days to file the designation the court held that before dismissing an appeal pursuant to Rule 8003(a)(2), least one of the following steps must be taken:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx5prGVRdJs&feature=youtu.be

After several years in development by the North Carolina Bar Association Bankruptcy Section,

Summary: Ms.  Morgen brought suit alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Student Loan Finance (“SLF”) moved for a change of venue to South Dakota based on a forum selection clause in the contract. Ms.  Morgen’s initial objection that the loan applications and promissory notes proffered by SLF  had no affidavits from record keepers   denied as the court held that such would be precluded as evidence in a consideration of a motion for summary judgment, but, in part because “there is no plausible contention that these documents are inauthentic,”  allowed them fo

Summary: A pharmacy filed Ch. 7, with its primary asset being $40-50,000 in drug inventory. Upon the motion of the Trustee, the court found that the FDA and NC Pharmacy Board had specific procedures regarding the proper handling and disposal of prescription drugs that those entities were better able to follow than the Trustee. Accordingly, as there were no other assets, dismissal was proper to allow the Pharmacy Board to dispose of the drugs.

Summary: After nearly 35 years of marriage,  Thomas Leviner and Kathy Leviner divorced and negotiated a Settlement where the parties prior marital residence was retained jointly for their children to inherit,  but with Mr.  Leviner to make the mortgage payments and Ms.  Leviner to retain the property during her lifetime (unless she remarried.)  Mr.  Leviner was also pay alimony of $300 a week until Ms.  Leviner turned 67 years old.  In 2015, after refinancing the house, Mr.  Leviner sought to offset the mortgage payments from the alimony being paid.  This was rejected by Ms.

Summary: Grand Dakota Partners (“GDP”) and Grand Dakota Hospitality (“GDH”) filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Western District of North Carolina, largely because its owners and management were located in Charlotte.  The hotel, bar and restaurant operated by GDP and GDH are located in Dickinson, North Dakota. Venue in North Carolina was proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1408, as Charlotte was the “principal palce of business” for the corporations, since that is where the “decision makers are located”.  See The Hertz Corp. v. Friend, 559 U.S. 77, 80 (2010).

Summary: Ms. Mergentime received $62,417.80 as a lump sum payment for retroactive Social Security benefits, approximately 4 months after filing her Chapter 7 bankruptcy. She had not disclosed those potential funds in her petition. Pursuant to her equitable distribution agreement, she paid half of those funds to her ex-husband. The Trustee sought to recovery those transferred funds and to deny Ms.