ROSEBERRY v. RUSSELL SIMON, Trustee Case No. 18-01039-DRH. (Dist. S.D. Ill. 2018).

Dec 18, 2018

OUTCOME: Debtors won. The District Court reversed the bankruptcy court and stated that it exceeded its authority to create such a rule.

Bankruptcy Court for Southern Illinois adopted its own local rule that imposed on chapter 13 debtors new rules with which they must comply as conditions of a confirmed plan. These new requirements wer ... e not mentioned in the governing statutes and beyond the power of the Bankruptcy Court to create and impose. Debtors appealed the order confirming their case which contained these new requirements to the US District Court (acting as the first court of appeals over bankruptcy courts).

Robinson v. Hagan, 811 F.3d 267 (7th Cir. 2016)

Feb 04, 2016

OUTCOME: Debtor gets to keep her bible

Chapter 7 debtor in Illinois listed a valuable original Mormon bible among her possessions and claimed an exemption on it. If the exemption is honored she gets to keep the bible. If not, the trustee ... takes it and sells it and uses the proceeds to pay creditors of the debtor. The bankruptcy court agreed with the trustee's interpretation of the exemption statute and denied the exemption saying the statute meant to only protect bibles of ordinary value but not special bibles of great value. Marcus Herbert represented the debtor in an appeal to the District Court and earned a reversal of the bankruptcy court. The trustee appealed to the United States Court of Appeals and this court approved the District Court's order. The statute in question exempts a bible without any reference to its value. The bankruptcy court exceeded its power by effectively writing into the statute words that the legislature never used. Courts are supposed to give effect to statutes using the plain meaning of the words in the statute and not supplant their own interpretation where the original meaning is clear on its face.

In re Clark, 393 B.R. 508 (Bankr. W.D. KY 2008)

Sep 03, 2008

OUTCOME: Challenge to bankruptcy failed. Debtor received discharge of this debt despite claim of fraud.

Debtor sold his house before filing for chapter 7 bankruptcy. The home buyer filed a suit in the Bankruptcy Court alleging the debtor owed her the cost of repairing numerous defects in the home that s ... he said debtor had fraudulently failed to disclose to her before closing on the sale. Applicable law 11 USC sec. 523(a) indicates that debts incurred through fraud may not be discharged in bankruptcy. After trial the court found that the debtor had health problems which prevented him from moving throughout the whole home. As a result he was not aware of all the defects the plaintiff complained of. Also the debtor had not lived there very long. In addition, the buyer was an experienced home buyer having purchased 6 homes before. She waived her option of having a final walk through inspection before buying the home. She also paid for a thorough home inspection which revealed that the home had numerous minor and a few serious problems. If she had done a walk through surface inspection many of the complained problems were openly visible. The court found the debtor had not attempted to mislead the buyer and the cause of her loss was her own negligence in ignoring her paid-for inspection and not doing a walk through inspection.

Knights Prairie Hunting Club Inc. v. Holmes, 263 Ill.App.3d 455, 636 N.E.2d 29 (Ill.App. 5 Dist. 1994)

Jun 15, 1994

OUTCOME: Appellant obtained reversal from trial court ruling that had transferred possession of property used as a hunting club to one party based on a lease being deemed invalid. Appellate court ruled the lease to be valid.

Party challenging the validity of a lease (based on the argument that the other party to the lease was not a valid corporation and so it could not enter into contracts as could a valid corporation) cou ... ld not argue the corporate signer to the lease did not have the power to contract when the challenging party had previously taken the position that the corporate party was a valid corporation when the lease was originally signed.

Deason v. Gutzler, 251 Ill.App.3d 630, 622 N.E.2d 1276 (Ill.App. 5 Dist. 1993)

N/A

OUTCOME:

A person holding a power of attorney owes a fiduciary duty to the one who granted that power. This means that power may only be used for the benefit of the ward who granted the power. It may not be u ... sed for the personal gain of the person to whom the power was granted.

Farm Credit Bank of St. Louis v. Dorr, 250 Ill.App.3d 1, 620 N.E.2d 549 (Ill.App. 5 Dist. 1993)

N/A

OUTCOME: