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Opinions

The Northern District of West Virginia offers a database of opinions beginning in 2006, listed by year and judge.

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Our Opinions are also posted under United States Courts Opinions at the U.S. Government Printing Office ( GPO ).
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Patrick M. Flatley

In re Ohio Valley Amusement Company, Case No. 03-50356
Date: 12/01/2008

Debtor's post-petition borrowing was not done in the ordinary course of business under section 364(a). No court approval was obtained for the loans under section 364(b), and nunc pro tunc approval was not appropriate under the circumstances. Lender's application for administrative expense status is denied.

Klein v. Virginia Electric Power Co. (In re Barton Mining Company, Inc.), Case No. 08-69
Date: 11/25/2008

Motion to dismiss cause of action for tortious interference with contract is denied because the plaintiff put the defendant on notice of the claim, no insuperable bar to relief existed, and the right to relief was more than speculative.

United Energy Coal, Inc., v. Virginia Electric Power Co. Inc. (In re United Energy Coal, Inc.), Case No. 08-38
Date: 11/19/2008

Motion for leave to file an amended complaint to assert a claim for tortious interference is granted. Defendant's motion to dismiss claim for breach of contract is granted on the grounds that the allegations in the amended complaint are insufficient to show that the Plaintiff was a third party beneficiary to the contract alleged to have been breached.

Jackson v. Harris (In re Harris), Case No. 08-13
Date: 09/15/2008

The debtor’s motion for summary judgment on the creditor’s 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(15) adversary complaint is denied because: (1) collateral estoppel prevents the debtor from relitigating issues related to a purported contractual waiver of rights arising under the parties’ separation agreement; (2) the debtor’s assertion of the unclean hands defense did not relate to the specific judgment debts sought to be excluded from the debtor’s discharge, and (3) the debtor’s assertion of offsetting debts involved a factual dispute, and one which may have already been settled by the parties in previous litigation.

In re Eskim, LLC, Case No. 08-509
Date: 08/28/2008

Creditor’s motions for relief from the automatic stay and to prohibit the debtor’s use of cash collateral is denied based on the existence of an equity cushion and a proposed outline for reorganization.

In re Morrell, Case No. 08-519
Date: 08/14/2008

West Virginia's bankruptcy only exemptions, listed in section 38-10-4 of the West Virginia Code, are not preempted by the list of federal exemptions, listed in section 522(d) of the Bankruptcy Code.

In re Bricker, Case No. 08-340
Date: 07/02/2008

Debtor’s general objection to the creditor’s proof of claim, when considered in conjunction with parallel litigation concerning the creditor’s objection to confirmation of the debtor’s chapter 13 plan, is sufficient to overcome the Rule 3001(f) prima facie presumption as to the claim’s validity and amount.

In re AB&C Group, Inc., Case No. 08-482
Date: 07/02/2008

Money held in the debtor’s bank account that was intended to be used to pay the pre-petition wages of the debtor’s employees is property of the debtor’s bankruptcy estate. The money may be used by the debtor’s Chapter 7 trustee in the ordinary administration of the debtor’s bankruptcy case.

Copley v. West Virginia State Tax Dep't (In re Copley), No. 07-2061
Date: 06/27/2008

Chapter 7 debtor suffered no damage and lacked standing to vindicate a violation of the automatic stay against property of the debtor's bankruptcy estate.

In re Quigley, Case No. 08-24
Date: 06/20/2008

The debtor may claim a secured debt expense for secured collateral that the debtor intends to surrender on Form B22C. When a non-debtor third party has paid a secured debt expense for the debtor, then the amount of those payments must be included in the determination of the debtor’s current monthly income.

In re Kleeb, Case No. 07-1322
Date: 05/23/2008

Creditor's objection to confirmation is sustained on the grounds that the debtor is required to pay the creditor's secured car claim at the Till rate of interest -- not the contract rate of 0% -- when the debtor proposed to cram down the claim by lowering the monthly payments and extending the loan's maturity date.

In re Ball, Case No. 06-1002
Date: 05/23/2008

Individual Chapter 11 debtor’s motion for discharge and case closing is denied because all payments had not been made under the plan and assets still existed to be administered.

In re Bland, Case No. 06-1159
Date: 05/06/2008

Debtor's Chapter 13 petition is dismissed for lack of good faith due to the debtor's failure to cooperate with an interested creditor and the Chapter 13 trustee in the proper identification of estate assets.

In re Buffalo Coal Co., Case No. 06-366
Date: 04/30/2008

The court grants the application to approve Thorp Reed & Armstrong, LLP, former counsel to the Chapter 11 unsecured creditor's committee, as special counsel to the Chapter 7 trustee for the purpose of suing a former committee member on a pre-petition cause of action.

Weekly v. Bank One Wheeling-Steubenville, N.A. (In re Weekly), Case No. 07-1
Date: 04/17/2008

A portion of the bank’s third deed of trust was secured by the value of the debtor’s principal residence, therefore, the debtor is prohibited from stripping off the deed of trust as wholly unsecured in her Chapter 13 plan.

In re Hrapchak, Case No. 07-1668
Date: 04/16/2008

An absolute assignment of rents clause in a note and deed of trust is given as security, and is therefore property of the estate subject to the rules regarding cash collateral.

City of Clarksburg v. Sprouse (In re Sprouse), Case No. 07-120
Date: 04/15/2008

Even though the City did not perform demolition services until after the debtor’s no-asset, Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, the City had an unliquidated, contingent, and/or unmatured claim for those services when the debtor filed bankruptcy. Therefore, the City’s claim against the debtor for the cost of demolition is discharged.

In re Vandernick, Case No 07-1192
Date: 03/31/2008

910 car creditors hold secured claims and are entitled to interest at the Till rate.

In re Bland, Case No. 06-1159
Date: 03/31/2008

Debtor met the eligibility requirements in 11 U.S.C. § 109(e) that she be an “individual with regular income” when she had stable and regular contributions from her non-debtor husband.

Grimes v. First-Citizens Bank & Trust Co. (In re Grimes), Case No. 07-57
Date: 03/31/2008

Debtor’s cause of action for negligence against First-Citizens for, inter alia, making allegedly unauthorized withdraws from his checking that resulted in his alleged “humiliation, embarrassment, and emotional distress” is not a personal injury tort within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(5). The adversary proceeding is “non-core.” Because the alleged cause of action is property of the Debtor’s bankruptcy estate, the Debtor is given 30 days to add his Chapter 7 trustee as the party plaintiff.

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