Williams, et al. v. King

Debtor moved for sanctions after Stephen Wyse, representing on of debtor's creditors, filed suit in state court seeking in part to recover a debt discharged by debtor in bankruptcy. Wyse and his client, Frank Williams, failed to appear in opposition and the bankruptcy court granted the motion. Wyse and Williams subsequently appealed the orders granting in part their first motion for relief and denying the second motion for rehearing or relief. The court concluded that the bankruptcy court did not err in finding a portion of the debt Williams sought to collect in the state court action was debtor's pre-conversion debt. The bankruptcy court maintained the order of sanctions against Wyse for seeking to collect the portion of the $76,200 derived from debtor's pre-conversion debt to Williams, not for seeking to collect the post-discharge debts in the state court action. The bankruptcy court was perfectly within its discretion to impose the sanction. Given William's failure to introduce any other evidence regarding the specific amount of money he provided to debtor on April 19, 2010, the bankruptcy court did not clearly err in finding Williams had not proven the exact amount of post-conversion debt debtor had incurred on that date. The court also concluded that the bankruptcy court did not abuse its discretion in denying the second motion for relief brought solely to raise neglected arguments in the first motion for relief. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the bankruptcy court. View "Williams, et al. v. King" on Justia Law