Where the evidence demonstrated the debtor’s wife likely forged his signatures on personal guarantees to obtain loans, the bank failed to carry its burden to prove the guarantees were genuine copies of original documents signed by the debtor. With respect ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Klinette H. Kindred U.S. Bankruptcy Court

A bank’s claims were not barred by the statute of limitations because they were subject to Virginia’s six-year statute of limitations, not the five-year statute of limitations applicable to contracts, as the debtor argued. Background This matter comes before the court ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Paul M. Black U.S. Bankruptcy Court

Where a law firm continued to exercise control over garnished funds after receiving notice of the debtor’s bankruptcy filing, it violated the automatic stay. The debtor was awarded attorneys’ fees, but because she did not suffer damages and the firm’s ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Brian F. Kenney U.S. Bankruptcy Court

A creditor who received notice of a bankruptcy filing and then contacted the debtor threatening criminal action if she did not pay, willfully violated the automatic stay and was ordered to pay $170 in actual damages and $500 in punitive ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Paul M. Black U.S. Bankruptcy Court

Where the trustee made an offer to settle, which was agreed to for consideration, a binding settlement agreement was reached. But in a question of apparent first impression in the Fourth Circuit, the agreement is binding only if approved by ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Paul M. Black U.S. Bankruptcy Court

Based on evidence that four loan guarantees were the product of forgery by the debtor’s wife, a bankruptcy judge has disallowed more than $2.3 million in claims by a bank that lent money to a now-defunct real estate investment firm. ...

Tagged with: Judge Klinette H. Kindred U.S. Bankruptcy Court

Where the debtor was induced to buy a bagel business based upon inaccurate information provided by the seller, his objection to the seller’s claim for damages was sustained. But because the debtor received more value from the business than his ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Klinette H. Kindred U.S. Bankruptcy Court

Where a debtor promised to renovate and make repairs to the plaintiff’s real property and then failed to do so, a judgment entered against the debtor was dischargeable because he fully intended to perform at the time he made the ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Kevin R. Huennekens U.S. Bankruptcy Court

A Chapter 13 debtor may strip off an unsecured lien from real property that is titled as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, where the joint tenant is not a joint debtor in the bankruptcy case. Background On May 15, ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Kevin R. Huennekens U.S. Bankruptcy Court

Where there was a presumption of abuse at the time the debtor filed a voluntary petition, because of the means test calculation, the presumption was not altered by her post-petition decision to trade in her car, resulting in a higher ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Brian F. Kenney U.S. Bankruptcy Court