Opinions

The Middle District of Georgia offers opinions in PDF format, listed by year and judge. For a more detailed search, enter the keyword or case number in the search box above.

Please note: These opinions are not a complete inventory of all judges' decisions and are not documents of record. Official court records are available at the clerk's office.

Judge James D. Walker Jr. (Retired)

Court denied defendant's motion to dismiss fraudulent conveyance claim for failure to state a claim. The Court found the fact of debtor's bankruptcy filing provided a sufficient factual basis for purposes of notice pleading for the trustee to allege fraudulent intent and insolvency at the time of transfer.

Incarceration of a Chapter 7 debtor is not a disability for purposes of exemption from the financial management course under 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(11) and 109(h)(4).).

To be farm debt for purposes of Chapter 12 eligibility, the debt must have some connection to the debtor's farming activity. Using farmland as collateral for a debt that has no other relation to the farming operation is not sufficient.

State of Georgia's claim for past due unpaid sales tax was disallowed based on the debtor's unrefuted testimony that he did not own or operate a business during the time periods in question.

Robert F. Hershner, Jr. (Retired)

The attorney for the Chapter 7 trustee sought interim compensation for professional services provided to the trustee under 11 U.S.C.A. § 330(a). The court applied the six nonexclusive factors listed in section 330(a)(3) to the services described in the application and awarded interim compensation.

The plaintiff requested a jury trial. The court held that the plaintiff had no right to trial by jury because plaintiff was seeking equitable relief through mandatory injunctions and prohibitory injunctions.

The Chapter 7 debtor made an oral request in open court that the United States Bankruptcy Judge recuse himself in the debtor's bankruptcy case. The debtor argued that he could not get a fair non-jury trial, that the judge had a conflict of interest, and that the judge always ruled in the trustee's favor even though the debtor presented evidence of fraud by the trustee. A request for recusal based solely on the party's dissatisfaction with the judge's rulings against him is not a valid basis to disqualify the judge. The court denied the debtor's request for recusal.

The debtor's proposed Chapter 13 plan offered to pay the full amount of the creditor's "910 claim" (vehicle purchased for personal use within 910 days of the bankruptcy filing) plus the contract rate of interest (4.9%). The creditor argued that it was entitled to receive interest on its claim at the prime rate (8.25%). The court held that Till v. SCS Credit Corp., 541 U.S. 465 (2004), applied even though the contract rate was less than the prime rate. The court held that the creditor was entitled to receive the full amount of its 910 claim plus interest at the prime rate under the cram down provisions of § 13259(a)(5)(B).

Judge John T. Laney, III

Creditor Wells Fargo Corp. (Fargo) filed an objection to the confirmation of Debtor's Chapter 13 plan. In his plan, Debtor proposed to bifurcate and cramdown Fargo's undersecured claim using § 506 of the Code as was common practice prior to the enactment of certain provisions of BAPCPA. The "hanging paragraph" of § 1325(a), which was added by BAPCPA and became effective on October 17, 2005, prohibits bifurcation and cramdown where (1) the creditor has a purchase money security interest; (2) the debt was incurred within 910 days preceding the filing of the bankruptcy case; (3) the collateral for the debt is a motor vehicle; and (4) the motor vehicle was acquired for the personal use of the debtor.The Court SUSTAINED Fargo's objection holding that in the context of the retail installment sale of a motor vehicle in Georgia, "price," for purposes of Georgia's purchase money security interest statute, can include monies paid for an extended service contract and gap insurance.

Creditor objected to confirmation of Debtor's Chapter 13 Plan, where Debtor proposed to bifurcate the Creditor's claim on a vehicle driven and used exclusively by his wife. Overruling Creditor's objection, the court held that the hanging paragraph of 1325(a)(*) does not prevent bifurcation of a purchase money security interest on a 910 day vehicle where the vehicle was not purchased for the personal use of the Debtor.

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