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.

Court granted stay relief for creditor to pursue employment related claims against the debtor and co-defendants in district court to prevent duplicitous litigation and to protect the rights of all the parties.

Robert F. Hershner, Jr. (Retired)

The movant and the respondent had represented the prepetition debtor in medical malpractice actions. The movant and the respondent had a fee sharing agreement. After the debtor filed for Chapter 7 relief, the bankruptcy trustee employed the respondent to prosecute the malpractice actions on behalf of the bankruptcy estate. After the malpractice action settled, the movant sought to enforce his fee sharing agreement with the respondent. The Court held that the movant had failed to show that he had rendered any prepetition or postpetition services for which he could be compensated by the bankruptcy estate. The Court held that the movant's contention that the respondent had breached their fee sharing agreement should be resolved in state court.

Judge James D. Walker Jr. (Retired)

Court imposed sanctions on a bankruptcy petition preparer for violations of § 110, including failure to fully identify herself on various documents and unauthorized practice of law.

Chapter 13 debtor's obligation to pay his ex-wife's car and mortgage payments was dischargeable pursuant to § 1328(a) and § 523(a)(15) because the parties did not intend the payments to serve as support, as demonstrated by the language of their divorce agreement and their tax treatment of the payments.

The Court allowed the creditor's claim over the debtor's objection because the claim was enforceable outside of bankruptcy. Even though the debtor had not made any payments directly to the creditor within the statute of limitations period, she had made payments to a credit counseling service, which directed payments to the creditor on the debtor's behalf.

Where the debtor had participated in a class action settlement against a creditor for violations of various consumer protection statutes, res judicata bars the debtor from asserting similar claims against that creditor except to the extent the claims are based solely on the creditor's post-settlement conduct.

The plaintiff did not establish the collateral estoppel effect of a state court tortious interference action on her § 523(a)(6) claim because she failed to prove an identity of issues. The plaintiff did not show the standard applied in the state court, and therefore the Court could not determine if the state court jury found that debtor had acted wilfully and maliciously.

The court rejected the debtor's argument that a corporate Chapter 12 debtor is not subject to discharge exceptions. The Chapter 12 discharge provision, § 1228, expressly excludes certain types of debts from the discharge, regardless of whether the debtor is an individual or a corporation.

The debtor could discharge certain taxes, because the IRS failed to show the debtor willfully evaded their payment. The debtor did not attempt to conceal assets or spend lavishly. Instead, his deficiencies were primarily due to an inability to pay after providing for reasonable living expenses.

Under Eleventh Circuit’s Parker case, judicial estoppel can never be a defense to a cause of action omitted from the debtor’s bankruptcy schedules. Therefore, the Court allowed Debtor to reopen his case to add the cause of action so a trustee could administer the asset. His creditors stood to benefit from any recovery, and Debtor would receive no special benefit.

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