The court denied the motion of Southwest Georgia Bank ("SWGA") for relief from the automatic stay and SWGA’s motion to dismiss the case. In a prior Chapter 11 case, Debtor consented to a plan provision whereby he would not oppose relief from stay in any subsequent case that he might file within five years. The court held that such waivers of the automatic stay are enforceable, however, they not per se enforceable and must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. In this case, the court found that others factors outweighed Debtor’s waiver. Therefore, the court denied SWGA’s motion for relief conditioned on Debtor’s strict compliance to payments to SWGA. As to SWGA’s motion to dismiss the case, the court found no evidence of bad faith and therefore, denied that motion.
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 John T. Laney, III
As to the issue of which law should apply to the validity and priority of liens on the property central to the adversary proceeding, the court held that the law of the Czech Republic is the controlling law. Pursuant to the Convention on the International Recognition of Rights in Aircraft, 4 U.S.T. 1830, the law of the country where the aircraft is registered is the law which governs property rights in aircraft. No party disputes that the subject aircraft is registered in the Czech Republic.
Debtors proposed to cure over six months its prepetition arrearage in an automobile lease. The court held that Debtors’ six-month cure proposal did not constitute a "prompt" cure under § 365(b)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code. Also, the court found that Debtors did not exercise the option under the lease agreement to purchase the vehicle. Even if Debtors had timely exercised their option to purchase, the court held that Debtors’ plan proposal to pay the residual value over the life of the plan is contrary to law. Therefore, the court granted relief from stay to the movant.
Debtors filed a motion to compel the mortgage company to pay a mortgage insurance premium which the Debtors alleged was an item required to be paid through escrow. Approximately one month before hearing on Debtors motion was held, the mortgage company paid the premium and reinstated the mortgage insurance policy. Although the motion was moot, Debtors requested to recover attorney fees from the mortgage company for bringing the motion. Failing to find any statutory authority authorizing the recovery of attorney fees, the court denied Debtors request.
The court abstained from ruling in this adversary proceeding and dismissed Debtor’s complaint without prejudice. Although the Georgia Department of Revenue’s motion to dismiss was based on its Eleventh Amendment immunity, the court made no conclusion as to the immunity issue. Rather, the court held that no bankruptcy purpose would be served by making a determination of Debtor’s tax liability to the Georgia Department of Revenue in a no-asset case where Debtor had received her discharge.
The court denied Plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration of its April 3, 2001 order which denied Plaintiffs’ motion to open default. Because of the relief sought, the court construed Plaintiffs’ motion to open default as a motion to extend the time to file an amended complaint. Given Plaintiffs’ six month delay in moving for an extension without an explanation for the delay, the court found that the delay was not the result of excusable neglect.
In two related chapter 11 cases in which a single estate was created, the court granted, in part, Debtors’ motion for determination of their tax liability to the Muscogee County Board of Tax Assessors. The motion sought a determination of the value of Debtors’ personal property for the 1996 through 2000 tax years. The court determined the value of Debtors’ personal property for the 1997 through 2000 tax years and ordered the Muscogee County Board of Tax Assessors to recalculate Debtors’ tax liability in accordance with the court determined values. However, Debtors’ tax liability for the 1996 tax year had been adjudicated by an administrative tribunal prior to the filing of Debtors’ bankruptcy cases. Therefore, pursuant to § 505(a)(2)(A), the court was without jurisdiction to determine Debtors’ tax liability for the 1996 tax year.
In Defendant’s motion to set aside the entry of default, the court found that "good cause" under Rule 55(c) existed. Although the pro se Defendant’s excuse for failing to file a timely answer was questionable, the court held that the strength of Defendant’s meritorious defense outweighed the weakness of his excuse. Therefore, the court granted Defendant’s motion to set aside the entry of default.
The court granted the State of Florida’s motion to dismiss based on Eleventh Amendment immunity. The court rejected plaintiffs’ argument that the State of Florida constructively waived its sovereign immunity by participating in the Federal Income Tax Refund Offset program. The court acknowledged the case of College Savings Bank in which the Supreme Court overruled Parden and held that these Parden-type constructive waivers of sovereign immunity are unconstitutional.
The court granted the Debtor’s motion for summary judgment against the 544 individual investor defendants. Referencing its Memorandum Opinion entered on November 19, 2001, the court held that the Georgia Uniform Commercial Code, not the Georgia real estate recording statutes, applied to the transactions between the Debtor and the individual investor defendants. Therefore, because the evidence demonstrated that none of the individual investor defendants had possession of the original loan documents in which they claimed an interest, the court held that the individual investor defendants had an unperfected interest in the loans.