Under Alabama law, the court held that Debtor was allowed to exempt the earned income credit and non-earned income credit portions of her federal income tax refund. Relying on established Eleventh Circuit precedent, the court held that a mere delay in notifying the trustee of a tax refund until the first meeting of creditors did not demonstrate bad faith or prejudice. Therefore, the court overruled Trustee’s objection to Debtor’s claim of exemptions.
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
In cross motions for summary judgment in a preference action filed by the Chapter 13 Trustee, the court granted Defendant’s motion and denied Trustee’s motion. In a case of first impression under Alabama law, the court held that Defendant did not effectuate a lien release. Therefore, Trustee could not avoid the lien under § 547 or § 544.
Granting Defendant’s motion for summary judgment and denying Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment in an adversary proceeding to recover post-petition transfers under §§ 549 and 550, the court held that plaintiff would not be allowed to recover post-petition transfers. In a case of first impression, the court held that lottery funds collected by a lottery retailer under the Georgia Lottery for Education Act constitute trust property and therefore, are excluded from property of the bankruptcy estate.
In a motion to compel Debtor to surrender leased premises, the court held that although the bankruptcy court has the authority to enter such an order, relief in favor of Movant is not proper in this case. Movant leased operating premises to the equity owner of Debtor who allowed Debtor to use the leased premises. After the lease was deemed rejected under § 365, Movant obtained relief from the automatic stay. However, Debtor remained in possession of the property at the express permission of the equity owner. Therefore, the court held that Debtor’s right to remain in possession was dependent upon the rights of the equity owner, an issue currently pending in state court.
The Court looked to Georgia state law on what constitutes a fixture to determine that various pieces of automotive equipment installed in the site of a future car dealership were not fixtures. The sale documents and the behavior of the parties involved in demonstrated an intent to treat the equipment not as fixtures but as personal property, and thus the sale of all the car dealership's "assets," as defined in the sale documents, did not include the sale of the equipment. The Court granted the movant's motion for relief.
Sustaining the Chapter 12 Trustee’s objection to the secured status of a claim, the court held that no valid UCC-1 existed at the time Debtor filed his petition. Therefore, Creditor’s security interest was unperfected. Although Trustee arguably requested the court the determine validity of a lien, which requires an adversary proceeding, the court held that the claim objection process was proper in this case.
The court is denying Plaintiff Debtor's motion for summary judgment to discharge tax liabilities for years 1994 and 1995 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. 727 and granting defendant Internal Revenue Services' cross-motion for summary judgment. The debtor reopened bankruptcy case and filed this adversary proceeding to determine tax liabilities for years 1994 and 1995. Because the court found that the IRS timely assessed the debtor's tax liabilities and the bankruptcy case was filed less than 240 days after the IRS tax assessment, the tax liabilities were declared nondischargeable pursuant to sections 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(1)(A) and 507(a)(8)(ii).
Movant sold a parcel of land to Debtors through an owner financing agreement which involved a final balloon payment at the end of the one year term. After the balloon payment became due but before payment was made, Debtors filed their Chapter 13 petition. Although Debtors proposed to pay Movant in full over the life of the plan, Movant objected to confirmation. Overruling Movant’s objection, the court held that § 1322(c)(2) allows for the payment of a prepetition matured balloon over the life of the plan.
Analyzing Defendant’s motion for reconsideration of a default judgment as a motion to set aside an entry of default, the court failed to find "good cause" under Rule 55(c) of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. Therefore, the court held that the entry of default would not be set aside. Because the court also failed to find "excusable neglect" under Rule 60(b), the court denied Defendant’s motion to set aside the default judgment.
During Debtor’s Chapter 13 case, a educational loan creditor’s claim was disallowed to which the creditor did not object. Upon completion of the plan, Debtor received a general discharge. Creditor subsequently intercepted Debtor’s tax refund in payment of the school loan debt. Debtor filed a motion for contempt against the educational loan creditor alleging violation of the discharge injunction. The court held the disallowance of a claim does not necessarily discharge that claim. This is especially true given that educational loans are presumptively nondischargeable under § 523(a)(8) and the discharge order specifically excepted school loans from the discharge.