Acosta v. Reparto Saman Inc. (In re Acosta)

497 B.R. 25
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedJuly 17, 2013
DocketBankruptcy No. 99-10119 (ESL); Adversary No. 11-00146 (ESL)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 497 B.R. 25 (Acosta v. Reparto Saman Inc. (In re Acosta)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Acosta v. Reparto Saman Inc. (In re Acosta), 497 B.R. 25 (prb 2013).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

ENRIQUE S. LAMOUTTE, Bankruptcy Judge.

This case is before the court upon the Plaintiffs’ Motion Requesting Reconsideration of Judgment Dismissing Case (the “Motion for Reconsideration”, Docket No. 82) and the Defendant’s Opposition thereto (Docket No. 84). The Plaintiffs seek to vacate and set aside the Judgment dismissing the instant adversary proceeding for failure to prosecute (Docket No. 79), alleging that their counsel had unsuccessfully attempted to reach Defendant’s attorney on several occasions to procure a settlement of the instant case and/or coordinate the discovery. The Defendant sustains that no agreement was ever reached and that the Plaintiffs failed to provide the initial mandatory disclosures. For the reasons stated below, the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Reconsideration is hereby denied.

Procedural Background

The Plaintiffs filed a voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition on August 2, 1999 (Lead Case Docket No. 1). In Schedule A, they listed one real property located at Reparto Saman, Street No. 10, Lot Q-17, Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico (the “Real Proper[28]*28ty”) (Lead Case Docket No. 1, p. 5). In Schedule D, they listed the Defendant as their only secured creditor (Lead Case Docket No. 1, p. 9).

On September 17, 1999, the Plaintiffs filed an Amended Schedule D, in which they clarified that the registration of “first mortgage on debtors [sic ] house [referring to the Real Property] ... is pending before the [Property Registry]” and that “the validity of this mortgage depends upon compliance of creditor [with] certain requirements” (Lead Case Docket No. 5, p. 2).

On December 21, 1999, the Chapter 7 Trustee (the “Trustee”) filed a Notice of Abandonment for the Real Property stating that it had no value or is burdensome to the estate (Lead Case Docket No. 8) and also on that same date filed a Report of No Distribution (Lead Case Docket No. 9). No objections were filed. The Trustee listed the Real Property as secured in the amount of $36,505 and determined that this was a no-asset case (Notice of Abandonment, Lead Case Docket No. 8).

On February 11, 2000, the court entered the Discharge of Debtors and the Order Discharging Trustee and Closing Case (Lead Case Dockets Nos. 13 and 14).

On August 28, 2008, the Plaintiffs filed a Motion to Reopen Chapter 7 Case (Lead Case Docket No. 17), which was initially granted on September 28, 2008 (Lead Case Docket No. 19) but later re-closed on February 13, 2009 for lack of prosecution (Lead Case Docket No. 21). On June 23, 2011, the Plaintiffs again moved to reopen the case (Lead Case Docket No. 25), and on July 8, 2011 said request was granted (Lead Case Docket No. 29).

On July 12, 2011, the Plaintiffs filed the instant adversary proceeding for violation of the discharge injunction pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 727(b), claiming that the Defendant had filed, recorded and registered a mortgage deed after the filing of this bankruptcy case and had also initiated foreclosure proceedings against the Plaintiffs in violation of the discharge injunction.

On August 1, 2011, the Defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss (Docket No. 6) under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under 11 .U.S.C. §§ 546, 362(b)(3) and 546(b)(1). On August 31, 2011, the Plaintiffs moved for partial summary judgment on the Defendant’s alleged violation of the permanent discharge injunction1 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 727 (Docket No. 11). The Plaintiffs also filed on that same date an Opposition to the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (Docket No. 12) arguing that the mortgage had been withdrawn on October 18, 1999, which makes Puerto Rico’s Mortgage Law’s relation-back provision2 inapplicable and therefore, the mortgage on the Real Property was not properly constituted at the time of the Plaintiffs’ discharge.

On October 10, 2011, the Defendants filed a Sur-reply (Docket No. 20) arguing that the Complaint was not well-pleaded. The Defendant did not address or contested the Plaintiffs’ allegation that the mortgage had been withdrawn from the Property Registry during the Plaintiffs’ bankruptcy proceeding.

After due notice to all interested parties, including the Trustee, a pre-trial and argu-[29]*29raentative hearing was initially set for November 21, 2011 but later rescheduled for November 22, 2011. See Docket Nos. 3, 4, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27 and 29. After hearing the parties’ arguments, the court denied the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, granted the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and ruled that a hearing on the damages would be scheduled. See Docket Nos. 27 (Minute Entry) and 42 (:Transcript). An Opinion and Orde3 and Partial Summary Judgment to that effect were entered on December 27, 2011 (Docket Nos. 37 and 38).

On December 2, 2011, the court entered an Order and Notice (Docket No. 31) scheduling an evidentiary hearing on damages for February 21, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. and ordering the parties to file 10 days prior to the hearing proposed findings of fact, including a detail of the damages being requested, with specific reference to witnesses and/or documents, which were ordered to be attached.

On February 15, 2012, the Plaintiffs filed a Motion Requesting Continuance of Valuation Hearing (Docket No. 43) alleging that they had made an offer in writing to the Defendant, who needed 30 days to reply to the same, and that due to technical difficulties, they had not been able to timely file their proposed findings of fact and attach their documentary evidence. On February 16, 2012, the court granted the Plaintiffs’ Motion Requesting Continuance of Valuation Hearing and ordered the Plaintiffs to move the court within 30 days. See Docket No. 44.

On March 20, 2012, the Plaintiffs filed a Motion Requesting Hearing to Determine Damages (Docket No. 47) informing that their counsel had tried to reach an agreement with the Defendant but the same had not been possible and that they would proceed to file 10 days prior to the hearing their proposed findings of fact. They also requested the court to reschedule an evi-dentiary hearing on damages. On March 21, 2012, the court entered a second Order and Notice (Docket No. 48) scheduling an evidentiary hearing on damages for June 12, 2012 and ordering the parties to file proposed findings of fact, including a detail of the damages being requested, with specific reference to witnesses and/or documents, which were ordered to be attached.

Because the Plaintiffs and the Defendant failed to file their proposed findings of fact, on June 7, 2012, the court entered an Order continuing the hearing without a date and ordering the parties to show cause within 14 days as to why sanctions should not be imposed for failure to prosecute to comply with this court’s order by failing to file the proposed findings of fact. See Docket No. 51. The Order

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Bluebook (online)
497 B.R. 25, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/acosta-v-reparto-saman-inc-in-re-acosta-prb-2013.