Anna Juravin v. Florida Bankruptcy Trustee

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedNovember 5, 2024
Docket22-11356
StatusUnpublished

This text of Anna Juravin v. Florida Bankruptcy Trustee (Anna Juravin v. Florida Bankruptcy Trustee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anna Juravin v. Florida Bankruptcy Trustee, (11th Cir. 2024).

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 22-11356 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 11/05/2024 Page: 1 of 18

[DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 22-11356 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________

ANNA JURAVIN, Plaintiff-Appellant, DON KARL JURAVIN, et al., Plaintiffs, versus FLORIDA BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE, JAMES RYAN, Esq., BRADLEY SAXTON, Esq., LAUREN REYNOLDS, Esq., USCA11 Case: 22-11356 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 11/05/2024 Page: 2 of 18

2 Opinion of the Court 22-11356

DENNIS KENNEDY, Trustee,

Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 5:21-cv-00514-GAP-PRL ____________________

Before ROSENBAUM, ABUDU, and TJOFLAT, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: This appeal arises out of Don Juravin’s bankruptcy proceed- ing. Because Don 1 failed to adhere to the Bankruptcy Code’s re- quirement that debtors disclose relevant information about their estate’s assets, the bankruptcy court entered a Break Order. That Order allowed the bankruptcy trustee, his counsel, and the United States Marshals Service to enter the Juravins’ residence to collect or photograph information and assets related to Don’s estate. Plaintiff-Appellant Anna Juravin, Don’s wife, asserts that De- fendants-Appellees Dennis Kennedy (the bankruptcy trustee),

1 We refer to both Don and Anna Juravin in this opinion. So for clarity, when we speak of only one of them, we use their first name. USCA11 Case: 22-11356 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 11/05/2024 Page: 3 of 18

22-11356 Opinion of the Court 3

James Ryan, Bradley Saxton, and Lauren Reynolds (Kennedy’s counsel) improperly seized personal documents and effects unre- lated to Don’s estate when they executed the Break Order. So with assistance of counsel, she filed this lawsuit against Defendants in the district court. 2 The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of sub- ject-matter jurisdiction under the Barton doctrine. That doctrine generally prevents putative plaintiffs, without the bankruptcy court’s leave, from filing suit against bankruptcy trustees or other court-authorized officers for actions taken in their official capacity. See Barton v. Barbour, 104 U.S. 126, 129 (1881). We affirm but do so for a different reason. We hold that the district court has subject- matter jurisdiction over Anna’s lawsuit because she adequately al- leges the Barton doctrine’s ultra vires exception. Still, Anna’s suit fails because Defendants enjoy judicial immunity for actions they took within the scope of their court-authorized positions.

2 Both Don and Anna filed the complaint on behalf of themselves, their chil- dren, and United Medical Group International, Inc. (a company affiliated with Anna). But three weeks after Don and Anna filed the complaint, Don volun- tarily withdrew from the case in his individual capacity. Anna, her children, and United Medical Group are the remaining plaintiffs in this action. So for clarity, when we refer to Anna’s claims in the district court, we refer to her claims as well as those of her children and United Medical Group. USCA11 Case: 22-11356 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 11/05/2024 Page: 4 of 18

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I. BACKGROUND In 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) initiated proceedings against Don and several of his companies. The FTC alleged that Don and his companies violated federal consumer-pro- tection laws through practices they employed in the marketing and selling of certain weight-loss products. In October 2018, Don filed a petition for voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy, listing the FTC as a creditor. And a couple of months later, the district court for the Middle District of Florida entered judgment jointly and severally against Don and his companies, ordering payment of $25,246,000 to the FTC and permanently enjoining Don and his companies from engaging in certain deceptive or unfair trade practices. About three years after Don filed his petition for bankruptcy, Dennis Kennedy, the bankruptcy trustee, moved for a Break Order to search Don’s home and seize or photograph documents and as- sets that relate to his bankruptcy case. He requested this relief be- cause Don failed to voluntarily disclose financial information rele- vant to his estate. The bankruptcy court granted that motion. Spe- cifically, it allowed Kennedy to seize or photograph (1) all business records belonging to Don’s companies; (2) all electronic communi- cation devices on the premises containing information about Don, his business interests, and property of the bankruptcy estate; (3) Don’s wristwatch collection; and (4) “[a]ny additional items Trus- tee, in his sole discretion, reasonably believes to be part of the bank- ruptcy estate.” USCA11 Case: 22-11356 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 11/05/2024 Page: 5 of 18

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On May 5, 2021, Kennedy, his attorneys (Ryan, Saxton, and Reynolds), and the United States Marshals Service executed the Break Order. Anna and their two children were home at the time. Kennedy seized numerous electronics, including Apple computers, iPads, and cellphones, Don’s wristwatch collection, and several boxes of documents from across the house. In October 2021, Don and Anna effected two filings. They first jointly moved to remove Kennedy from his position as trustee and to disqualify his counsel from the bankruptcy case.3 In support of their motion, they argued Kennedy and his counsel had ex- ceeded the scope of the Break Order by seizing numerous personal items unrelated to Don’s estate, such as family medical records. And a day later, on behalf of themselves, their children, and United Medical Group International, Inc. (a company affiliated with Anna), Don and Anna filed the present complaint in the dis- trict court. Don, however, voluntarily withdrew from the action about three weeks after he and Anna instituted it. 4 See supra note 2. The complaint names as defendants Kennedy and his attorneys, Ryan, Reynolds, and Saxton. It also seeks redress for Defendants’ seizure of personal documents and effects unrelated to Don’s

3 For clarity, when we refer to the Juravins’ motion, we refer to Don and Anna’s motion in the bankruptcy court to remove Kennedy and his counsel from the bankruptcy case. 4 As a reminder, we refer to this lawsuit in the district court as Anna’s claims or Anna’s lawsuit. But her children and United Medical Group are named plaintiffs as well. USCA11 Case: 22-11356 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 11/05/2024 Page: 6 of 18

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bankruptcy. The complaint’s factual allegations are almost identi- cal to those outlined in the body of the first motion the Juravins filed in the bankruptcy court. And it alleges that Defendants’ exe- cution of the Break Order (1) violated Anna’s Fourth Amendment rights secured by the U.S. Constitution; (2) violated her right to pri- vacy as secured by Florida’s Constitution; and (3) constituted the common-law tort of conversion. We briefly recount the procedural history for both filings. A. The bankruptcy court denied on the merits the Juravins’ mo- tion to remove Kennedy and his counsel. After the Juravins filed in the bankruptcy court their motion to remove Kennedy, the bankruptcy court held a hearing to adju- dicate the Juravins’ motion. The Juravins recounted the arguments they had made in their motion. Mainly, they asserted that Kennedy had improperly seized personal items, including family medical records and attorney-client privileged materials, and that too much time had passed for Kennedy to claim he was still reviewing the seized documents.

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Anna Juravin v. Florida Bankruptcy Trustee, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anna-juravin-v-florida-bankruptcy-trustee-ca11-2024.