Gillispie v. Wilmington Trust Co. (In re Motors Liquidation Co.)

599 B.R. 706
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 27, 2019
DocketNo. 17 CV 8538-LTS
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 599 B.R. 706 (Gillispie v. Wilmington Trust Co. (In re Motors Liquidation Co.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gillispie v. Wilmington Trust Co. (In re Motors Liquidation Co.), 599 B.R. 706 (S.D. Ill. 2019).

Opinion

LAURA TAYLOR SWAIN, United States District Judge

Roger Dean Gillispie ("Appellant") appeals the Memorandum Opinion and Order entered by Judge Glenn, in In re Motors Liquidation Co., 576 B.R. 761, 765 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2017) (the " Bankruptcy Decision"), denying Appellant's motion to pursue claims against General Motors LLC ("New GM") pursuant to 42 U.S.C. section 1983 (" Section 1983") and Ohio state law for vicarious liability for the acts of GM employees who, in concert with government actors, allegedly deprived him of his civil rights, or, alternatively, to permit Appellant to file a post-bar-date proof of claim against Motors Liquidation Company ("Old GM"), as represented by Wilmington Trust Company as trustee and administrator of Motors Liquidation Company General Unsecured Creditors Trust ("GUC").

The Court has jurisdiction of this timely-filed appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. section 158(a)(1).

The Court has considered carefully the submissions of all parties and, for the following reasons, affirms the Bankruptcy Decision.

BACKGROUND

Familiarity with the factual and procedural background of this appeal is presumed. Unless otherwise noted, the parties do not dispute the relevant facts, which are summarized below.

In 1991, Appellant was convicted of rape, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and gross sexual imposition, stemming from two separate incidents in 1988. See Bankruptcy Decision, 576 B.R. at 765. Later that year, he was again convicted upon a re-trial, and his conviction was affirmed in state court eight times. See id. at 765-66, 765 n.1 (detailing the history of Appellant's criminal proceedings). Appellant was imprisoned from 1991 until after the sale of the assets and bar date described below.

"On June 1, 2009 ..., Old GM and certain of its affiliates (collectively, the "Debtors") filed Chapter 11 petitions in [the bankruptcy c]ourt." Id. at 766. On June 2, 2009, the bankruptcy court entered an order approving the procedures to sell substantially all of Old GM's assets pursuant to 11 U.S.C. section 363 (" Section 363"). Id. citing (citing In re Motors Liquidation Company, et al., 09-50026-MG, Docket Entry No. 274 ).

The bankruptcy court ordered that the Debtors send notice of the sale procedures to all known creditors by mail and publish notice in several "global, national, and local newspapers." Bankruptcy Decision, 576 B.R. at 766 (citing *710In re Motors Liquidation Company, et al., 09-50026-MG, Docket Entry No. 274). On July 5, 2009, the bankruptcy court entered an order authorizing the sale of substantially all of Old GM's assets to New GM pursuant to Section 363. Id.; In re Gen. Motors Corp., 407 B.R. 463 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2009) (subsequent history omitted) (the " Sale Order"). The sale was free and clear of all debts and liabilities except those explicitly assumed in the Sale Order, which are irrelevant to the current action. Sale Order, 407 B.R. at 481-82.

On September 16, 2009, the bankruptcy court entered an order establishing a bar date of November 30, 2009, for any pre-petition creditor to file a proof of claim against Old GM. Bankruptcy Decision, 576 B.R. at 766-67 (citing In re Motors Liquidation Company, et al., 09-50026-MG, Docket Entry No. 4079). The bankruptcy court ordered that notice of the bar date be disseminated in a manner similar to the sale procedures. See id.

Although Old GM's agent proffers evidence that notice of both the sale and of the bar date, along with a proof of claim form, were sent to Appellant's last known address, no party disputes that Appellant did not actually receive the correspondence owing to his continued incarceration. See id. at 766. Appellant did not timely file a proof of claim. Id.

On December 15, 2009, Appellant filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Appellant alleged, inter alia, that, prior to his criminal trial, he was not provided with the reports of the detectives who originally investigated the crimes, in which the detectives eliminated Appellant as a suspect.1 Gillispie v. Timmerman-Cooper, 835 F.Supp.2d 482 (S.D. Ohio 2011). The district court found that the withholding of these reports deprived Appellant of the opportunity to impeach the quality of the subsequent investigation by another detective that led to his arrest, in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). Gillispie v. Timmerman-Cooper, 835 F.Supp.2d at 506-509. On December 15, 2011, the district court conditionally granted the writ and ordered that Appellant be released or retried in state court. Id.

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599 B.R. 706, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gillispie-v-wilmington-trust-co-in-re-motors-liquidation-co-ilsd-2019.