Gordon v. Hutchinson (In Re Hutchinson)

328 B.R. 30, 2005 Bankr. LEXIS 1464, 2005 WL 1802965
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. New York
DecidedAugust 2, 2005
Docket1-19-10161
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 328 B.R. 30 (Gordon v. Hutchinson (In Re Hutchinson)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gordon v. Hutchinson (In Re Hutchinson), 328 B.R. 30, 2005 Bankr. LEXIS 1464, 2005 WL 1802965 (N.Y. 2005).

Opinion

DECISION & ORDER

JOHN C. NINFO, II, Chief Judge.

BACKGROUND

On December 21, 2004, Chad J. Hutchinson (the “Debtor”) filed a petition initiating a Chapter 7 case. On the Schedules and Statements required to be filed by Section 521 and Rule 1007, the Debtor indicated that: (1) he owned a 2003 Dodge Dakota automobile and a 2001 Honda Motorcycle, both of which had secured loans against them with balances significantly higher than their current values; (2) he had only the following unsecured non-priority creditors: (a) Gayle Hutchinson, his former spouse, for an “unliquidated” amount; (b) a Household Finance Corporation personal loan with a balance of $9,132.24; and (c) a Providian Visa account (the “Providian Account”) with a current balance of $9,233.05; (3) he had surgery in November 2004 for a ruptured disc and pinched nerve incurred in October 2004, and was now on disability; (4) in response to Question # 17 on Schedule B, which asks debtors to list, “Other liquidated debts owing debtor including tax refunds. Give particulars,” the Debtor listed his interest in anticipated 2004 joint tax refunds with Gayle Hutchinson, but he did not list any other liquidated debts owed to him; and (5) he had no other contingent and unliquidated claims against anyone (Schedule B, Question # 20).

Kenneth W. Gordon, Esq. was appointed as the Debtor’s Chapter 7 Trustee (the “Trustee”), and on January 13, 2005, he conducted a Section 341 Meeting of Creditors (the “Meeting of Creditors”) at which the Debtor and his attorney appeared.

On March 7, 2005, the Trustee filed an Adversary Proceeding objecting to the Debtor’s discharge under Section 727. The Complaint in the Adversary Proceeding alleged that the Debtor failed to disclose, on his Schedules and in his initial testimony at the Meeting of Creditors, that he was owed money by Bernie Napoli-tano (“Napolitano”) in the approximate amount of $3,000.00 (the “Napolitano Debt”), which was the balance due under a $7,000.00 Promissory Note (the “Napolita-no Note”).

On March 25, 2005, the Debtor interposed an Answer to the Complaint which *32 denied that the Trustee had sufficient grounds under Section 727 for the Court to deny the Debtor’s discharge.

On July 20, 2005, the Court conducted a trial (the “Trial”) at which the Debtor was the only witness to testify.

Admitted into evidence as Plaintiffs Exhibit # 1 at Trial, and played into the record, was an audiotape made by the Trustee of the Meeting of Creditors (the “Audio tape”). The Audio tape confirmed that the Debtor initially testified that: (1) he had assisted his attorney in preparing all of his Schedules and had read each page; (2) he had listed all of his assets; (3) he had no right to sue or make a claim against anyone; and (4) no one owed him any money.

The Audio tape also confirmed that the Trustee learned about the Napolitano Debt from Gayle Hutchinson who appeared at the Meeting of Creditors and orally provided him with the details of the Debt.

The Audio tape further confirmed that after Gayle Hutchinson advised the Trustee of the existence of the Napolitano Debt, the Debtor testified that: (1) the Debt existed; (2) there was approximately $3,000.00 still due from Napolitano; and (3) he had some paperwork at home regarding the Debt.

At Trial, the Debtor testified that: (1) he initially met Napolitano, a jeweler, in 1993 when he was shopping for wedding rings and they had been friends ever since; (2) in August 2003, when he and Napolita-no were on a motorcycle ride to Geneseo, Napolitano indicated that he needed $7,000.00 to expand his jewelry store and business; (3) he agreed to loan Napolitano $7,000.00 by taking a cash advance against his Providian Account; (4) when he learned that he could only take cash advances of $500.00 per day and Napolitano needed the money immediately, he arranged for Gayle Hutchinson’s employer to write a $7,000.00 check to Napolitano, and then he took daily cash advances of $500.00 and used them to repay her; (5) Napolitano would give the Debtor a check for approximately $250.00 per month, which he would then deposit into his bank account and write his monthly payment check to Providian that was due on the 15th or the 16th of each month; (6) at times the Debtor had to call Napolitano for his payment because it was getting too close to the due date for the Providian Account payment; (7) Napolitano paid him approximately $250.00 per month until October, November or December 2004; 1 (8) Napolitano knew that the Debtor had filed for bankruptcy; (9) he never intended to collect the balance of the Napolitano Debt after he filed for bankruptcy; (10) Gayle Hutchinson, who worked in a law office, made sure that the transaction was documented by dictating the wording of the Note and Napolitano and the Debtor executed the Napolitano Note on August 7, 2003; 2 and (11) he did not schedule the Napolitano Debt because: (a) he never thought of it as an asset; and (b) he merely used the Napolitano payments to repay the amounts due on the Providian Account that he had borrowed from to loan Napolitano the money.

*33 In a closing argument, the Debtor’s attorney asserted that the critical issue before the Court was the Debtor’s intent under Section 727(a)(4)(A). 3 The attorney further asserted that: (1) the Trustee had not met his burden to prove that the Debt- or knowingly and fraudulently failed to disclose the Napolitano Debt; (2) the Debtor never knowingly and fraudulently failed to disclose the Napolitano Debt on his Schedules or in his initial testimony at the Meeting of Creditors; (3) the Debtor failed to disclose the Napolitano Debt because he did not think that it was an asset; and (4) the Debtor never used the payments he received from Napolitano for his own purposes, he only used them to make payments on the Providian Account that he had borrowed from to loan Napolitano $7,000.00 in August 2003.

DISCUSSION

I. CASE LAW

From the cases which have been decided under Section 727(a)(4)(A), including this Court’s Decisions & Orders in In re Pierri, Ch. 7 Case No. 97-20461, A.P. Case No. 97-2125 (W.D.N.Y. April 21, 1998), In re Ptasinski (Chapter 7 Case No. 02-20524, A.P. Case No. 02-2172, W.D.N.Y., February 13, 2003), In re Foxton (Chapter 7 Case No. 04-22377, A.P. Case No. 04-2154, W.D.N.Y. April 12, 2005), and In re Mondore (Chapter 7 Case No. 04-21316, A.P. Case Nos. 04-2124 and 04-2130, W.D.N.Y. June 14, 2005), we know that for the Court to deny a debtor’s discharge because of a false oath or account: (1) the false oath or account must have been knowingly and fraudulently made, see Farouki v. Emirates Bank Int’l, Ltd., 14 F.3d 244 (4th Cir.1994); (2) the required intent may be found by inference from all of the facts, see 6 L.King, Collier on Bankruptcy, ¶ 727.04[l][a] at 37 (15th ed.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

IBA, Inc. v. Hoyt (In Re Hoyt)
337 B.R. 463 (W.D. New York, 2006)
Area Community Credit Union v. Tyrrell (In Re Tyrrell)
363 B.R. 581 (D. North Dakota, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
328 B.R. 30, 2005 Bankr. LEXIS 1464, 2005 WL 1802965, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gordon-v-hutchinson-in-re-hutchinson-nywb-2005.