In re: Antonio Alvarez Torres

• Court: United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico
• Decided: September 21, 2020
• Docket: 18-06275
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 IN THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO 2

3 IN RE: CASE NO. 18-06275-BKT13 4

5 ANTONIO ALVAREZ TORRES Chapter 13 6

7 FILED & ENTERED ON 09/21/2020 8 Debtor(s) 9

10 OPINION AND ORDER 11 Before the court is Claimant Asociacion de Propietarios y Residentes Ciudad Jardín Bairoa, 12 Inc.’s (hereinafter “Claimant”) Motion for Reconsideration of Order Granting Objection to Claim 13 14 #3 Filed [Dkt. No. 73], along with Antonio Alvarez Torres’s (“Debtor”) Opposition to Motions 15 for Reconsideration [Dkt. No. 74]. Claimant’s reconsideration stems from an Order entered by the 16 court on January 22, 2020, granting Debtors’ objection to claim number 3 [Dkt. No. 69]. 17 Claimants motion for reconsideration sets forth Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e), made applicable to 18 19 bankruptcy cases through Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9023, as its legal basis under which the court could 20 provide relief. Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e) authorizes the filing of a motion moving the court to alter or 21 amend a judgment within twenty-eight (28) days1 of entry of said judgment. Because “Rule 59(e) 22 does not state the grounds on which relief may be granted… courts have considerable discretion 23 in deciding whether to grant or deny a motion under the rule.” In re Nieves Guzman, 567 B.R. 854, 24 25 863 (B.A.P. 1st Cir. 2017) (quoting, ACA Fin. Guar. Corp. v. Advest, Inc., 512 F.3d 46, 55 (1st

1 Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9023 reduces the twenty-eight (28) day requirement to fourteen (14) days. 1 1 Cir. 2008)) (internal quotations omitted). 2 The First Circuit has generally noted four grounds for granting a motion for reconsideration 3 pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 59: “manifest errors of law or fact, newly discovered or previously 4 unavailable evidence, manifest injustice, and an intervening change in controlling law.” Marie v. 5 6 Allied Home Mortgage Corp., 402 F.3rd 1, 7 (1st Cir. 2005) (citing, 11 C. Wright et al., Federal 7 Practice & Procedure § 2810.1 (2d ed. 1995)). “It is well settled in the First Circuit that to meet 8 the threshold requirements of Rule 59(e), the motion must demonstrate the ‘reason why the court 9 should reconsider its prior decision….’ In re Nieves Guzman, 567 B.R. at 863 (quoting, In re 10 11 Arroyo, 544 B.R. 751, 756 (Bankr. D.P.R. 2015)). The moving party is generally held as having 12 to produce to the court a “‘clear conviction of error’ or belief that the final judgment was ‘dead 13 wrong.’” Steven S. Gensler, 2 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules and Commentary, Rule 59, 14 Westlaw (February 2017). 15 “A motion for reconsideration is not the venue to undo procedural snafus or permit a party 16 17 to advance arguments it should have developed prior to judgment, nor is it a mechanism to 18 regurgitate old arguments previously considered and rejected.” In re Nieves Guzman, 567 B.R. at 19 863 (quoting, Biltcliffe v. CitiMortgage, Inc., 772 F.3d 925, 930 (1st Cir. 2014) (citations omitted) 20 (internal quotations omitted). Finally, "[i]n practice, [R]ule 59(e) motions are generally denied 21 because of the narrow purpose for which they are intended." Rosado v. Banco Popular de P.R., 22 23 561 B.R. 598, 608 (B.A.P. 1st Cir. 2017) (quoting, BAC Home Loans Servicing LP v. Grassi, No. 24 EP 11-010, 2011 Bankr. LEXIS 4362 (B.A.P. 1st Cir. Nov. 21, 2011)). Federal courts “have 25 consistently stated that a motion for reconsideration of a previous order is an extraordinary remedy

that must be used sparingly because of interest in finality and conservation of scarce judicial 2 1 resources.” Id. at 607. Upon review of the parties’ briefs and the evidence submitted therein, the court determine 3 that no error was committed. Claimant fails to establish any of the required legal factors fo 4 5 reconsideration under Rule 59 discussed above. After considering Claimant’s motion, the court 6 || finds that said motion neither provides the court with genuine reasons why it should revisit th ’ || prior Order, nor compelling facts in support of reversing the prior decision. Granting a motion fo 8 reconsideration under Rule 59 is generally viewed with disfavor by the courts, and the arguments 9 proffered by the Claimant do not provide any reason to justify relief from this court’s Order. A

11 the Claimant’s Motion for Reconsideration of Order Granting Objection to Claim #3 File 12 No. 73], is DENIED. 13 SO ORDERED 14 In San Juan, Puerto Rico this 21“ day of September 2020. 15

17 Brian K. Tester 18 U.S. Bankruptcy Judge 19 20 21 22 23 24 25