In re Dixon

528 B.R. 710, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 1405, 2015 WL 1803924
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedApril 21, 2015
DocketCase No. 12-60750
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 528 B.R. 710 (In re Dixon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Dixon, 528 B.R. 710, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 1405, 2015 WL 1803924 (Mich. 2015).

Opinion

AMENDED SECOND OPINION (FOLLOWING EVIDENTIARY HEARING) REGARDING (1) “MOTION TO SET ASIDE ORDER DATED 10/31/2012;” AND (2) “DEBTOR’S MOTION FOR SANCTIONS AND TO ENFORCE OCTOBER 31, 2012 [ORDER] TO RETURN 2002 SUZUKI MOTORCYCLE TO DEBTOR”

Thomas J. Tucker, United States Bankruptcy Judge

I. Introduction

This case is before the Court on two competing motions: (1) a motion by Michael Jones, Court Officer, entitled “Motion to Set Aside Order Dated 10/31/2012 (Docket #21)” (Docket #22, the “Court Officer Motion”); and (2) a motion by the Debtor entitled “Debtor’s Motion for Sanctions and to Enforce October 31, 2012 [Order] to Return 2002 Suzuki Motorcycle to Debtor” (Docket #23, the “Debtor’s Motion”)(eollectively, the “Motions”). In a previous written opinion addressing these Motions (the “Previous Opinion”), the Court decided certain issues of law, and concluded that an evidentiary hearing was required. See In re Dixon, 500 B.R. 869 (Bankr.E.D.Mich.2013).1 The Court then held an evidentiary hearing.

The Court has considered the testimony presented and the exhibits admitted into evidence at the evidentiary hearing, and the arguments of counsel. For the reasons stated in this opinion, the Court will enter an order granting the Court Officer Motion, and denying the Debtor’s Motion.

II. Background and certain undisputed facts

The Court stated the following background, and the following facts, in its Previous Opinion, and reiterates them now. [712]*712As the Court stated in the Previous Opinion,

[T]he Debtor’s motorcycle was sold at an execution sale, by auction, on the day the Debtor filed this bankruptcy case. The Debtor contends that the sale was a violation of the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a), and therefore is voidable, because the sale occurred after the bankruptcy petition was filed. The Court Officer involved in the sale, Michael Jones, disagrees, and contends that the sale was completed before the bankruptcy case was filed.
The Debtor in this case filed his voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition on September 12, 2012 at 4:44 p.m. Before he did so, a judgment creditor caused an execution seizure of the Debtor’s 2002 Suzuki motorcycle. An execution sale was noticed for September 12, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. Court Officer Victor Lotyz conducted the sale, assisted by Court Officer Michael Jones. It is undisputed that the Court Officer began and ended the public auction of the motorcycle minutes before Debtor filed his bankruptcy petition, and, therefore, before the automatic stay arose under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a). It is also undisputed that the successful (and only) bidder at the sale was R.J. Luezak Enterprises, whose President is Rick Luezak.
On October 10, 2012, Debtor filed a motion to void the sale and to compel the return of the motorcycle to him. [Docket # 16]. His motion named as respondents the Court Officer Michael Jones and the purchaser. After no timely response was filed to the motion, Debtor filed a certificate of no response and the Court entered an order granting the motion. The order [Docket #21, the “Voiding Order”] ... stated, in pertinent part:
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the sale of Debtor’s 2002 Suzuki Motorcycle, as described in the Motion, is declared to be void because the sale was done in violation of the automatic stay, and the motorcycle must be returned to the Debtor immediately.
Court Officer Michael Jones [promptly] filed a motion to vacate the [Voiding Order, Docket #22]. Debtor then filed ... a motion to enforce the [Voiding] Order and for sanctions. [Docket # 23].
The Court held [an initial] hearing on these motions, ... [and then] ordered the Debtor and the Court Officer to file post-hearing briefs on the issue of “when the execution sale by auction of Debtor’s 2002 Suzuki motorcycle was complete and final.”2

After the parties timely filed their briefs, the Court issued its Previous Opinion, which is discussed further below.

III. Jurisdiction

The Court reiterates and again adopts what it said in its Previous Opinion, about this Court’s subject matter jurisdiction and the core nature of this contested matter:

This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this bankruptcy case and this contested matter under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334(b), 157(a) and 157(b)(1), and Local Rule 83.50(a) (E.D. Mich.). This is a core proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(0).
This proceeding also is “core” because it falls within the definition of a proceeding “arising under title 11” and of a proceeding “arising in” a case under title 'll, within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b). Matters falling within either of these categories in § 1334(b) are deemed to be core proceedings. See [713]*713Allard v. Coenen (In re Trans-Industries, Inc.), 419 B.R. 21, 27 (Bankr. E.D.Mich.2009). This is a proceeding “arising under title 11” because it is “created or determined by a statutory provision of title 11,” see id. namely Bankruptcy Code § 362(a). And this is a proceeding “arising in” a case under title 11, because it is a proceeding that “by [its] very nature, could arise only in bankruptcy cases.” See Allard v. Coenen, 419 B.R. at 27.3

IV. Discussion

A. The issue of Michigan law decided by the Court’s Previous Opinion

In the Previous Opinion, the Court decided the following question of Michigan law: “when a judgment creditor causes a motorcycle to be sold at an execution sale, what events must occur before ownership of the motorcycle changes from the judgment debtor to the purchaser?”4 As the Court noted, this question

is important in this case because the Debtor’s motorcycle was sold at an execution sale, by auction, on the day the Debtor filed this bankruptcy case. The Debtor contends that the sale was a violation of the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a), and therefore is voidable, because the sale occurred after the bankruptcy petition was filed. The Court Officer involved in the sale, Michael Jones, disagrees, and contends that the sale was completed before the bankruptcy case was filed.5

The Court’s Previous Opinion quoted from the leading Sixth Circuit case on the voida-bility of post-petition acts that violate the automatic stay, Easley v. Pettibone Michigan Corp.,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
528 B.R. 710, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 1405, 2015 WL 1803924, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-dixon-mieb-2015.