In Re Fridge

239 B.R. 182, 1999 Bankr. LEXIS 1205, 1999 WL 759884
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 22, 1999
Docket19-05646
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 239 B.R. 182 (In Re Fridge) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Fridge, 239 B.R. 182, 1999 Bankr. LEXIS 1205, 1999 WL 759884 (Ill. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION STANDING AS FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

JACK B. SCHMETTERER, Bankruptcy Judge.

Following trial held on Alfred Fridge’s (“Debtor”) Motion for Sanctions Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(h) against Coronet Insurance Group (“Coronet”) and attorneys of the firm Cavenaugh & Matek, P.C. (“Cavenaugh”), including associate attorney Timothy Howe (“Mr. Howe”) of that *186 firm, the Court now makes and enters Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. Pursuant thereto, the Motion is sustained and sanctions are separately ordered.

Findings of Fact

On May 12th, 1999, Debtor filed his petition for relief herein under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code 11 U.S.C. § 101 et seq. Prior to that filing, Coronet had won a judgment against him in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. Also prior to the bankruptcy filing, on May 5th a citation summons to discover assets under 735 ILCS 5/2-1402 was issued and served on Debtor at the instance of Coronet and its counsel.

On May 12th, after service of the citation, Debtor paid $160 to Erik Martin, his bankruptcy counsel, to pay the bankruptcy court filing fee. The $160 was so used. Debtor obtained that money from his wife who is not a debtor here.

On May 27th, Coronet’s case came for hearing in state court on return of the citation summons. On that date, the attorneys in the Cavenaugh firm were already aware of Debtor’s bankruptcy, having received a notice from Debtor’s bankruptcy counsel. Debtor appeared in state court as ordered by the citation summons, but without counsel. He was sworn in by a deputy clerk of the Circuit Court. The Cavenaugh attorney representing Coronet that day was Mr. Timothy Howe, a young lawyer then three years out of law school. He began questioning Debtor after the oath had been administered. As is the custom in that court, the questioning took place in a room outside the courtroom, but was nonetheless part of the interrogation under authority of the citation summons. Debtor testified that Mr. Howe asked him several questions that day about his finances, but Mr. Howe acknowledges only two questions by him: (1) Did you file bankruptcy? and (2) Did you pay any money to your attorneys after the citation was served and before filing of the bankruptcy? After Debtor responded affirmatively to the first question, Mr. Howe nonetheless proceeded to ask the second. After Debt- or responded affirmatively to the second question, Mr. Howe returned to the courtroom with Debtor and informed the state court judge that Debtor had paid $160 to his attorneys after service of the citation summons and before filing in bankruptcy. Mr. Howe asked the court’s direction as to what to do at that point. Mr. Howe’s conduct described here was fully in accord with Cavenaugh’s office policy and its instructions as to how to proceed in situations of this kind as part of its aggressive collection efforts generally on behalf of clients.

The state court judge thereupon entered an order finding the following: That the citation was served prior to Debtor’s bankruptcy filing and that funds in the amount of $160 were transferred to Debtor’s counsel Erik Martin in violation of the citation’s restraining effects under state law. The matter was continued for hearing on possible criminal contempt charges against Debtor stemming from that $160 payment.

Subsequent to entry of that order in state court, Debtor filed in this Court a Motion for Sanctions pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(h) against Coronet and Cavenaugh’s attorneys.

On June 17th, initial hearing on the Motion for Sanctions was held here after which the second question posed by Mr. Howe was found to have violated 11 U.S.C. § 362 and an Order was entered. The Order forbad Coronet and its counsel from attending any further state court sessions involving Debtor and also forbad Coronet and attorneys of the Cavenaugh firm from communicating further with the state court judge in any respect until further order of this Court so long as the bankruptcy case was pending. A further hearing as to whether the actions by Mr. Howe were a willful violation of the automatic stay that merited sanctions under 11 U.S.C. § 362(h) was set for trial to be held here at a later date.

*187 On July 1st, Debtor appeared with his counsel Erik Martin for the contempt hearing in state court. That day, the judge there entered an order requiring Debtor as well as Erik Martin to appear on July 2nd for a hearing on whether or not both or either one of them should be held in criminal contempt.

On or about July 1st, Erik Martin retained Figliulo & Silverman, P.C. (“Figliu-lo”) to represent him with respect to the criminal contempt proceeding scheduled for July 2nd in state court. Figliulo presented an emergency motion before Judge. Wedoff of this Bankruptcy Court in the absence of the undersigned that day, seeking an order enjoining the state court proceeding. In the alternative, Figliulo sought a finding that the tendering of $160 to Erik Martin did not in fact violate the restraining provision of the citation order. Judge Wedoff denied the motion in part because he did not believe that he had authority to enter a restraining order against the state court. He deferred to the undersigned judge as to all other issues. That motion before Judge Wedoff was improvident and the attempt to obtain an injunction against the state court was not wellfounded.

In state court, a lawyer from the Figliu-lo firm filed a motion questioning jurisdiction of the state court over Erik Martin and also filed a limited special appearance for that purpose. On July 2nd, the hearing in state court on possible contempt charges against Debtor and Erik Martin was held. The state court judge entered an order concluding that there was no criminal contempt on the part of Debtor, holding that the filing fee paid by Debtor to his counsel Erik Martin was given to Debtor by a third party and therefore the citation lien did not extend to the funds. See 735 ILCS 5/2 — 1402(f). The court also found that Debtor’s attorney, Erik Martin, had not engaged in any unethical or criminal conduct.

Debtor then filed affidavits in Bankruptcy Court in support of its pending Motion for Sanctions regarding his claim for damages, lost wages and out-of-pocket costs incurred in defending the citation. Cave-naugh lawyers filed Objection to Amounts Claimed by Debtor in Regard to Debtor’s Motion for Sanctions. The hearing subsequently held herein considered those claims and objections.

Additional fact statements in the Conclusions of Law will stand as additional Findings of Fact, and any conclusions of law contained in the Findings of Fact will stand as additional Conclusions of Law.

Conclusions of law

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

Related

Triumph Community Bank v. IRED Elmhurst LLC
2021 IL App (2d) 200108 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
David L. Smith, Jr.
N.D. Georgia, 2021
Kauffman v. Wrenn
2015 IL App (2d) 150285 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2016)
Galmore v. Dykstra (In Re Galmore)
390 B.R. 901 (N.D. Indiana, 2008)
In Re Weitzman
381 B.R. 874 (N.D. Illinois, 2008)
In Re Gossett
23 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 751 (N.D. Illinois, 2007)
Grochocinski v. Allstate Insurance (In Re Lyckberg)
310 B.R. 881 (N.D. Illinois, 2004)
In Re Harris
310 B.R. 395 (E.D. Wisconsin, 2004)
Patton v. Shade
263 B.R. 861 (C.D. Illinois, 2001)
In Re Pincombe
256 B.R. 774 (N.D. Illinois, 2000)
In Re Halas
249 B.R. 182 (N.D. Illinois, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
239 B.R. 182, 1999 Bankr. LEXIS 1205, 1999 WL 759884, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-fridge-ilnb-1999.