In re: Julio Oscar Acevedo Barreto and Gloria Esther Perez Cardona d/b/a Panaderia Familiar v. Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados; Corporacion del Fondo del Seguro del Estado; Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos; and Wigberto Lugo Mender, Trustee

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedJuly 24, 2012
Docket10-00064
StatusUnknown

This text of In re: Julio Oscar Acevedo Barreto and Gloria Esther Perez Cardona d/b/a Panaderia Familiar v. Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados; Corporacion del Fondo del Seguro del Estado; Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos; and Wigberto Lugo Mender, Trustee (In re: Julio Oscar Acevedo Barreto and Gloria Esther Perez Cardona d/b/a Panaderia Familiar v. Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados; Corporacion del Fondo del Seguro del Estado; Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos; and Wigberto Lugo Mender, Trustee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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In re: Julio Oscar Acevedo Barreto and Gloria Esther Perez Cardona d/b/a Panaderia Familiar v. Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados; Corporacion del Fondo del Seguro del Estado; Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos; and Wigberto Lugo Mender, Trustee, (prb 2012).

Opinion

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

3 IN RE: 4 JULIO OSCAR ACEVEDO BARRETO CASE NO. 07-01435 BKT 5 GLORIA ESTHER PEREZ CARDONA CHAPTER 7

6 Debtor(s) ADVERSARY NO. 10-0064

7 JULIO OSCAR ACEVEDO BARRETO 8 GLORIA ESTHER PEREZ CARDONA d/b/a PANADERIA FAMILIAR 9

10 Plaintiff AUTORIDAD DE ACUEDUECTOS Y 11 FILED & ENTERED ON 07/24/2012 ALCANTARILLADOS; CORPORACION 12 DEL FONDO DEL SEGURO DEL 13 ESTADO; DEPARTAMENTO DEL TRABAJO Y RECURSOS HUMANOS; 14 and WIGBERTO LUGO MENDER 15 ,TRUSTEE

16 Defendant(s) 17 OPINION AND ORDER 18

19 20 Before the Court is the Motion for Partial Summary Judgment 21 filed by Julio Oscar Acevedo Barreto and Gloria Esther Pérez 22 Cardona, d/b/a Panaderia Familiar (“Plaintiffs”) as to co-defendant 23 24 Puerto Rico’s Aqueduct and Sewers Authority (“PRASA”) (Dkt. No. 25 111), Plaintiffs’ Statement of Uncontested Material Facts (Dkt. No. 111), PRASA’s Opposition to Statements of Uncontested Material Facts (Dkt. No. 125), PRASA’s Opposition to Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Dkt. No. 126) and Plaintiffs’ Reply to Opposition 1 to Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Dkt. No. 141). For the 2 reasons set forth below Plaintiffs’ Motion for Partial Summary 3 Judgment is hereby DENIED. 4 5 6 I. Factual and Procedural Background 7 On March 20, 2007,Plaintiffs filed their Chapter 7 voluntary 8 petition (Dkt No. 1),Case No. 07-01435. On April 4, 2010, 9 10 Plaintiffs filed an adversary proceeding against PRASA, the State 11 Insurance Fund Corporation, the Department of Labor and Human 12 Resources and Wigberto Lugo Mender, Esq., Chapter 7 Trustee, for 13 14 allegedly violating the automatic stay provisions of 11 U.S.C. §362 15 (k)(1) and (2). On February 7, 2012, Plaintiffs filed a Partial 16 Motion for Summary Judgment as to the allegations against PRASA(Dkt 17 No. 111). Plaintiffs contend that PRASA received timely and 18 19 sufficient notice of the filing of the bankruptcy case, as 20 evidenced by the Certificate of Service of March 23, 2007 (Dkt No. 21 4).In the bankruptcy case PRASA was an unsecured creditor, as such, 22 23 was included in the schedules and in the CM/ECF creditor mailing 24 matrix. Nevertheless, from February 22, 2008 through February 19, 25 2010, PRASA purportedly continued to assess and collect a claim against Debtors through the continued mailing of written collection notices. Plaintiffs further allege that on July 15, 2010, PRASA 1 acknowledged the fact that the bankruptcy case had been filed. 2 Notwithstanding, PRASA continued to send standard computer 3 generated bills and a termination letter, which Plaintiffs 4 5 characterize as contemptuous, coercive and harassing collection 6 tactics. Plaintiffs assert that PRASA’s actions constituted 7 willful violations of the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(k), 8 as PRASA intended its actions and also failed to take corrective 9 10 action. 11 On the other hand, PRASA alleges that due to unusual and 12 extenuating circumstances it had no knowledge of Plaintiffs’ 13 14 bankruptcy filing and the ensuing automatic stay. PRASA sustains 15 that around the petition date, PRASA’s one employee who receives 16 the bankruptcy notices and codified the accounts was murdered. To 17 that effect, during the turmoil of events immediately following 18 19 such murder, Plaintiffs’ bankruptcy notice was purportedly 20 misplaced. For this reason, PRASA alleges that it had no actual 21 knowledge of Plaintiffs’ bankruptcy case. Therefore, PRASA’s 22 23 computer system continued generating invoices reflecting pre and 24 post-petition charges, and admits seventeen notices were sent to 25 Plaintiffs between February 2008 and February 2010requesting payment. PRASA alleges that it never received any other communications from Plaintiffs. However, PRASA never terminated Plaintiffs’ water 1 service and denies having sent collection letters threatening 2 Plaintiffs with terminating their water service. PRASA argues that 3 the letter sent on July 10, 2012 is not a termination letter, but a 4 5 20-day notice requesting adequate assurance of payment pursuant to 6 11 U.S.C. § 366. Said letter was sent by PRASA after learning of 7 the bankruptcy filing. PRASA sustains that because of the 8 isolated, unusual circumstance of the death of that one employee 9 10 PRASA had no knowledge of the bankruptcy case. Therefore, PRASA 11 asserts that it did not violate the automatic stay. PRASA argues 12 that when it became aware of Plaintiffs bankruptcy case, no further 13 14 action or activity was undertaken by them. Accordingly, PRASA 15 contends that it is immune from liability for stay violations 16 because without the actual knowledge of the filing of plaintiff’s 17 bankruptcy case, its actions were not willful. It is PRASA’s 18 19 positions that the actions undertaken against Plaintiffs were but a 20 result of a clerical mistake, hence, no violation of the automatic 21 stay occurred. 22 23 PRASA requests that Plaintiffs’ Statement of Uncontested 24 Material Facts and exhibits (Dkt. No. 111) be stricken, and the 25 Motion for Partial Summary Judgment be denied. This request is founded on Plaintiffs’ failure to comply with Local Civil Rule for the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico 56(b) (L.Cv.R. 56(b)(D.P.R. 2009)),which requires that a motion for 1 summary judgment be supported by separate, short, and concise 2 statements of material facts as to which the moving party contends 3 there is no genuine issue of material fact to be tried, each of 4 5 which must be supported by a record citation. PRASA also contends 6 that Plaintiffs failed to provide record citations in support of 7 paragraphs number 2 and 4 of their statement of uncontested facts 8 violating L.Cv.R. 56(b) (D.P.R. 2009). 9 10 PRASA sustains that Plaintiffs failed to comply with Federal 11 Rules of Civil Procedure 56(c)(1)(A)&(B), because they only cite as 12 supporting evidence the allegations contained in the unsworn Third 13 14 Amendment Complaint (Dkt. No. 33, page 8). The allegations included 15 in said complaint have not been authenticated by a declaration of 16 the Plaintiffs, therefore, PRASA claims that they are insufficient 17 for purposes of summary judgment. According to PRASA, Plaintiffs 18 19 also failed to submit an affidavit or unsworn statement with their 20 motion, thus failing to authenticate their exhibits in violation of 21 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 56(c)(2)&(c)(4), which precludes 22 23 its consideration on a motion for summary judgment. Finally, PRASA 24 argues that Plaintiffs failed to include an English translation of 25 the documents referenced in Plaintiffs’ Statement of Uncontested Facts and included as exhibits(Dkt No. 111), as required by Local Bankruptcy Rule 9070-1(c). II. Discussion 1 A. Summary Judgment Standard 2 3 The Court’s discretion to grant summary Judgment is governed 4 by Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure applicable in 5 bankruptcy by the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure 7056.

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In re: Julio Oscar Acevedo Barreto and Gloria Esther Perez Cardona d/b/a Panaderia Familiar v. Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados; Corporacion del Fondo del Seguro del Estado; Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos; and Wigberto Lugo Mender, Trustee, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-julio-oscar-acevedo-barreto-and-gloria-esther-perez-cardona-dba-prb-2012.