In Re Latovljevic

343 B.R. 817, 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 1260, 2006 WL 1816250
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. West Virginia
DecidedMay 9, 2006
Docket06-210
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 343 B.R. 817 (In Re Latovljevic) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Latovljevic, 343 B.R. 817, 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 1260, 2006 WL 1816250 (W. Va. 2006).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PATRICK M. FLATLEY, Bankruptcy Judge.

Sava Latovljevic (the “Debtor”) requests an exemption from the Bankruptcy Code’s credit counseling requirements due to his incarceration. The United States Trustee (the “Trustee”) objects to the request for an exemption and seeks to have the Debt- or’s case dismissed on the basis that the Debtor failed to obtain pre-petition, nonprofit, budget and credit counseling services. The Trustee also seeks dismissal based on the failure of the Debtor to comply with this court’s previously issued deficiency notice which required the Debtor to file, among other things, his Chapter 13 plan by April 10, 2006. Due to the Debt- or’s past bankruptcy filings, his failure to file his bankruptcy schedules, forms, and Chapter 13 plan, the Trustee asks that any dismissal be with prejudice.

The court held a telephonic hearing in this case on May 2, 2006, in Wheeling, West Virginia, at which time the court took the matter under advisement. The Debtor is currently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution (“FCI”) operated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) in Morgantown, West Virginia. His participation was arranged through his counselor, Dan Whiteman, who also participated in the proceedings. For the reasons stated herein, the court will deny the Debtor’s request for an exemption, grant the Trustee’s motion to dismiss the Debt- or’s case, and enter a 180-day bar to refiling.

I. BACKGROUND

This is the Debtor’s sixth bankruptcy petition. The Debtor’s five previous cases *819 were all filed in the Northern District of Ohio:

1. The Debtor filed a Chapter 13 case on May 30, 2002, Case No. 02-15894, which was dismissed prior to confirmation on January 2, 2003, for a failure to file papers required to prosecute the ease and to achieve confirmation.

2. The Debtor filed a Chapter 13 case on October 15, 2003, Case No. 03-23709, which was dismissed prior to confirmation on January 28, 2004, for a failure to file papers required to prosecute the case and to achieve confirmation.

3. The Debtor filed a Chapter 7 case on May 7, 2004, Case No. 04-15773. The Debtor obtained a Chapter 7 discharge on August 19, 2004.

4. The Debtor filed a Chapter 13 case on December 30, 2004, Case No. 04-26356, which was dismissed prior to confirmation on March 23, 2005, for a failure to make pre-confirmation plan payments.

5. The Debtor filed a Chapter 13 case on July 8, 2005, Case No. 05-19946, which was dismissed prior to confirmation on October 26, 2005, for a failure to file papers required to prosecute his case and to achieve confirmation. The Debtor appealed the dismissal of that case.

The Debtor filed this case on March 24, 2006, to stop a foreclosure on a home and church property. The Debtor’s initial bankruptcy filings were incomplete and the bankruptcy clerk’s office mailed the Debtor a deficiency notice on March 24, 2006, giving him until April 10, 2006, to file, inter alia, a Chapter 13 plan, Schedules A-J, and a Chapter 13 income form. The Debtor was informed at that time that his case may be dismissed if he failed to meet the deadline set by the clerk’s office.

One of the items not filed by the Debtor was a certificate of credit counseling as required by 11 U.S.C. § 521(b)(1). Instead of the certificate, the Debtor filed a motion to waive and/or extend the time for complying with that requirement on the basis of alleged exigent circumstances and that the Debtor was incarcerated and would not be released until August 2006. At the May 2, 2006 hearing, however, the Debtor stated that he made no effort to obtain pre-petition, non-profit, budget and credit counseling services. Dan White-man, a counselor at FCI Morgantown, stated that — on written request — -sufficient telephone time could be allotted to an inmate to obtain credit counseling services. 1

II. DISCUSSION

Multiple grounds exist to dismiss the Debtor’s bankruptcy case. The court will dismiss the Debtor’s case for his failure to comply with his § 521(a)(1) duties, failure to timely file a Chapter 13 plan, and failure to obtain pre-petition, non-profit, budget and credit counseling services. The Court will also enter a 180-day bar to refiling under 11 U.S.C. § 349.

A. Section 521(a)(1) Duties and Failure to File a Plan

The Trustee argues that the Debt- or’s case should be dismissed, because the Debtor has only filed a petition and a statement of financial affairs; the Debtor has not complied with the court’s deficiency notice to file a Chapter 13 plan, Chapter 13 income from (Form 22C), Statistical Summary, Schedules A-J, and a Summary of Schedules. The Debtor states that he is willing to file the required forms.

*820 Section 1307(c) of the Bankruptcy Code provides:

[0]n request of ... the United States trustee and after notice and a hearing, the court may ... dismiss a ease under this chapter ... for cause, including
(3) failure to file a plan timely under section 1321 of this title;
(9) only on request of the United States trustee, failure of the debtor to file, within fifteen days, or such additional time as the court may allow, after the filing of the petition commencing such case, the information required by paragraph (1) of section 521;
(10) only on request of the United States trustee, failure to timely file the information required by paragraph (2) of section 521 ....

11 U.S.C. § 1307(c).

Section 521(1) and 521(2) were renumbered as part of the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 as §§ 521(a)(1) and (a)(2), but the change in the numbering of the statute is not reflected in § 1307(c). That failure, however, is a scrivener’s error and there was no intention by Congress to effect a change in the grounds for dismissing a case under § 1307(c). Section 521(a)(1) sets forth a debtor’s duties at the beginning of -a bankruptcy case, which include, filing a schedule of assets and liabilities and a statement of current income and expenditures. If a debtor fails to file those documents within the first 45 days of a case, then § 521 (i)—in addition to § 1307(c)—provides for a penalty:

[1]f an individual debtor in a voluntary case under chapter 7 or 13 fails to file all of the information required under subsection (a)(1) within 45 days after the date of the filing of the petition, the case shall be automatically dismissed effective on the 46th day after the date of the filing of the petition.

11 U.S.C. § 521(i).

The Debtor filed his bankruptcy petition on March 24, 2006.

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

Related

Untitled Case
D. Puerto Rico, 2013
In Re Falcone
370 B.R. 462 (D. Massachusetts, 2007)
In Re McBride
354 B.R. 95 (D. South Carolina, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
343 B.R. 817, 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 1260, 2006 WL 1816250, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-latovljevic-wvnb-2006.