In Re: Named Involuntary Steven Wayne Bonilla

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. California
DecidedAugust 22, 2019
Docket19-00202
StatusUnknown

This text of In Re: Named Involuntary Steven Wayne Bonilla (In Re: Named Involuntary Steven Wayne Bonilla) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re: Named Involuntary Steven Wayne Bonilla, (Cal. 2019).

Opinion

1 2 NOT FOR PUBLICATION 3 4 UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT 5 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 8 9 In re ) Misc. File No. 19-202 ) 10 Named Involuntary Petitioner ) ) 11 STEVEN WAYNE BONILLA ) ) 12 ) 13 MEMORANDUM OPINION AND DECISION AFTER REVIEW OF RESPONSIVE PLEADINGS 14 FILED BY STEVEN WAYNE BONILLA 15 Steven Wayne Bonilla delivered to the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California 16 ninety-eight (98) Bankruptcy Form 105s (involuntary bankruptcy petition forms) (Dckt. 3-93, 101- 17 107), seeking to commence ninety-eight involuntary bankruptcy cases in the Eastern District of 18 California against various federal and state court judges and justices. Because of facially identified 19 issues relating to the Form 105s, including whether Mr. Bonilla had standing to commence such 20 involuntary cases, and no filing fee for the Form 105s presented being paid, the court issued an order 21 creating this miscellaneous case file, No. 19-202 (“Miscellaneous File”), in Mr. Bonilla’s name so 22 that all of the Form 105s could be docketed in one place. The Miscellaneous File also affords Mr. 23 Bonilla the opportunity to present a unified response, rather than ninety-eight separate responses. 24 Additionally, to the extent that Mr. Bonilla would disagree with whatever ruling was made by this 25 court, the creation of the Miscellaneous File and the unified response provides for a single appeal 26 which Mr. Bonilla would have the option of pursuing, rather than ninety-eight separate appeals. 27 In the Court’s Order to open the Miscellaneous File (Dckt. 1), it provided for Mr. Bonilla to 28 file responsive pleadings addressing the various issues in the Court’s Order. Mr. Bonilla has availed 1 himself of the opportunity and presented the court with the following pleadings: 2 A. Response to 6-19-19 Court Order, Dckt. 99 (“Response,” 37 pages). 3 B. Exhibits from State Court Proceedings, Dckt. 100 (“Exhibits,” 68 pages). 4 C. Addendum re “Honorary Obligation,” Dckt. 108 (“Addendum,” 15 pages). 5 D. Additional Grounds Statement, Dckt. 114 (“Additional Statement,” 3 pages). 6 E. Response re California Judicial Council, Dckt. 115 (“Response to Supplemental 7 Docketing Order,” 10 pages). 8 Applications to Proceed in Forma Paupris 9 Mr. Bonilla has filed five Applications to Proceed in Forma Pauperis. Dckt. 95–98. The 10 Application filed as Docket Number 95 is a partial document, consisting of only one page. Dckt. 95. 11 The other four Applications appear to be complete documents, with three being seven pages in length 12 and one (Dckt. 98) eight pages in length. In the attachments to these documents, Mr. Bonilla states 13 that he is not employed and currently has no income. Further, he has no spouse, no assets, and no 14 monthly expenses. 15 The eight-page Application has as its cover page one titled for the U.S. District Court or 16 Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of California. Dckt. 98 at 1. The second page of this 17 document is another “first page” of the Application which is titled as being made to the Bankruptcy 18 Court for the Central District of California, San Fernando Division. Id. at 2. 19 The Application filed as Dckt. 96 is titled as requesting the relief from the Bankruptcy Court 20 in the Central District, Riverside Division. 21 BANKRUPTCY COURT, BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDING, 22 AND FEDERAL JURISDICTION REGARDING BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS 23 In beginning this review it is very important to put in context the position of the bankruptcy 24 court and bankruptcy judges. The bankruptcy court and bankruptcy judges have been created by 25 Congress pursuant to Article I of the United States Constitution. While organizationally part of the 26 United States district court, the bankruptcy court is not an Article III court under the United States 27 Constitution. The scope of a bankruptcy court proceeding and exercise of a bankruptcy judge’s 28 judicial authority exists only to the extent as provided in 28 U.S.C. § 1334 (federal court bankruptcy 1 jurisdiction) and § 157 (exercise of federal judicial power by a bankruptcy judge). This judicial 2 power may properly be exercised over bankruptcy cases and civil proceedings arising under the 3 Bankruptcy Code, as well as those arising in and related to a bankruptcy case. 4 Mr. Bonilla has provided the court with significant information concerning his state court 5 criminal proceeding, the asserted defects in the conviction, and various theories and authorities by 6 which he asserts his rights have been denied. That information is relevant to considering whether 7 standing exists for Mr. Bonilla asserting the right to commence the involuntary bankruptcy cases. 8 However, 28 U.S.C. § 1334 and § 157 limit the scope of an Article I bankruptcy judge’s exercise of 9 federal judicial power to those bankruptcy issues, and not to the full breadth of the federal judicial 10 power arising under Article III of the United States Constitution (for which it is the Article III District 11 Court judges, Court of Appeals judges, and Supreme Court justices whom may exercise that full 12 power). 13 The Response indicates that Mr. Bonilla appreciates this distinction and is seeking to present 14 the “bankruptcy law issues” to this Article I court and not attempting to have this court act outside 15 its jurisdiction and judicial power granted to it by Congress. To the extent the court has misread 16 Mr. Bonilla’s statements, this discussion has been included to explain the limitation on this court’s 17 powers with respect to the broader range of Mr. Bonilla’s issues with the judicial system. 18 Involuntary Bankruptcy Petition Provisions 19 Congress has provided a process under the Bankruptcy Code by which creditors of a person 20 may force that person into bankruptcy with the “mere” filing of an involuntary bankruptcy petition 21 by the creditors. In pertinent part to the matters now before the court, 11 U.S.C. § 303 (discussed in 22 greater detail infra) provides that three or more creditors of a person may commence an involuntary 23 bankruptcy case if they collectively hold at least $15,750.00 in liquidated, noncontingent, not subject 24 to bona fide dispute unsecured debt. If the person for whom the involuntary bankruptcy case is to 25 be commenced has less than twelve creditors with such claims, then a single creditor who meets the 26 above criteria may commence the involuntary bankruptcy case. 27 Here, it is only Mr. Bonilla who is filing the Form 105s as the sole creditor seeking to force 28 the Form 105 Targets into bankruptcy. Presumably, Mr. Bonilla is asserting that each of the 1 Form 105 Targets have less than twelve creditors each. The actual number of creditors holding 2 unsecured claims is unknown at this time. 3 FEE WAIVER/IN FORMA PAUPERIS REQUESTS 4 With the responsive pleadings Mr. Bonilla has included five fee waiver requests. As 5 discussed below, Mr. Bonilla is now seeking to pursue only ninety-eight involuntary bankruptcy 6 cases. Mr. Bonilla directs the court to the provision of 28 U.S.C. § 1930 (which specifies required 7 filing fees in bankruptcy cases) and asserts that the district court and the bankruptcy court are not 8 restricted in waiving the filing fees, so long as it is in accordance with Judicial Conference policy. 9 Response, pp. 28:23-28, 29:1-15; Dckt. 99. He then directs the court to consider 28 U.S.C. § 1915 10 which provides for Prisoner’s Application to Proceed in Forma Paupers.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
In Re: Named Involuntary Steven Wayne Bonilla, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-named-involuntary-steven-wayne-bonilla-caeb-2019.