In re Vansolkema

550 B.R. 333, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 2032, 62 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 152, 2016 WL 2604731
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedMay 5, 2016
DocketCase No. DG 13-02691
StatusPublished

This text of 550 B.R. 333 (In re Vansolkema) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.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 Vansolkema, 550 B.R. 333, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 2032, 62 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 152, 2016 WL 2604731 (Mich. 2016).

Opinion

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION AND ORDER

HONORABLE SCOTT W. DALES, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge

In the Final Pretrial Order dated April 21, 2016 (ECF No. 50), in this contested matter regarding the discharge injunction, the court overruled an objection under Federal Rule of Evidence 4081 to the introduction at trial of certain email statements of counsel “for the reasons set forth on the record.” The court orally ruled on the evidentiary objection of Kim Parker and Anthony Parker (the “Parkers”) because the trial was scheduled to occur the following week, and the parties deserved to know, in advance, whether the court would admit what the Parkers’ adversary, Ryan VanSolkema (the “Debtor”), regarded as a key piece of documentary evidence.

The document at issue, Exhibit 9A, is a string of email communications between the Parkers’ attorney, Robert DeJong, Esq., and attorney Tim Taylor, Esq., who represented the Debtor at the time of the exchange. After the court overruled the Parkers’ objection, Mr. DeJong said that, in response to the court’s decision, he felt compelled to give his own testimony concerning the context of the email exchange.

On the record, the court and the parties briefly discussed the implications of Mr. DeJong’s proposed testimony, and all agreed that he may testify in a narrative fashion without having to enlist the aid of another lawyer, notwithstanding M.R.P.C. 3.7 (Lawyer as Witness). The court entered the Final Pretrial Order memorializing the hearing and, like the parties, began preparing for the upcoming trial. The next week, however, Debtor’s counsel reported a medical emergency requiring his immediate attention, and the court abruptly adjourned the trial without date as a courtesy to counsel.

Although the delay occasioned by this unanticipated adjournment is an inconvenient and unwelcome development in some respects, it nevertheless gives the court the chance to supplement its oral ruling and explain more fully its rationale. It also creates an opportunity to consider the implications of Mr. DeJong’s proposed testimony.

1. Rationale for Overruling Rule 408 Objection

Exhibit 9A reflects communications between Mr. DeJong and Mr. Taylor in which the former seeks to persuade the latter that the Debtor should consent to judgment in favor of Mr. Parker or perhaps Ms. Parker through the divorce court. The email from Mr. DeJong evidently included an amortization schedule in the full amount of his clients’ claim. [335]*335Indeed, the only hint of compromise within. the communication is Mr. Delong’s tepid suggestion that his client might be receptive to a “reasonable payment schedule,” provided the Debtor would consent to judgment in the full amount of the claim. This hardly seems like the sort of communication in the spirit of compromise protected by Rule 408.

Even assuming for the sake of argument that Exhibit 9A might be characterized as a compromise offer or negotiation (as opposed to simply inter-counsel communication setting forth the basis of one side’s demand against another),2 the court' finds Rule 408 inapplicable for a distinct reason, based on a careful reading of the text which provides as follows:

(a) Prohibited Uses. Evidence of.the following is not admissible — on behalf of any party — either to prove or disprove the validity or amount of a disputed claim or to impeach by a prior inconsistent statement or a contradiction:
(1) furnishing, promising, or offering — or accepting, promising to accept, or offering to accept — a valuable consideration in compromising or attempting to compromise the claim; and
(2) conduct or a statement made during compromise negotiations about the claim — except when offered in a criminal’ case and when the negotiations related to a claim by a public office in the exercise of its regulatory, investiga-five, or enforcement authority.
(b) Exceptions. The court may admit this evidence for another purpose, such as proving a witness’s bias or prejudice, negating a contention of undue delay, or proving an effort to obstruct a criminal investigation or prosecution.

Fed.R.Evid. 408. First, as -with most requests to exclude evidence, the court must consider the purpose for which the evidence is being offered. Here, the Debtor intends to offer Exhibit 9A to show that (1) the Parkers, through their agent Mr. De-Jong, were aware of • the Debtor’s discharge and (2) despite this awareness, endeavored to collect Mr. Parker’s claim as a personal obligation of the Debtor through the pretense of the parties’ divorce case and the possible cover of § 52S(a)(15). According to the Debtor, this communication and related activity in the divorce court gave rise to a claim in his favor against the Parkers under § 524 and the court’s contempt powers, which the court will refer to as the “Debtor’s Claim.”

The claim discussed within Exhibit 9A, in contrast, is the prepetition claim of the Parkers against the Debtor purportedly arising from Mr. Parker’s role in co-signing (and later paying) a loan from Fifth Third Bank to the Debtor and Ms. Parker during their marriage. The court will refer to this claim as the “Parkers’ Claim.”

The basis for the Debtor’s Claim is, in part, the very fact and content of the communications reflected in Exhibit 9A, and the legal predicates for his claims are §§ 524 and 727, as well as the court’s inherent power to enforce its orders through civil contempt proceedings. The basis for the Parkers’ Claim — the subject of the allegedly- protected compromise communications in Exhibit 9A — is state contract, divorce, and indemnification law. In other words, the “claim” that would have given rise to the protection that Rule 408 affords is the Parkers’ Claim and the rule would apply if the Debtor were offer[336]*336ing Exhibit 9A for the purpose of disproving the validity or amount of the Parkers’ Claim. But that is not his purpose here— both are admitted.

Second, Rule 408(b) provides additional textual support for the court’s decision by providing, as other exclusionary rules do, that “[t]he court may admit this evidence for another purpose.... ” Fed. R. Evid. 408(b). Here, as just observed, the Debtor is asking the court to admit Exhibit 9A for a purpose other than defeating the Par-kers’ Claim, namely to establish through Mr. DeJong’s communications, his clients’ willful violation of the discharge injunction.

For these reasons, and those set forth on the record, the court overruled the Parkers’ objection to the admission of Exhibit 9A under Rule 408.

2. Implications of Mr. DeJong’s Decision to Testify

As noted above, after the court gave its oral opinion regarding Rule 408, Mr. DeJong stated that he felt constrained to testify so the court would have a proper context for his email exchange, presumably in an effort to fall on his own sword and prevent the court from visiting any adverse consequences of his email upon his clients, under principles of agency or otherwise.3

Despite the potential applicability of M.R.P.C.

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Bluebook (online)
550 B.R. 333, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 2032, 62 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 152, 2016 WL 2604731, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-vansolkema-miwb-2016.