Kashikar v. Turnstile Capital Management, LLC (In Re Kashikar)

567 B.R. 160, 77 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1280, 2017 Bankr. LEXIS 1168
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 28, 2017
DocketBAP CC-16-1298-FLKu; Bk. 2:14-bk-23848-ER; Adv. 2:15-ap-01184-ER
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 567 B.R. 160 (Kashikar v. Turnstile Capital Management, LLC (In Re Kashikar)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kashikar v. Turnstile Capital Management, LLC (In Re Kashikar), 567 B.R. 160, 77 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1280, 2017 Bankr. LEXIS 1168 (bap9 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

FARIS, Bankruptcy Judge:

INTRODUCTION

Section 523(a)(8) of the Bankruptcy Code 1 provides that several categories of educational indebtedness are not dis-chargeable in bankruptcy unless the debt- or proves that paying the debt would impose undue hardship on the debtor or her dependents. Chapter 7 debtor Melissa Hoda Kashikar argues that her educational debt owed to Appellee Turnstile Capital Management LLC (“Turnstile”) is not covered by § 523(a)(8). The bankruptcy court declined to consider her argument concerning one of the categories of debt and held that her debt was included in the category of an “educational benefit” under § 523(a)(8)(A)(ii). The court erred on both counts. Accordingly, we REVERSE IN PART the court’s ruling as to § 523(A)(8)(A)(ii), VACATE the court’s ruling as to § 523(a)(8)(A)(i), and REMAND this case to the bankruptcy court.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Ms. Kashikar attended St. Matthew’s University School of Medicine (“SMU”) in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. In order to fund her education and pay for the costs of attending SMU, Ms. Kashikar signed an application and promissory note with Stu-dentLoan Xpress. Turnstile’s predecessor in interest 2 directly disbursed the funds to SMU.

There is no dispute that Ms. Kashikar attended classes at SMU for the purposes of obtaining a degree and learning about medicine. However, Ms. Kashikar did not complete her education at SMU. She returned to the United States, but could not transfer any of her SMU credits.

On July 21, 2014, Ms. Kashikar filed her chapter 7 petition. She scheduled her student loan on Schedule F in the amount of $73,804. She received a standard discharge on or around November 10, 2014.

On April 14, 2015, Ms. Kashikar filed an adversary complaint seeking a determination that the loan (the balance of which had grown to $74,968.74) was discharged under § 523(a)(8). The complaint is very brief. After identifying the parties and describing the loan, it alleges that:

Since the purpose of the loan(s) in question were not for an, “eligible education institution” as defined by 26 U.S.C. 221(d)(1) and (2), the subject loan(s) are not, “qualified education loan(s)” under 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(8)(B), and therefore not subject to the student loan general exception to discharge found at 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(8). Accordingly, the loan(s) alleged in Paragraph 4 were discharged on November 12, 2014, *163 when Plaintiff/debtor obtained her discharge in the underlying bankruptcy case.

In response to this paragraph of the complaint, Turnstile denied that the loan was discharged.

The parties entered into a Pretrial Stipulation for Claims for Relief (“Pretrial Stipulation”). The parties agreed that certain facts were admitted and required no proof, including:

SMU has never been, and is not now, an “eligible educational institution” as that term is defined under section 481 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1088), and has never been, and is not now, eligible to participate in a program under title IV of the Higher Education Act.

The parties further stipulated that no issues of fact remained to be litigated and that:

The following issues of law, and no others, remain to be litigated:
Whether or not Plaintiffs student loans were excepted from discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(8)?
Defendant’s Defenses:
Can Plaintiff discharge her Student Loans solely under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(8)(B), as plead [sic] in the complaint?

The Pretrial Stipulation provided that “this stipulation shall supersede the pleadings and govern the course of trial in this adversary proceeding, unless modified to prevent manifest injustice.”

After reviewing the Pretrial Stipulation, the bankruptcy court determined that there were no disputed facts to be litigated and directed the parties to submit briefs explaining why each party was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The court noted that it treated the Pretrial Stipulation as a pretrial order and said that “the Pretrial Stipulation supersedes the pleadings and governs this action.”

On July 22, 2016, Ms. Kashikar filed her motion for judgment as a matter of law (“Motion”). 3 She contended that her loan did not fall within §§ 523(a)(8)(A)(i), (A)(ii), or (B). Regarding subsection (A)(i), she argued that SMU was not an eligible “governmental unit” as contemplated by the Bankruptcy Code. Regarding subsection (A)(ii), she said that the statute covers only “funds received” directly by the debtor. Because she did not “actually” or “directly” receive any of the loan proceeds (which were paid directly to SMU), she argued that subsection (A)(ii) was not applicable. Regarding subsection (B), she argued that Turnstile conceded that her loan was not a “qualified educational loan” as defined by the Internal Revenue Code.

In response, Turnstile contended that Ms. Kashikar’s complaint was deficient under Civil Rule 8 and the pleading standards of Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009), and only offered an unsupported legal conclusion concerning § 523(a)(8)(B). It also argued that she did not plead any theory relating to § 523(a)(8)(A) in her complaint and that it was prejudicial for her to raise that argument for the first time in her Motion. In the alternative, it argued that she received an “educational benefit” under § 523(a)(8)(A)(ii) and that the Ninth Circuit has commanded that the statute is to be interpreted broadly.

*164 The bankruptcy court issued its memorandum decision on September 2, 2016. It considered whether Ms. Kashikar’s loan fell into any of the categories enumerated in § 523(a)(8).

The court said that it would not decide whether § 523(a)(8)(A)(i) covered the loan because the complaint only mentioned § 523(a)(8)(B) and Turnstile had no opportunity to address or produce evidence regarding subsection (A)(i).

However, the court decided to consider § 523(a)(8)(A)(ii) because the facts concerning that subsection were undisputed and Turnstile had an opportunity to fully brief the issues (in connection with subsection (B)).

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567 B.R. 160, 77 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1280, 2017 Bankr. LEXIS 1168, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kashikar-v-turnstile-capital-management-llc-in-re-kashikar-bap9-2017.