MacBagito v. Crosby Corporation

• Court: District Court, D. Maryland
• Decided: March 5, 2020
• Docket: 8:18-cv-03699
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MARYLAND PETER J. MESSITTE 6500 CHERRYWOOD LANE STATES DISTRICT JUDGE GREENBELT, MARYLAND 20770 301-344-0632 MEMORANDUM To: Charlotte MacBagito, pro se, and John Flood, Esquire From: Judge Peter J. Messitte Re: MacBagito v. Crosby Corporation et al Civil No. PJM 18-3699 Date: March 5, 2020 96 ok oe ok ok ok Plaintiff Charlotte MacBagito filed a Complaint against Defendants Crosby Corporation and Howard Petty on December 26, 2018. ECF No. 1. On August 23, 2019, Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss the Complaint. ECF No. 26. On October 4, 2019, Counsel for Defendants notified the Court that Petty, individually, had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court, District of Maryland, under case number 19-21543. ECF No. 30. The Court then issued a request for a Status Report on January 8, 2020. ECF No. 31. On January 17, 2020, Defendants advised the Court that this present action is still stayed as to Petty due to his bankruptcy filing, but that they believed Crosby Corporation’s Motion to Dismiss is pending and ready to be ruled on by the Court. ECF No. 32. The same day, Plaintiff filed a separate Status Report, advising the Court that she is requesting both in this Court and in Bankruptcy Court a termination of the automatic stay as to Petty. ECF No. 33. However, she did not and has not filed a motion with this Court requesting such relief. Even if she had, this Court cannot grant such relief. Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, there is now an automatic stay in effect as to Petty individually of, among other things “the commencement or continuation, including the issuance or employment of process, of a judicial, administrative, or other action or proceeding against the debtor that was or could have been commenced before the commencement of the case under [the Bankruptcy Code], or to recover a claim against the debtor that arose before the commencement of the [bankruptcy] case” and “any act to obtain possession of property of the estate or of property from the estate or to exercise control over property of the estate.” The Bankruptcy Court may lift the stay, but not this Court. 11 U.S.C. § 362(d). See also Ritzen Grp., Inc. v. Jackson Masonry, LLC, No. 18-938, 2020 WL 201023, at *4 (U.S. Jan. 14, 2020) (stating “A creditor may seek relief from the stay by filing in the bankruptcy court a motion for an order ‘terminating, annulling, modifying, or conditioning’ the stay, asserting in support of the motion either ‘cause’ or the presence of specified conditions” (citing Section 362(d)).

But as the automatic stay does not apply to co-defendants, the Court will decide Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss as to Crosby Corporation. See, e.g., A.H. Robins Co. v. Piccinin, 788 F.2d 994, 999 (4th Cir. 1986) (describing “subsection (a){1) [as] generally said to be available only to the debtor, not third party defendants or co-defendants.”); Credit All. Corp. v. Williams, 851 F.2d 119, 121 (4th Cir. 1988) (stating “Congress knew how to extend the automatic stay to non-bankrupt parties when it intended to do so. Chapter 13, for example, contains a narrowly drawn provision to stay proceedings against a limited category of individual cosigners of consumer debts.”); Croyden Assocs. v. Alleco, Inc., 969 F.2d 675, 677 (8th Cir. 1992) (stating a “stay is not available to nonbankrupt codefendants, even if they are in a similar legal or factual nexus with the debtor.”). The Clerk of the Court is therefore directed to ADMINISTRATIVELY CLOSE the case as to Defendant Petty, until such time as either party advises the Court, in writing and on appropriate motion, that the automatic stay in the bankruptcy action has been lifted. The Motion to Dismiss of Defendants as to Defendant Crosby Corporation is ripe for decision. Despite the informal nature of this ruling, it shall constitute an Order of the Court and the Clerk is directed to docket it accordingly.

/s/ Peter J. Messitte | States District Judge cc: Court File