Rodriguez v. Olympic Mortgage Corp.

357 B.R. 691, 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 4165, 2006 WL 3883896
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedAugust 14, 2006
Docket16-01221
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 357 B.R. 691 (Rodriguez v. Olympic Mortgage Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rodriguez v. Olympic Mortgage Corp., 357 B.R. 691, 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 4165, 2006 WL 3883896 (prb 2006).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

GERARDO A. CARLO-ALTIERI, Chief Judge.

I. Procedural and Factual Background

Pending before the Court is a Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Olympic Mortgage Corporation (“Olympic”) and Hector Gascot (“Gascot”)(collectively, “Defendants”) and an Answer and Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment filed by debt- or, Rafael F. Diaz Rodriguez (“Diaz”). On March 28, 2002, Diaz filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code (Docket # 1, legal case). On April 1, 2002, the Court issued a Notice of the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Case, meeting of Creditors and other Deadlines (Docket # 2, legal case). The Meeting of Creditors was scheduled for May 1, 2002 and the deadline for filing a complaint objecting to Diaz’s discharge or to determine the dischargeability of certain debts was set for July 1, 2002. The notice stated that parties do not need to file a proof of claim unless they received notice to do so.

The address upon which Olympic was served with the Notice of the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Case was “Banco Popular de P.R., Olympic Mortgage, P.O. Box 70354, San Juan, P.R. 00936” (Docket # 3, Certificate of Mailing in legal case). In Diaz’s schedules, it provided that Olympic held an unsecured claim totaling $51,017.25.

Trustee filed a report after the meeting of creditors that the case would be closed as a no asset (Docket # 5, legal case) and afterward filed a report of no distribution (Docket # 7, legal case). No objections were filed to Trustee’s report of no distribution and Diaz’s discharge was entered on July 10, 2002 (Docket # 13, legal case).

On September 11, 2002, Diaz filed the instant adversary proceeding to obtain an injunction and other remedies against Olympic, Gascot and others. The complaint was subsequently dismissed as to all defendants except Olympic and Gascot. Diaz argues that on or about July 1, 2002, Gascot, acting on behalf of Olympic, appeared at the offices of Med Plus Health Plan Administration and demanded that any amounts owed to Diaz be disbursed to him. Moreover, Diaz avers that Gascot misrepresented that he was an officer of the Superior Court of Puerto Rico.

*694 Diaz further states that even after his discharge was entered on July 10, 2002, Gascot, acting on behalf of Olympic, and again misrepresenting that he was an officer of the Superior Court, with legal authority to make such collection actions, continued to demand from other medical providers that they surrender to him all amounts owed and pending disbursement for dental services rendered.

Diaz argues that Defendants’ actions constitute a willful violation of the automatic stay pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(h) and subsequent to discharge, a violation of the discharge injunction provided by 11 U.S.C. § 524. Diaz requests compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney’s fees. Furthermore, Diaz requests that the Court issue a permanent injunction prohibiting and permanently restraining Defendants from continuing their collection efforts from his current assets, including any post petition fees due for professional services rendered.

On October 2, 2002, Defendants file an Answer to Complaint (Docket # 5), asserting that they became aware of Diaz’s petition for bankruptcy with the filing of the present complaint. They assert that they did not oppose Diaz’s discharge because he did not notify them of the bankruptcy filing. Defendants further assert that although the debt was listed in the schedules, Diaz deliberately provided a wrong address with the intention of not allowing them to appear before the Court. Gascot contends that when he made the collection efforts he did not misrepresent himself as an officer of the Court.

Defendants further contend that although Diaz’s schedules represent the case as a no-asset, these are not the facts. Among other things, Defendants assert that debtor lists no real property, but allege that Diaz has an economic society with Deborah Caraballo Rosa (“Caraballo”), with whom he has been living for the last nine years. They assert that Caraballo and Diaz are stockholders of a company called Med Tech, Inc. They also assert that she was his secretary and that she bought a house for $219,700.00 and a second for $312,000.00. Moreover, Schedule J lists an expense of $150.00 for auto insurance and there is no auto scheduled. An expense of $150.00 also appears for house insurance and there is no property scheduled. Diaz lists a debt for child support for $2,000.00 (per month), owed to Melba Torres for two children and no amount is provided for Caraballo, with whom the Defendants allege, he has three children.

Defendants request that the Court dismiss the complaint, deny Diaz’s discharge, order the continuance of the proceedings, reopen the case and, if proper, determine whether there have been violations under 18 U.S.C. § 152 and 28 U.S.C. § 1746, as they contend that Diaz knowingly made false oaths or accounts in or in relation to, a case under 18 U.S.C. § 1621.

On July 15, 2004, Defendants filed a Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket # 60), arguing they were not properly notified of Diaz’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing. Defendants contend that Diaz knowingly served the Notice of Filing to the wrong address. Thus, Defendants claim that they were denied their right to examine Diaz at the Section 341 Meeting of Creditors, their right to challenge Diaz’s claims of exemption and most importantly, their right to challenge Diaz’s discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 727.

Defendants contend that both the Chapter 7 petition and this adversary complaint were filed in bad faith and with intent to defraud creditors. They assert that they bought a judgment against Diaz in favor of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (“Banco Popular”) and that they notified Diaz of this. Defendants further state that local *695 court officers and Gascot proceeded according to law for the garnishment of monies in possession of health insurance companies, according to the judgment entered by the local court. Moreover, Defendants aver that although Diaz filed the bankruptcy case as a Chapter 7, the facts do not support such a filing. Specifically, Defendants reiterate that Diaz and his secretary, Caraballo, although not married, have lived together for nine years and have three children, thus establishing an “economic society.” Furthermore, Defendants assert that Diaz and Caraballo were stockholders in a company called Med Tech. Defendants request that this Court reopen the bankruptcy case, that the discharge be overruled and denied, that the matter be referred to the U.S. District Attorney and any other remedies supported by law, including reasonable fees, expenses and costs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
357 B.R. 691, 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 4165, 2006 WL 3883896, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rodriguez-v-olympic-mortgage-corp-prb-2006.