Ruben v. Harper (In re Harper)

194 B.R. 388, 1996 Bankr. LEXIS 396
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. South Carolina
DecidedJanuary 8, 1996
DocketBankruptcy No. 95-71225; Adv. No. 95-8285
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 194 B.R. 388 (Ruben v. Harper (In re Harper)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ruben v. Harper (In re Harper), 194 B.R. 388, 1996 Bankr. LEXIS 396 (S.C. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER

Chapter 7

JOHN E. WAITES, Bankruptcy Judge.

THIS MATTER comes before the Court upon the Debtor’s Motion to Dismiss or in [390]*390the Alternative, Motion for Summary Judgment (the “Motions”). After reviewing the pleadings and the evidence presented along with arguments of counsel for the Plaintiff and the Debtor, who is appearing pro se, the Court makes the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law pursuant to Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, made applicable by Rule 7052 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.1

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On March 9, 1995, Frampton Mikell Harper (the “Debtor”) filed a voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. Robert F. Anderson (the “Trustee”) is the Debt- or’s duly appointed Trustee in Bankruptcy. The Debtor’s first meeting of creditors pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 3412 was conducted on April 21, 1995. According to the Notice of the Commencement of Case issued on March 14, 1995, the deadline for filing Complaints objecting to discharge or dischargeability was originally June 20,1995.
2. On May 23, 1995, the Trustee filed a Motion for Extension of Time to File Complaints Objecting to Discharge or Dischargeability of Particular Debts. This motion, as supplemented in the memorandum attached, moved for an extension of the time for “filing by any party (1) complaints objecting to discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 727, and (2) complaints seeking exceptions to discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523 ... of approximately sixty (60) days, until August 20,1995.”
3. There were no objections filed to the Trustee’s motion.
4. A hearing was held on the motion for extension on June 14, 1995 in Charleston, South Carolina. The Court’s Appearance Sheet reflects that the Trustee was the only interested party in attendance.
5. At the June 14, 1995 hearing, the Trustee stated that he was “requesting an extension through August 20, 1995, which is about sixty days after the regular conclusion of the time for the filing of such”. Without opposition, the motion for extension was granted and the Trustee was instructed to prepare a proposed order granting the motion.
6. The proposed order from the Trustee was received by the Court on August 16, 1995, executed on August 18, 1995 and entered into judgment on August 21, 1995 (“August 21, 1995 Order”). The August 21,1995 Order states in part “[i]t appears that such extension of sixty (60) days is just, no objections to such extension being entered, it is therefore Ordered, Adjudged and Decree that the deadline for filing complaints objecting to discharge, or for the determination of the dischargeability of a particular debt under 11 U.S.C. § 523 and/or § 727 be, and it herewith is extended, for a period of sixty (60) days from the date of this Order”.
7. The August 21,1995 Order was served by mail by the Clerk of the Bankruptcy Court on all parties in interest including creditors, the Debtor and the Trustee, on August 21, 1995. No appeal of the Order or motion for reconsideration was filed by any party including the Debtor or Trustee. No party at any time prior to these Motions notified the Court that they believed the August 21,1995 Order to be in error.
8. On October 17, 1995, three days prior to the last day to file complaints pursuant to the August 21, 1995 Order, the within adversary complaint seeking a denial of the dischargeability of a debt to the Plaintiff pursuant to § 523(a)(6) was filed.
9. The Plaintiff, as a creditor in this case, relied in good faith upon the August 21, 1995 Order which extended the time to object to dischargeability until October [391]*39120, 1995, sixty (60) days after the entry of the August 21,1995 Order.
10. On November 13, 1995, the Debtor filed the within Motion to Dismiss alleging that the Complaint was untimely as it was filed more than sixty (60) days following the first date set for the meeting of creditors. In the same pleading, the Debtor alternatively filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on the grounds that the underlying District Court judgment lacked a finding of “willfulness” or “malicious” injury.
11. At one point during the hearing on the within Motions, the Debtor indicated that he had no objection to the Trustee obtaining an extension on his behalf and that of creditors through August 20, 1995 and further that he did not read the August 21, 1995 Order as applicable to any party other than the Trustee and did not object to that Order applying to the Trustee.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

I. MOTION TO DISMISS

Rule 9006(b)(3) of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure3 states that “[t]he court may enlarge the time for taking action under Rules 1006(b)(2), 1017(e), 3002(c), 4003(b), 4004(a), 4007(c), 8002, and 9033, only to the extent and under the conditions stated in those rules”. Pursuant to Rule 4007, “[a] complaint to determine the dischargeability of any debt pursuant to § 523(e) of the Code shall be filed not later than 60 days following the first date set for the meeting of creditors held pursuant to § 341(a) ... [o]n motion of any party in interest, after hearing on notice, the court may for cause extend the time fixed under this subdivision.”

The Supreme Court has made it clear that such motions for extensions of time must be made within the initial time period. See, Taylor v. Freeland & Kronz, 503 U.S. 638, 112 S.Ct. 1644, 118 L.Ed.2d 280 (1992), regarding a motion under Rule 4003(b). Likewise in In re Jeffrey, 169 B.R. 25 (Bkrtcy.D.Md.1994), the Court in citing Rule 4007, has held that once the period for filing complaints to determine dischargeability of debt has expired without the filing of a motion to extend, the bankruptcy court is powerless to extend the deadline based upon a tardy motion.

However, in the within case, there is no dispute that the motion filed by the Chapter 7 Trustee for an extension of time to file discharge complaints pursuant to § 727 as well as an extension to file dischargeability complaints pursuant to § 523 was filed within the initial time period.

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Bluebook (online)
194 B.R. 388, 1996 Bankr. LEXIS 396, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ruben-v-harper-in-re-harper-scb-1996.