Se Prop. Holdings, LLC v. Green

600 B.R. 342
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Louisiana
DecidedMarch 29, 2019
Docket18-710-SDD-EWD
StatusPublished

This text of 600 B.R. 342 (Se Prop. Holdings, LLC v. Green) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Se Prop. Holdings, LLC v. Green, 600 B.R. 342 (M.D. La. 2019).

Opinion

SHELLY D. DICK, CHIEF JUDGE

Before the Court is an Appeal from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, Judge Douglas D. Dodd, as supported by the Brief1 tendered by Appellant, SE Property Holdings, LLC (hereinafter "SEPH"). Countering the appeal is the Brief2 of Jeffery Stephen Lawrence Green ("Green" or "Debtor"), to which SEPH filed a Reply.3 For the reasons set forth below, the Rulings and Judgment of the Bankruptcy Court is AFFIRMED.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY4

Jeffery Stephen Lawrence Green was the owner of several natural disaster remediation businesses and had personally guarantied their debts to Vision Bank, the predecessor-in-interest of SEPH, the Appellant herein. When Green's companies defaulted on those debts in 2014, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana rendered judgment in favor of SEPH and against Green on the *345personal guaranties. The United States Court for the Southern District of Alabama later issued a charging order to facilitate SEPH's collection of that judgment. The Alabama court's charging order directed companies owned by Green to "distribute to SEPH any amounts that become due or distributable to [Green]."5

Green and his wife, Memory C. Green, filed a voluntary Chapter 7 Bankruptcy on January 20, 2017. SEPH then filed a complaint against the Greens based on the Middle District of Louisiana's 2014 judgment, which, including interest, by then exceeded $ 41 million. SEPH's complaint alleged that the Greens had engaged in fraudulent activity and willful and malicious conduct, such that the $ 41 million judgment against them was nondischargeable pursuant to § 523(a)(2)(A) and § 526(a)(6) of the United States Bankruptcy Code.6

After the parties consented to the voluntary dismissal of Memory C. Green from the case, the Bankruptcy Court granted partial summary judgment in favor of Jeffery Green and dismissed with prejudice all but one of SEPH's claims. Trial was held on the one remaining claim, and the Bankruptcy Court issued a Memorandum Opinion , declaring that all but $ 1,626 of Green's debt was dischargeable.

In this Appeal, SEPH contends that the Bankruptcy Court erred with respect to the following actions in Adversary Case No. 117-01017:

(1) The Order denying SEPH's Motion to Stay or in the Alternative to Extend Scheduling Order Deadlines ;7
(2) The Order Granting Partial Summary Judgment ;8
(3) The Memorandum Opinion9 and Order denying SEPH's Motion to Alter, Amend, or Vacate Partial Summary Judgment;10
(4) The Memorandum Opinion regarding claims not disposed of in the Partial Summary Judgment Order;11 and
(5) the Judgment entered by the Bankruptcy Court on July 6, 2018.12

The Court will address each argument in turn.

II. LAW AND ANALYSIS

A. SEPH's Motion to Stay or in the Alternative, Motion to Extend Time of Scheduling Order Deadlines

Discovery rulings are subject to reversal upon a showing of abuse of discretion.13 Thus, this Court will affirm the discovery rulings of the Bankruptcy Court "unless they are arbitrary or clearly unreasonable."14 With that standard in mind, the Court turns to the Bankruptcy Court's denial of SEPH's Motion to Stay or in the *346Alternative, Motion to Extend Time of Scheduling Order Deadlines.

During a scheduling conference held on June 27, 2017, the parties and the Bankruptcy Court agreed to a five-month discovery period, to conclude on November 27, 2017.15 On November 22, 2017, five days before the end of that discovery period, SEPH filed its Motion to Stay or in the Alternative to Extend Time of Scheduling Order Deadlines.16 The Bankruptcy Court denied the motion after a hearing on December 13, 2017. In its appeal, SEPH argues that the denial was in error in light of "the pendency of concurrent actions in other federal district courts against Debtors and/or their family members."17

At the December 13, 2017 hearing, SEPH's counsel testified that an extension of the discovery period would be beneficial because SEPH was still awaiting a response to a subpoena it issued in a related case in the Southern District of Alabama to Green & Sons, L.L.C., of which Jeffery Green is an officer. Specifically, SEPH's counsel testified that Green & Sons allegedly "transferred a quarter of a million dollars to a Panamanian entity"18 in violation of the charging order in place, and that information about that transaction would be relevant as SEPH prepared to argue its "willful injury case"19 in the pending Middle District of Louisiana case. Overall, SEPH argued at the hearing that there was a "clear nexus"20 between the pending discovery in the Alabama case and the need to extend the discovery period in the Louisiana case.

On the other hand, Green argued that the outstanding subpoena to Green & Sons did not necessitate an extension of the discovery period for several reasons. First, Green argued, Green & Sons "is not a judgment debtor of SEPH"21 and, as such, the alleged Panamanian transaction would have "zero effect"22 on the judgment in the Middle District of Louisiana case. Second, Green argued that an extension was not warranted in light of the fact that counsel for both parties agreed to the five-month period, and the fact that the Greens had "given [SEPH] everything [they had] that's been responsive to any discovery."23 Any extension of the discovery period would be damaging to the Greens, who, their counsel testified, "don't have anything to seize and ... are entitled within a reasonable period of time to get on with their life and we think that time is ... well set out in the existing scheduling order."24

After hearing the testimony of both parties, Judge Dodd denied the motion, finding that "there [was] no basis for staying the proceedings, certainly, or extending any of the times in the scheduling order."25 Judge Dodd relied in part on the fact that the parties had participated in a telephone conference and consented to the scheduling order; in fact, he noted, "the parties insisted that we could do it by February."26 As to the outstanding subpoena to Green & Sons, Judge Dodd stated *347that, based on the testimony at the hearing, SEPH's counsel had already "gotten a lot of information"27

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
600 B.R. 342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/se-prop-holdings-llc-v-green-lamd-2019.