Skinner v. Skinner (In re Skinner)

519 B.R. 613, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 4300, 60 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 28
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 8, 2014
DocketBankruptcy No. 13-13318-MDC; Adversary No. 13-00405-MDC
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 519 B.R. 613 (Skinner v. Skinner (In re Skinner)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Skinner v. Skinner (In re Skinner), 519 B.R. 613, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 4300, 60 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 28 (Pa. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

MAGDELINE D. COLEMAN, Bankruptcy Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Before the Court for consideration is the Motion to Dismiss dated January 27, 2014 (the “Motion”), filed by Thomas Skinner (the “Debtor”) and his wife Anna Skinner (“Mrs. Skinner,” collectively with the Debtor, the “Defendants”) seeking dismissal of the Amended Adversary Complaint (the “Amended Complaint”) filed by the Debtor’s brother, William Skinner (the “Plaintiff’), pursuant to (i) Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, and (ii) Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Following a hearing held by this Court and after due consideration of the pleadings filed by the parties, this Court will grant the Motion. As discussed below, Plaintiff is not a creditor of the Debtor’s estate. This Court cannot conceive of any cognizable legal theory that this Court may rely upon to find the Debtor or his spouse liable to or otherwise obligated to reimburse the Plaintiff for the Plaintiffs personal obligation to reimburse Holy Redeemer Hospital d/b/a St. Joseph’s Manor (“St. Josephs”) for the cost it incurred in' connection with the care provided to the Plaintiffs mother. See, e.g., Holmes v. Securities Investor Protection Corp., 503 U.S. 258, 268-270, 112 S.Ct. 1311, 117 L.Ed.2d 532 (1992) (recognizing that “proximate cause” demands a “direct relation between the injury asserted and the injurious conduct alleged”); Associated General Contractors of California Inc. v. California State Council of Carpenters, 459 U.S. 519, 533 n. 25, 103 S.Ct. 897, 74 L.Ed.2d 723 (1983) (“Under the common law ... one who pays the medical expenses of another may not recover those expenses from the third-party tortfeasor who caused the damage.”); City of Philadelphia v. Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co., 337 Pa. 1, 10 A.2d 434, 435 (1940). The Restatement (Second) of Torts § 914 is a measure of damages and the Plaintiff may [615]*615not rely on it to create a cause of action where none otherwise exists.

With regard to his fraudulent transfer claim, the Plaintiff lacks standing because (1) the Bankruptcy Code vests exclusive standing to prosecute fraudulent transfer claims in the trustee, and (2) this Court may not confer derivative standing upon the Plaintiff because his suit, if successful, would not confer a benefit upon the Debt- or’s estate.

BACKGROUND/PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This action presents another chapter in the dispute between the Plaintiff, the Debtor and St. Josephs arising from St. Josephs’ attempts to collect the outstanding balance due to St. Josephs as a result of medical, residential and daily living services provided to Dorothy C. Skinner (the “Mother”) while she was admitted at the facility of St. Josephs. In the Amended Complaint Plaintiff alleges that the Mother began residing at an assisted-living facility run by St. Josephs in 2009 and that on or about June 4, 2012, the Mother was evicted from the assisted-living facility due to the Debtor’s failure to pay St. Josephs for the services provided to the Mother. Amended Complaint, ¶¶ 21 & 22.

The Plaintiff further alleges that beginning in 2007 and using the Debtor’s Power of Attorney over the Mother’s bank accounts granted to him in April of 2005, the Debtor and his spouse began a scheme to use the Mother’s assets, including her interest in long-term care benefits, to fund approximately $85,000.00 of their personal expenses. Amended Complaint, ¶¶ 17 & 20.

The Plaintiff contends that but for the Debtor’s scheme that began in 2007 to divert the Mother’s assets the Mother would have had sufficient assets to make the payment demanded by St. Josephs five years later and three years after her admission to the facility. Amended Complaint, ¶ 30.

To collect upon the unpaid amounts, St. Josephs filed a complaint dated September 5, 2012, in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, Case No. 2012-25014-0 (the “Collection Action”) against the Mother, the Debtor and the Plaintiff. In the Collection Action, St. Josephs seeks payment of the costs of care (the “Support Claim”) from the Plaintiff pursuant to The Support Law, 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 4603 (“The Support Law”)1 and pursuant to the theory of unjust enrichment.2 On February 15, 2013, a default judgment was entered in favor of St. Josephs and against the Debtor in the amount of $32,225.56. On April 16, 2013, the Debtor filed for bankruptcy relief and simultaneously filed a Suggestion of Bankruptcy notifying the Court of Common Pleas of the Debtor’s filing for bankruptcy relief. As a result, the Collection Action was placed in suspense and the focus of the parties’ dispute shifted to this forum.

On July 19, 2013, the Plaintiff filed a Complaint (the “Original Complaint”) initiating this adversary proceeding. As described by this Court’s Order dated December 19, 2013 (the “First Dismissal Order”), the Original Complaint contained [616]*616two counts. The first count sought a declaration that the Plaintiffs claim against the Debtor and his spouse is nondischargeable. The second count stated the basis of the Plaintiffs alleged claim. For the reasons stated in the First Dismissal Order, this Court dismissed the Original Complaint because of the Plaintiffs failure, inter alia, to include sufficient allegations for this Court to determine whether the Plaintiff held a claim against the Debtor. First Dismissal Order, ¶4 (“the insufficiency of the Plaintiffs Complaint prevents this Court from evaluating the nature of the Plaintiffs claim”). Despite its insufficiencies, this Court permitted the Plaintiff to file an amended complaint and specifically instructed the Plaintiff to state “[t]he specific basis of the Plaintiffs claim against the Debtor and Mrs. Skinner.” First Dismissal Order, ¶ 5a.

On January 2, 2014, the Plaintiff filed the Amended Complaint. Rather than lumping several non-dischargeability causes of action within a single count, the Amended Complaint identifies the specific subsections that the Plaintiff believes entitle him to a declaration of non-discharge-ability, 11 U.S.C. §§ 523(a)(4) and 523(a)(6), and pleads each in separate counts. Typically, a nondischargeability complaint begins with a statement of the plaintiffs claim. Not here. The Plaintiff states in Count I and Count II his nondis-chargeability causes of action and waits until Count IV to state his claim and the cause of action upon which it is premised.

In Count I, the Plaintiff seeks a declaration that the Debtor’s liability to the Plaintiff is nondischargeable pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(4) (“§ 523(a)(4)”) because it results from embezzlement or larceny.3

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
519 B.R. 613, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 4300, 60 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 28, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/skinner-v-skinner-in-re-skinner-paeb-2014.