Stavrum v. Tudor

439 P.3d 506, 296 Or. App. 534
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 20, 2019
DocketA163117
StatusPublished

This text of 439 P.3d 506 (Stavrum v. Tudor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stavrum v. Tudor, 439 P.3d 506, 296 Or. App. 534 (Or. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

ARMSTRONG, P. J.

*535Plaintiff appeals a judgment entered in favor of defendants that dismissed plaintiff's claims and awarded damages to defendant Kowalski on her breach-of-contract counterclaims. We write to address only plaintiff's first assignment of error; we reject his second assignment of error without discussion. In his first assignment of error, plaintiff asserts that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a directed verdict because he had *508proven that the contract debt that formed the basis of defendant's counterclaims had been discharged in plaintiff's bankruptcy proceeding. Defendant's sole response on appeal is that plaintiff failed to preserve his first assignment of error. We conclude that plaintiff preserved his assignment of error and that the trial court erred in denying plaintiff's motion for directed verdict, in part. Accordingly, we reverse and remand the judgment on defendant's counterclaims in part and otherwise affirm.

The relevant facts are few and undisputed. Plaintiff was a building contractor who agreed with defendants to build a barn on defendants' property to serve as a horse-boarding facility and then to work at their horse-boarding facility in exchange for, among other things, free rent. From June 2009 to December 2010, defendant Kowalski made personal loans to plaintiff in the form of five separate checks.1 On April 4, 2013, plaintiff filed a bankruptcy petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. See 11 USC §§ 701 - 784. By a check dated June 6, 2013, defendant Kowalski made an additional loan to plaintiff. And, on July 15, 2013, plaintiff obtained a discharge order in his Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding that discharged his debts and determined that he had no assets to distribute to his creditors.

In October 2014, plaintiff filed this action against defendants on various claims stemming from his work at their property, including building the barn. Defendant *536Kowalski filed breach-of-contract counterclaims, seeking repayment of the money that she had lent to plaintiff. Plaintiff asserted affirmative defenses, including that "[a]ny debt owed to the defendant was discharged when the plaintiff filed for relief pursuant to Chapter 7 Bankruptcy."

The case was tried to the court. At the close of defendant's case on her counterclaims, plaintiff moved for a directed verdict, arguing that the bankruptcy discharge order, which was admitted into evidence, discharged all of the claimed debt. Plaintiff specifically argued as follows:

"[PLAINTIFF]: * * * [O]n bankruptcy, I don't think-even if somebody is not notified [of the bankruptcy proceeding], I think that-and even though I gave everybody notification, if I missed somebody, it is still covered underneath the bankruptcy.
"THE COURT: So your argument is that bankruptcy law applies to debts that are not listed on the bankruptcy petition?
"[PLAINTIFF]: That's correct.
"THE COURT: That's an incorrect statement of the law, sir.
"[PLAINTIFF]: Well, unless it's-
"THE COURT: I am not-
"[PLAINTIFF]: -non-dischargeable. If they're dischargeable. But there are non-dischargeable debt that can be-that-
"THE COURT: Help me to understand your argument, sir. Is your argument that your debts are discharged in bankruptcy whether or not you give notice to the person to whom you owe the money?
"[PLAINTIFF]: I-I think that's what I got from the bankruptcy Court, is that if I forgot to put somebody on the list, which I-I-at the time, I-I tried to find everybody that was a creditor-that it would still be covered underneath the bankruptcy."

Defendant responded that she had not received notice of the bankruptcy, and, thus, under 11 USC section 523(a)(3), the debt had not been discharged in the bankruptcy. In making *537that argument, defendant agreed that the debt was not a debt that was nondischargeable. The trial court denied plaintiff's motion for a directed verdict.

At the close of trial, the trial court made specific findings and concluded that plaintiff had not proved his claims against defendants. The trial court also determined that defendant Kowalski had proved her breach-of-contract counterclaims, that the debt had not been discharged in bankruptcy because defendant did not receive notice of the bankruptcy *509proceeding, and awarded defendant $14,956.53.

On appeal, plaintiff argues that the trial court erred because, in a no-asset Chapter 7 bankruptcy, debts covered by the bankruptcy proceeding are discharged regardless of whether the debts are scheduled in the petition and regardless of whether the creditor received notice. For his argument, plaintiff relies on two opinions from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, White v. Nielsen (In re Nielsen) , 383 F.3d 922 (9th Cir 2004), and Beezley v. California Land Title Company (In re Beezley) , 994 F.2d 1433 (9th Cir. 1993). In response, defendant argues solely that plaintiff did not preserve his assignment of error for appeal, asserting that plaintiff did not "make a coherent legal argument" below.

We disagree with defendant's assessment and conclude that plaintiff did preserve his assignment of error for appeal. To preserve an argument, an appellant must "provide the trial court with an explanation of his or her objection that is specific enough to ensure that the court can identify its alleged error with enough clarity to permit it to consider and correct the error immediately, if correction is warranted." State v. Wyatt , 331 Or. 335, 343, 15 P.3d 22 (2000). Here, plaintiff moved for a directed verdict on the ground that the bankruptcy discharge order had discharged his debt to defendant. He argued that the effect of the order was to discharge all of his debt, "even if somebody is not notified." The trial court understood plaintiff's argument, having twice clarified with plaintiff that that was the legal argument that he intended to make.

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Bluebook (online)
439 P.3d 506, 296 Or. App. 534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stavrum-v-tudor-orctapp-2019.