Town of Hingham v. Sirikanjanachai (In re Sirikanjanachai)

594 B.R. 1
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedNovember 7, 2018
DocketCase No. 17-12526-FJB; Adversary Proceeding No. 17-1128
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 594 B.R. 1 (Town of Hingham v. Sirikanjanachai (In re Sirikanjanachai)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Town of Hingham v. Sirikanjanachai (In re Sirikanjanachai), 594 B.R. 1 (Mass. 2018).

Opinion

Frank J. Bailey, United States Bankruptcy Judge

INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

By its complaint in this adversary proceeding, the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts (the "Town") seeks relief against debtor Ginger Sirikanjanachai (the "Debtor") in two Counts. By Count I the Town seeks a declaration that its judgment for specific performance against the Debtor is not a "claim" as that term is defined in the Bankruptcy Code and therefore not subject to the discharge she has received in her chapter 7 case. By Count II, the Town seeks a determination under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A) or (B) that its right under the same judgment to recover attorney's fees from the Debtor is excepted from discharge as one arising from alleged misrepresentation.

The complaint states with particularity all but two of the misrepresentations on the basis of which it now seeks a determination of nondischargeability. The two exceptions concern misrepresentations of the amount of the debtor's income.1 Although the complaint alleges generally that the Debtor made misrepresentations of her income, it does not specify the representations in question, how and where the Debtor made them, and how each was false. And this shortcoming of the complaint was not rectified any time prior to or at the trial.

After a trial, I hereby enter my finding of fact and conclusions of law.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The Debtor, whose name at present is or appears to be Ginger Sirikanjanachai, has also been known by the names Wanpen Sirikanjanachai (which she says was her birth name), Wanpen Florentine (which she says she took upon her marriage in *41974 to a George Florentine), Wanpen Collins (which she says she took upon her remarriage in 1987 to Joseph Collins), Penny Collins, Penny Siridee, Penny Collins Siridee, and Laciga Rachaisri. The name Laciga Rachaisri, she states, is one she was given for good luck by a Buddhist monk in Thailand in 1986, when she had returned to Thailand for two years and was seriously ill. She states that she obtained this name change from Thai authorities "and converted from Wanpen Sirikanjanachai to Laciga Rachaisri." It appears that in succeeding years, she used the name Laciga Rachaisri alongside the other names she used in that period. The Debtor contends that she also created and did business through a corporation known as Laciga Rachaisri, Inc.

The Town participated in a residential real estate development under MASS. GEN. LAWS ch. 40B, §§ 20 - 23 and C.M.R. Chapter 760, § 56.00 et seq., which provides for the creation of affordable housing. Units in the development known as 23 Ridgeway Crossing (the "Development") were offered to people that met certain restrictions. Persons who qualified participated in a lottery for the available units. In order to qualify, an applicant had to (a) have low to moderate income, (b) be over age 55, (c) intend to occupy the unit with at least one other resident, and (d) be a first-time home owner with limited assets. The Town also gave preference to current Hingham residents who were members of a minority group. The Hingham Housing Authority (HHA) acted as the Town's agent in selecting purchasers eligible to participate in the lottery and purchase a unit through the Town's affordable housing program.

On or about March 11, 2006, the Debtor, under the name Wanpen Florentine, filed a written application with the HHA to purchase a unit at the Development. She supplemented the written application with oral answers to questions put to her by employees of the HHA about her written application.

Based on the testimony and documents in evidence, I find that the application that the Debtor completed and submitted to the HHA, as supplemented by her oral answers to questions, contained the following four misrepresentations.

a. That Laciga Rachaisri Would Be a Separate Member of Her Household

First, the application was in the names of both Wanpen Florentine and Laciga Rachaisri as two different members of the household, when in fact these were two names for the same person, the Debtor. The application thus falsely represented that the Debtor's intent was to occupy the unit with another individual named Laciga Rachaisri.

The Debtor initially indicated in the application that the household would also include a third person, her then 16-year-old daughter, but the Debtor later informed the Town that her daughter no longer planned to live with her. Accordingly, when the Town determined the Debtor's eligibility, the Debtor's representation that Laciga Rachaisri would be an occupant was necessary for the Debtor to satisfy the requirement that her unit have more than one occupant; and the Town relied on this representation-and was aware of no reason not to rely on it-in determining that she was eligible.

The Debtor contends that she did not write on the name line "Laciga Rachaisri" but "Laciga Rachaisri Inc."-in essence, an indication that one of the occupants would be her corporation. I find this testimony not credible for several reasons. First, the form as completed does not include the extension "Inc." and shows no evidence of having been so altered. Second, it is implausible *5that the Debtor believed that a corporation or other business entity could qualify as or be a member of the household. Third, later in the application form, where it instructs the applicant to "list all those who will occupy this unit including yourself," she indicated three occupants: herself, her daughter, and "Laciga Rachaisri," again without the extension "Inc." Fourth, the Debtor signed the application with two separate signatures, one for each of Wanpen Florentine and Laciga Rachaisri, as if these were signatures of two individuals. The signature of Laciga Rachaisri did not indicate or purport to be the signature of an individual signing on behalf of a corporation. Fifth, from a notation made by an official of the HHA on the basis of oral representations made to her by the Debtor, it appears, and I find, that the Debtor represented to this official that Laciga Rachaisri was a sister of the Debtor. Sixth, she has adduced no evidence that she ever explained to the HHA what Laciga Rahaisri, Inc. was or what her relationship to it was. And seventh, in support of the application, the Debtor gave the Town federal tax returns-both were Form 1040-EZ-for each of Wanpen Florentine and Laciga Rachaisri, creating the impression, the false pretense, that these were two distinct individuals. The Debtor concedes that, though she has or had a social security number (SSN) in the name of Wanpen Florentine, she has had no SSN in the name of Laciga Rachaisri. Yet the tax return she submitted in the name of Laciga Rachaisri included an SSN that was different from that of Wanpen Florentine. The Debtor contends that the SSN on the return of Laciga Rachaisri was in fact the taxpayer identification number (TIN) of Laciga Rachaisri, Inc., and that she believed it was appropriate to enter the TIN for this corporation in the space for the SSN on form 1040-EZ because that particular return was a return for the income that she had earned through the corporation, and a professional tax return preparer had done the same for her in the past. This is all too far-fetched to credit.

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Bluebook (online)
594 B.R. 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/town-of-hingham-v-sirikanjanachai-in-re-sirikanjanachai-mab-2018.