Universal Bank v. Stephens (In re Stephens)

302 B.R. 218
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedJuly 23, 2003
DocketNos. 00-3284, 00-33059
StatusPublished

This text of 302 B.R. 218 (Universal Bank v. Stephens (In re Stephens)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Universal Bank v. Stephens (In re Stephens), 302 B.R. 218 (Ohio 2003).

Opinion

[221]*221 DECISION AND ORDER

RICHARD L. SPEER, Bankruptcy Judge.

This cause comes before the Court after a Trial on the Complaint of the Plaintiff/Creditor, Universal Bank, to determine the dischargeability of a debt. The Plaintiff brings its Complaint pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A), which generally excludes from the scope of a bankruptcy discharge those debts incurred by fraud. The conduct allegedly giving rise to this statutory exception to discharge involves the Defendant/Debtor’s purported misuse of a credit card issued by the Plaintiff. Also participating as a plaintiff at the Trial was Citibank, who similarly alleged, in a separate complaint, that the Debtor improperly incurred debts on a credit card it had issued. As the issues involved in both these adversary cases concern common questions of fact and law, they will be addressed together in this Decision.

DISCUSSION

The Plaintiffs Complaint to determine dischargeability is brought pursuant to § 523(a)(2)(A) of the Bankruptcy Code which provides:

(a) A discharge under section 727, 1141, 1228(a), 1228(b), or 1328(b) of this title does not discharge an individual debtor from any debt—
(2) for money, property, services, or an extension, renewal, or refinancing of credit, to the extent obtained by— (A) false pretenses, a false representation, or actual fraud, other than a statement respecting the debtor’s or an insider’s financial condition!)]

An action brought under this section is deemed a “core proceedings” over which this Court has the jurisdictional authority to enter final orders. 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(I).

It is well-settled that a cause of action brought under § 523(a)(2)(A) requires that the movant establish, by at least a preponderance of the evidence, the existence of the following elements which are derived directly from the common law elements for fraud: (1) the debtor made false representations; (2) the debtor knew such representations to be false at the time they were made; (3) the representations were made with the intent to deceive the creditor; (4) the creditor relied on the representations; and (5) the creditor’s loss was the proximate result of the misrepresentation having been made. Coman v. Phillips (In re Phillips), 804 F.2d 930, 932 (6th Cir.1986); Bernard Lumber Co. v. Patrick (In re Patrick), 265 B.R. 913, 916 (Bankr.N.D.Ohio 2001). As it concerns the applicability of these requirements, the Court makes the following findings of fact in accordance with Bankruptcy Rule 7052:

The Debtor was divorced in 1998. One child was born as issue from this marriage. In 1999, the Debtor and her ex-husband fought a custody battle over this child, with the Debtor eventually prevailing.
In December of 1999, the Debtor gave birth to a second child. At approximately this same time, the father of the child, with whom the Debtor was living, stopped contributing to the household income.
In January of 2000, the Debtor’s father passed away.
At the end of March of 2000, the Debtor was laid off her job.
By July of 2000, the Debtor had a driving school in operation. This business eventually failed.
Universal Bank is the creditor of an AT & T card issued to the Debtor within the past few years. Similarly, Citibank is[222]*222sued a card by the same name to the Debtor within the past few years.
During the months of February and March of the year 2000, the Debtor made three significant transactions on her AT & T credit card: (1) $4,251.68 to a Lumber Company on February 2; (2) $159.90 to an Electronics Store on March 14, 2000; and (3) $580.00 to Circuit City on March 25. Before the time these transactions occurred, the Debtor had a zero balance on this account with a credit limit of $5,000.00. After incurring these charges, the Debtor’s available credit had been reduced to only 47 cents. (Plaintiffs Ex.# 1).
During the months of February and March of the year 2000, the Debtor made four significant transactions on her Citibank Credit Card: (1) $1,019.92 to Office Max on February 6; (2) $474.71 to Meijer Inc. on February 6; (3) $955.00 to Circuit City on March 25; and (4) $605.02 to Kohl’s Department Store on March 25. At the time these charges were incurred, the Debtor had a total credit line of $10,500.00 of which $8,915.41 had already been used. After conducting these transactions, the Debt- or, although making two payments totaling $341.00, had exceed her credit limit by over $100.00. (Plaintiffs Ex. #2). The above credit card charges were made to purchase products used in the Debtor’s driving school business. — e.g., computer equipment and an outdoor building. In addition, some of the above charges were incurred to purchase necessities for the Debtor and her children.
In June of 2000, the Debtor first saw an attorney to discuss her financial problems. On July 24, 2000, the Debtor filed a petition in this Court for relief under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. At the time of filing, the Debtor had approximately $67,000.00 in other credit card debt. In total, the Debtor listed in her petition assets of $86,270.00 and liabilities of $160,403.00. In her petition, the Debtor also disclosed an annual gross income of $22,000.00 for the year 1998, and $12,000.00 for the year 1999. In addition, the Debtor disclosed that at the time of filing she had a monthly income of just over $2,000.00.

Based upon the above facts, and as is typical in many cases brought under § 523(a)(2)(A), the focus in the present case is on whether the Debtor acted with the requisite intent to defraud and whether the Plaintiff was justified in relying on those representations made by the Debtor. For purposes of this Decision, the Court will begin its analysis with whether the Debtor acted with the requisite intent to defraud the Plaintiff.

Central to the concept of fraud under § 523(a)(2)(A) is that the notion that the debtor must have acted with the intent to harm or deceive the injured party. This requirement, however, has created some difficulty in a situation, such as this, where a credit card is utilized. This difficulty arises because, unlike typical credit transactions which involve a direct transaction between two parties, credit card transactions normally involve three parties: (1) the debtor/card holder; (2) the creditor/card issuer; and (3) the merchant who honors the credit card. The existence of this arrangement, thus, makes it difficult for the creditor to establish that the debtor made an intentional misrepresentation as normally the creditor has had no direct contact with the debtor. Citibank (South Dakota), N.A. v. Eashai (In re Eashai), 87 F.3d 1082, 1087 (9th Cir.1996).

To overcome this difficulty, courts have applied various legal theories to credit card transactions under § 523(a)(2)(A). Of the legal theories applied to credit card [223]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
302 B.R. 218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/universal-bank-v-stephens-in-re-stephens-ohnb-2003.