Victoria Calixto

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Florida.
DecidedFebruary 1, 2023
Docket17-18317
StatusUnknown

This text of Victoria Calixto (Victoria Calixto) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Florida. primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Victoria Calixto, (Fla. 2023).

Opinion

TAGGED OPINION

Sr Ma, x □□ OS aR’ if * □ iD 8 Ss 74 □□□ a Ways A swillikg & \ om Ai eb — <3 a8 ORDERED in the Southern District of Florida on January 31, 2023.

Scott M. Grossman, Judge United States Bankruptcy Court

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA FORT LAUDERDALE DIVISION In re: VICTORIA CALIXTO, Case No. 17-18317-SMG Debtor. Chapter 13 ee ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO REOPEN CHAPTER 13 CASE Debtor Victoria Calixto seeks to reopen her chapter 13 bankruptcy case so that she can file amended bankruptcy schedules to disclose a post-confirmation personal injury claim against Gulfstream Park Racing Association, Inc., which she had not previously disclosed in her bankruptcy case. Gulfstream opposes her motion, arguing it is an improper attempt avoid an adverse summary judgment ruling in state court litigation based on her failure to disclose this claim. For the reasons discussed below, the Court will grant her motion.

Background The Debtor filed a voluntary petition under chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code on June 30, 2017.1 Together with her bankruptcy petition, she filed all of her required

bankruptcy schedules, her statement of financial affairs, and a creditor matrix listing the names and addresses of her creditors.2 The same day she filed her petition, she also filed a chapter 13 plan,3 a statement of her current monthly income and calculation of plan commitment period,4 and a certification that she had taken the required budget and credit counseling course.5 But her chapter 13 plan – as originally filed – could not be confirmed, and so on October 20, 2017, the Court dismissed her case.6 Ten days later, however, she filed

a motion to reinstate her case,7 and on the day of the hearing on that motion, she filed a first amended chapter 13 plan.8 On November 22, 2017, the Court granted her motion to reinstate.9 She then filed a second amended plan on February 23, 2018,10 and on March 20, 2018, she filed a third amended plan.11 Her third amended plan proposed monthly plan payments of $330.00 for the first ten months, and $293.00 for

1 ECF No. 1. 2 Id. 3 ECF No. 2. 4 ECF No. 4. 5 ECF No. 6. 6 ECF No. 15. 7 ECF No. 17. 8 ECF No. 20. 9 ECF No. 22. 10 ECF No. 32. 11 ECF No. 35. months 11 through 60.12 The plan also provided that “PROPERTY OF THE ESTATE WILL VEST IN THE DEBTOR(S) UPON PLAN CONFIRMATION.”13 On April 30, 2018, the Court entered an order confirming her third amended

plan,14 and on July 5, 2018, the Court entered an amended confirmation order.15 The Debtor then made all of her required plan payments16 – paying all of her creditors 100% of their allowed claims17 – and on June 1, 2022, she received a discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a).18 Her case was then closed on September 28, 2022,19 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 350(a). On March 17, 2021 – about three years after her plan was confirmed, and a

little more than a year before she completed her plan payments – the Debtor alleges that she slipped and fell at the premises owned and operated by Gulfstream. On June 30, 2022 – about a month after receiving her discharge – she then sued Gulfstream for negligence in the Circuit Court of the 17th Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, Florida.20 The Debtor never amended her bankruptcy schedules to disclose this post-confirmation litigation claim. Gulfstream moved for summary judgment in the state court, arguing that the

Debtor lacked standing and was judicially estopped from pursuing the case because

12 Id. 13 Id. See also 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(9) (“the plan may . . . provide for the vesting of property of the estate, on confirmation of the plan or at a later time, in the debtor or in any other entity.”). 14 ECF No. 38 15 ECF No. 41 (the amended order corrected a scrivener’s error in the date of her confirmation hearing). 16 ECF No. 43. 17 ECF No. 50. This included full payment of $5,629.16 in priority tax claims due to the IRS. Id. 18 ECF No. 48. 19 ECF No. 52. 20 Calixto v. Gulfstream Park Racing Ass’n, Case No. CACE-22-009588. she never amended her bankruptcy schedules to disclose it.21 The Debtor then filed her motion to reopen this case.22 Analysis

Bankruptcy Code section 350(b) provides that a closed bankruptcy case may be reopened “to administer assets, to accord relief to the debtor, or for other cause.”23 Bankruptcy courts have broad discretion to reopen a closed case,24 and in deciding whether to reopen a case, courts “generally consider the benefit to creditors, the benefit to the debtor, the prejudice to the affected party and other equitable factors.”25 To properly analyze these factors in this case, it is important to first understand the differences between a chapter 13 bankruptcy case and a chapter 7 bankruptcy case

for individual debtors. With an understanding of those differences, the Court will then examine whether the litigation claim is property of the Debtor’s bankruptcy estate, whether she was required to disclose it, and how (if at all) lack of disclosure affected her bankruptcy estate and its creditors. I. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Cases vs. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Cases. Individual debtors most commonly file for bankruptcy under either chapter 13 or chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code.26 A chapter 7 case is a liquidation, in which the

debtor surrenders to a trustee all non-exempt property she owned as of the petition

21 ECF No. 59-2. 22 ECF No. 53. 23 11 U.S.C. § 350(b). 24 Redmond v. Fifth Third Bank, 624 F.3d 793, 798 (7th Cir. 2010); In re Zinchiak, 406 F.3d 214, 223 (3d Cir. 2005); In re Alpex Comput. Corp., 71 F.3d 353, 356 (10th Cir. 1995). 25 In re Losada, 557 B.R. 244, 248 (Bankr. S.D. Fla. 2016). 26 Individual debtors can also file for bankruptcy under chapter 11 (reorganization) or chapter 12 (family farmer or fisherman), but the vast majority of individual cases are filed under chapters 7 or 13. date. The chapter 7 trustee then liquidates those assets to pay her creditors. And assuming the debtor did not commit certain enumerated bad acts,27 the debtor will then receive a discharge of most28 of her prepetition debts. In a chapter 13 case,

however, a debtor does not surrender property to a trustee. Instead, chapter 13 “allows an income-earning debtor to hold onto her property while she pays her creditors back over a three-to-five-year period”29 out of her “regular income.”30 While there is a trustee in chapter 13 cases, the chapter 13 trustee’s duties differ significantly from that of a chapter 7 trustee. Unlike a chapter 7 trustee, a chapter 13 trustee does not have a duty to liquidate property of the estate.31 Rather,

the chapter 13 trustee collects the debtor’s plan payments,32 retains those payments pending confirmation of the plan,33 and if the plan is confirmed, distributes the payments to creditors in accordance with the plan.34 Another important consequence of confirmation is that if the plan is confirmed, unless the plan or confirmation order say otherwise, confirmation vests all property of the estate back in the debtor.35

27 See 11 U.S.C. § 727 (listing the circumstances under which a chapter 7 debtor may not receive a discharge). 28 See 11 U.S.C. § 523

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