Halper v. Twin Palms Lending Group, LLC
- Summarized by Laura Coordes , Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law Arizona State University
- 6 years 9 months ago
- Case Type:
- Consumer
- Case Status:
- Affirmed
- Citation:
- CC-17-1171-FSTa/CC-17-1172-FSTa (related) (9th Circuit, Mar 13,2018) Not Published
- Tag(s):
-
- Ruling:
- Bankruptcy court did not err in granting default judgment against debtor/defendant who refused to sit for her deposition in two related adversary proceedings for over five years.
- Procedural context:
- Appeal from the bankruptcy court for the Central District of California; reviewed for abuse of discretion.
- Facts:
- Lenders commenced adversary proceedings against chapter 7 debtor, alleging that debtor had fraudulently induced them to loan money and requesting that court determine that resulting debts were nondischargeable under § 523(a)(2)(A). Debtor refused to sit for her deposition and instead engaged in a variety of delay tactics, invoking her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, a family illness, and her own illness as excuses. Lenders sought terminating sanctions for her discovery abuses, which the bankruptcy court granted. After debtor failed to comply with the court's order to pay a portion of her adversaries' attorneys' fees and to appear for her deposition, the bankruptcy court granted default judgment to the lenders and awarded them nondischargeable monetary judgments. Debtor appealed.
- Judge(s):
- Faris, Speaker, Taylor
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