Jean v. SunTrust Bank (In re Jean)

Summarized by Kevin Gray , Alabama Farmers Cooperative, Inc.
13 years 2 weeks ago

Citation:

In re Jean (Jean v. SunTrust Bank), Case No. 12-13333 (11th Cir. February 13, 2013) (unpublished) (per curiam).

Tag(s):

Ruling:

Whether the automatic stay comes into effect upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition does not hinge on whether two cases have been filed within the year, but rather, whether two cases have been pending within one year. In the event an individual debtor has two or more bankruptcy cases pending within one year, the automatic stay will not go into effect upon the filing of the later case.

Procedural context:

Appeal from the District Court's order denying debtor's motion for reconsideration of the order affirming the Bankruptcy Court's order that the automatic stay did not go into effect upon the filing of the debtor's latest bankruptcy petition after the secured creditor moved for relief from stay.

Facts:

The debtor argued he had not "filed" more than two bankruptcy petitions within the same year; therefore, the Bankruptcy Court should have found that the automatic stay was in effect. Jean had been a debtor in two prior cases that were both dismissed within the one-year period preceding the filing of the instant case. Neither of those cases were dismissed pursuant to 11 U.S.C. 707(b), which would have been an exception under 11 U.S.C. 362(c)(4)(A).

Judge(s):

Tjoflat, Hull and Marcus

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