Lane v. Lane
- Summarized by Steven Mulligan , Coan, Payton & Payne, LLC
- 9 years 9 months ago
- Citation:
- Lane v. Lane, et al., Case No. 15-8092 (10th Cir. May 10, 2016).
- Tag(s):
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- Ruling:
- Claims of fraud against a bankruptcy estate are statutory causes of action belonging to the trustee, not to the bankrupt, and the trustee asserts them for the benefit of the bankrupt’s creditors, whose rights the trustee enforces. Since the Debtor will not receive any excess money from the estate or cannot show that the matter involves a right unique to him, he is not a party aggrieved by orders affecting the administration of the bankruptcy estate and thus, lacks standing.
- Procedural context:
- The 10th Circuit affirmed the US District Court for District of Wyoming’s dismissal of Debtor’s pro se complaint because it did not have subject matter jurisdiction because Debtor lacked standing but even if he did have standing, the claims belonged to the trustee. The District Court’s determination regarding subject matter jurisdiction is reviewed de novo.
- Facts:
- Debtor had reached a settlement with the trustee in his chapter 7 case which included a provision stripping Debtor of standing in his bankruptcy and a provision obligating Debtor to not interfere in the estate’s administration. Debtor’s ex-wife filed a proof of claim in the bankruptcy case in the amount of over $1.1 million which she settled with the trustee for almost $900,000.00. Since Debtor lacked standing in the bankruptcy case, he brought suit against his ex-wife and others in the US District Court alleging numerous counts that his ex-wife’s claim in the bankruptcy case was fraudulent. To establish standing, Debtor had to show actual injury and his threadbare, conclusory allegations did not suffice; namely, his conclusory statement that if his ex-wife was not paid, the money would otherwise be his.
- Judge(s):
- Lucero, Matheson, Bacharach (Lucero)
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