Sanders v. U.S. Trustee (In re Sanders)
- Citation:
- No. CC-12-1398-KiPaTa (B.A.P. 9th Cir. April 11, 2013)
- Tag(s):
-
- Ruling:
- AFFIRMING the bankruptcy court's order (1) dismissing individual chapter 11 debtor's bankruptcy case and all pending adversary proceedings and (2) entering judgment in favor of the United States trustee for unpaid quarterly fees, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit held that the bankruptcy court's dismissal was not the result of clear error because: There was no evidence the debtor could fund a plan; the debtor twice filed blank plan and disclosure statements despite being ordered to file substantive plans; the debtor refused to provide for payment to his creditors despite their filed and un-objected to proofs of claims; the debtor had no assets to administer; and the bankruptcy court had discretion not to exercise jurisdiction over the adversary proceedings once the bankruptcy case was dismissed.
- Procedural context:
- Bankruptcy Court orally granted UST's motion to dismiss individual chapter 11 case for cause. Debtor filed a premature notice of appeal prior to entry of the order dismissing the case, which was deemed timely once the dismissal order was entered.
- Facts:
- The court ordered the pro se individual debtor twice to file plan and disclosure statements by certain dates, in response to which the debtor filed blank plans. The debtor was also not in compliance with the UST requirements. The debtor had filed adversary proceedings against purported creditors, and asserted that he had no creditors and would be filing adversary proceedings against every creditor that filed a proof of claim in his case. Despite being warned that failing to file a plan and disclosure statement would result in dismissal, the debtor failed to do so. The UST filed a motion to dismiss, to which the debtor did not file a written opposition, but appeared at the hearing and orally opposed by reading a one-sentence pre-written statement. The bankruptcy court orally granted the motion to dismiss.
- Judge(s):
- Kirscher, Pappas, and Taylor
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