Stephen v. May (In re Stephen)
- Citation:
- BAP No. EC-12-1393-MkDJu (B.A.P. 9th Cir. Apr. 9, 2013) (NOT FOR PUBLICATION)
- Tag(s):
-
- Ruling:
- AFFIRMING the bankruptcy court, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit held that the bankruptcy court did not err in dismissing the debtor's case because the debtor did not establish that he was entitled to relief from automatic dismissal for his failure to file a complete list of creditors and schedule of assets and liabilities within 45 days of the filing of his bankruptcy petition. The debtor's omission of entries 12 through 35 on his Schedule B left the filing so facially deficient as to not substantially comply with section 521(a)(1)(B)(i). Similarly, the debtor's purported Master Address List, and Schedules E and F, did not properly identify the names and addresses of his creditors. These omissions left the bankruptcy court without the necessary information to notify the debtor's creditors of his bankruptcy. The contrast between automatic dismissal under section 521(i)(1) and dismissal after notice and a hearing under section 707(a) belies the notion that Congress believed that a debtor must independently receive some prior notice of filing deficiencies under section 521(i). As such, there was sufficient notice for due process purposes.
- Procedural context:
- The debtor's chapter 7 case was automatically dismissed pursuant to section 521(i). The debtor's application for waiver of the chapter 7 filing fee and the trustee's motion to dismiss for failure to appear at the meeting of creditors were both denied as moot in light of the automatic dismissal of the case.
- Facts:
- The debtor filed a chapter 7 case. Schedule B contained entries 1 through 11, but left the remaining entries 12 through 35 blank. The Master Address List included one valid creditor entry and three vague references to various courts and case numbers. Schedule E listed the same entries on the Master Address List. Schedule F, on the other hand, contained one entry stating "ALL CREDITORS."
- Judge(s):
- MARKELL, DUNN and JURY
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