Lawrence v. Educational Credit Management Corp.

Summarized by Lynn Hinson , Dean Mead Egerton Bloodworth Capouano & Bozarth PA
12 years 8 months ago

Citation:

Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Case Number 12-16032 (will not be published)

Tag(s):

Ruling:

The District Court's dismissal of a bankruptcy appeal for failure to timely file and serve an initial brief or otherwise prosecute the appeal was affirmed.

Procedural context:

The Bankruptcy Judge entered a final judgment in favor of the defendant in an adversary proceeding based on the Debtor's failure to comply with discovery orders. Following the Bankruptcy Court's denial of the Debtor's motion for reconsideration, the Debtor filed an appeal to the District Court. The District Court sua sponte dismissed the appeal based on the Debtor's failure to file and serve his initial brief within 14 days from the entry of the appeal on the District Court docket. The Debtor then filed an appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals from the District Court's dismissal of the bankruptcy appeal.

Facts:

The Debtor filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on April 27, 2009. He listed an unpaid student loan debt of approximately $38,000.00 in his schedules. On December 21, 2010, the Debtor filed an adversary complaint seeking a determination that his student loan obligation was dischargeable. The Bankruptcy Judge entered an order compelling the Debtor to respond to the Defendant's interrogatories and discovery requests. In response, the Debtor sent a 72 page response in which he argued that he was not required to respond to discovery. The Bankruptcy Judge then entered an order requiring the Debtor to serve responses and produced responsive documents. Following the Debtor's failure to comply with the discovery orders, the Bankruptcy Judge entered a final judgment in favor of the defendant. The Debtor filed an appeal to the District Court. The appeal was docketed in the District Court on May 21, 2012. Three days later, the District Court Clerk filed and sent the Debtor a Notice of Designation, which included the District Court caption and number. As required by the District Court, the Debtor served a copy of the Notice of Designation on the Appellee's attorney. However, the Debtor did not file and serve his initial brief within 14 days from the entry of the appeal on the docket, as required by Bankruptcy Rule 8009. Moreover, the Debtor did not request an extension of the time to file his initial brief, did not appear in the case and took no further action. More than five months after the Debtor served the Notice of Designation, the District Court sua sponte dismissed the appeal.

Judge(s):

Tjoflat, Hull and Pryor

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