United States Bankruptcy Court
District of New Hampshire

05-02-07         Askenaizer v. May, (In re Jewett), 2007 BNH 018 (finding that the debtor’s prepetition transfer of real property to a third party within 90 days before filing bankruptcy could not be avoided by the Trustee under § 548(a)(1)(B) because at the time of the transfer the debtor held that property in a resulting trust, as defined by New Hampshire state law, in favor of the third party and, therefore, the property could not become property of the estate because the debtor held only legal title but had no equitable interest.)
 

12-27-06         Landry v. Dunlop (In re Dunlop), 2006 BNH 050 (declaring a debtor/landlord’s obligation under a final state court judgment to a former tenant, arising from the debtor/landlord’s breach of the warranty of habitability for failing to repair the tenant’s septic system, non-dischargeable under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(6) as a debt for willful and malicious injury).

11-28-06         Kolomiitchenko v. Dolan (In re Dolan), 2006 BNH 045 (finding in favor of the plaintiff on a complaint under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(15) where the plaintiff satisfied her burden of persuasion on the income test under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(15)(A) and the balancing test under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(15)(B)).

09-28-06         New Hampshire Supreme Court Prof’l Conduct Comm. v. Richmond (In re Richmond), 351 B.R. 6 (Bankr. D.N.H. 2006) (finding the debtor’s obligation under a disciplinary order of the N.H. Supreme Court to reimburse the N.H. Supreme Court Professional Conduct Committee non-dischargeable under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(7)).

09-13-06         In re Robotic Vision Sys., Inc., 2006 BNH 033 (denying former officer/director/creditor’s motion to recuse pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 455(a) because the Court found no objective basis for finding that an objective, knowledgeable member of the public would find a reasonable basis questioning the fairness or impartiality of the Court in matters involving the compensation, conduct, or actions of estate professionals).

09-13-06         Notinger v. Dreier LLP (In re Robotic Vision Sys., Inc.), 2006 BNH 034, and Notinger v. Marotta, Gund, Budd & Dzera, LLC (In re Robotic Vision Sys., Inc.), 2006 BNH 035 (determining a former officer/director/creditor did not establish a right to intervene, under either the mandatory intervention provisions or the permissive intervention provisions of FRCP 24, in adversary proceedings between the chapter 7 trustee and the debtor’s professionals involving the professionals’ requests for approval of final fees and expenses in the face of allegations by the former officer/director/creditor of fraud, misconduct, malpractice, and/or conflict of interest, and the chapter 7 trustee's settlement of those adversary proceedings).

09-05-06         Ford v. Blaine (In re Mann), 2006 BNH 032 (finding in favor of defendants on a fraudulent transfer claim under the New Hampshire Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 545-A:5, as the chapter 7 trustee failed to demonstrate the necessary predicate under 11 U.S.C. § 544(b)(1) that a creditor existed at the time of the conveyance who held an allowed unsecured claim on the bankruptcy petition date).

08-17-06         Smith v. MAK Investments, LLC (In re Drew), 2006 BNH 029 (voiding a transfer of a residence under 11 U.S.C. § 548(a)(1) due to lack of reasonably equivalent value; denying the defendant a lien under 11 U.S.C. § 548(c) due to defendant’s lack of good faith; and denying recovery under NH RSA 358-A, the Consumer Protection Act, because the trustee did not meet his burden under the Barrows “rascality” test).

08-16-06         Savoy v. Savoy (In re Savoy), 2006 BNH 028 (denying a complaint under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(5) seeking to except from discharge the debtor’s obligation to pay $10,000.00 toward his former wife’s legal fees arising out of their divorce as the former wife did not meet her burden of establishing that the obligation was actually in the nature of alimony, maintenance, or support).

07-12-06         Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors v. Foss (In re Felt Mfg. Co. Inc.) 2006 BNH 025 (denying a motion for preliminary injunction as to one codefendant for failure to establish a likelihood of success on any claim for which an injunction may be granted; granting in part a preliminary injunction as to another codefendant; granting separate prejudgment attachments against each defendant).

06-30-06         In re Evarts, 2006 BNH 024 (overruling a creditor’s objection to the debtors’ claim of homestead exemption under NH RSA 480:1 because any rental use of a secondary building on the debtors’ property and any use of open land by a farmer were de minimis and for the purpose of maintaining the homestead property).

05-26-06         In re Robotic Sys., Inc., 343 B.R. 393 (Bankr. D.N.H. 2006) (converting a creditor’s objections to final fee applications, which raised issues of malpractice and fraud by chapter 11 professionals in cases converted to chapter 7, into adversary proceedings in accordance with FRBP 3007 and the First Circuit’s decision in Iannochino v. Rodolakis (In re Iannochino), 242 F.3d 36 (1st Cir. 2001)).

05-24-06         In re Reardon, 2006 BNH 021 (denying a motion to approve a reaffirmation agreement under 11 U.S.C. § 524 where the reaffirmation agreement (1) failed to clearly identify the creditor who was entering into the reaffirmation agreement and the creditor’s address, and (2) failed to have attached to it the evidence required by AO 4008-1(b)(2) that would establish that the creditor entering into the reaffirmation agreement was in fact the holder of a claim against the debtor and possessed a security interest in the collateral described in the reaffirmation agreement).

05-16-06       In re Grasso, 2006 BNH 019 (denying Trustee's motion to dismiss for failure to timely provide the Trustee with copies of tax returns as required by § 521(e)(2)(A) based upon the facts of the case and § 521(e)(2)(B) and holding that Trustee has discretion to waive an untimely filing under § 521(e)(2)(A) by not filing a motion to dismiss).

05-09-06         Ford v. Blaine (In re Mann), 2006 BNH 018 (denying the Trustee's action to set aside a consideration-free conveyance of property from the debtor to her parents under the New Hampshire Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 545-A:4(I)(b)(2) ("UFTA"), for failure to establish the transfer was constructively fraudulent under UFTA).

04-12-06         In re Raymond, 2006 BNH 016 (finding the filer was ineligible to be a debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 109(h)(1) and failed to establish exigent circumstances under 11 U.S.C. § 109(h)(3)).

03-14-06         River Valley Country Day School v. Evarts (In re Evarts), 2006 BNH 011 (remanding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1452(b) a removed state court action asserting state law claims against the debtors for conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair or deceptive practices under NH RSA 358-A, and willful and wanton conduct).

03-07-06         River Valley One Limited Partnership v. City of Lebanon (In re River Valley), 2006 BNH 010 (determining the market value of Debtor's real property for purposes of determining assessed value for taxation under New Hampshire law pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 505).

02-24-06         In re Baldassaro, 338 B.R. 178 (Bankr. D.N.H. 2006) (outlining, in a case of first impression in this district, seven factors the Court should examine in applying the totality of the circumstances test to determine whether a second bankruptcy filing within one year of the dismissal of a prior case was presumptively filed “not in good faith” within the meaning of 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3)(C) and conditioning, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3)(B), the continuation of the automatic stay as to the one creditor who had objected to the debtor’s motion to continue the stay, by requiring the debtor to make timely mortgage payments for the succeeding six months absent which the creditor could obtain relief from the stay by filing an affidavit under the provisions of LBR 9071-1).

02-03-06         Ford v. Skorich (In re Skorich), 337 B.R. 441 (Bankr. D.N.H. 2006) (deciding that the chapter 7 trustee could not avoid as a preference under 11 U.S.C. § 547 a prepetition transfer of proceeds from the sale of marital property into a court ordered escrow account during a pending divorce because under Davis v. Cox, 356 F.3d 76 (1st Cir. 2004), and New Hampshire law, the former non-debtor spouse did not hold a claim within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Code at the time of the transfer and therefore was not a creditor of the debtor until the final divorce decree awarding the former non-debtor spouse the escrow funds was entered postpetition).

02-01-06         In re Carey, 2006 BNH 005 (denying application for fees and expenses to the extent that debtors’ counsel sought to be paid from the bankruptcy estate for fees and expenses incurred pre-conversion, during the chapter 7 phase of the debtors’ case, because debtors’ counsel was not employed under 11 U.S.C. § 327 and was not entitled to compensation pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 330(a)(1) for the reasons explained by the United States Supreme Court in Lamie v. U.S. Trustee, 540 U.S. 526 (2004)).

01-05-06         In re Amherst Techs., LLC, 335 B.R. 502 (Bankr. D.N.H. 2006) (resolving a disputed chapter 7 trustee election in eleven jointly administered cases pursuant to the terms of 11 U.S.C. § 702 and FRBPs 2003, 2006, and 2009 and concluding that one of the creditors who requested the election was not qualified to do so or to vote in the election as the creditor had an interest materially adverse to other unsecured creditors based upon the creditor’s apparent receipt of preferential transfers totaling more than $4 million).

01-04-06         Chappell v. United States Department of Agriculture Rural Housing (In re Chappell), 2006 BNH 001 (granting partial summary judgment because the recording of an abstract of judgment under 28 U.S.C. § 3201 attached to a debtor’s beneficial interest in real property held by a trust created by the debtor’s mother where under New Hampshire law the debtor’s beneficial interest was vested, was subject to attachment and was not protected by a spendthrift provision).

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