New Cases - Week of July 19, 2004

July 23, 2004
Case	Court	Holding

Stalnaker v. DLC, Ltd.
(DBN Subscription Required)

8th Cir.

The bankruptcy estate is not synonymous with the concept of a pool of assets to be gathered for the sole benefit of unsecured creditors.

The trustee was entitled to avoid a fruaudulent transfer under 544(b) even where all unsecured creditors had resolved their claims before the judgement of avoidance.

July 22, 2004
Case	Court	Holding

In re Wakefield (DBN Subscription Required)	Bankr. N.D. Tex.	Judicial estoppel will not bar a cause of action which was not disclosed on a debtor's schedules when the cause of action is a bankruptcy cause of action which arose during the bankruptcy case.

July 21, 2004
Case	Court	Holding

In re Rozier (DBN Subscription Required)	11th Cir.	Because ownership of collateral does not pass to a secured creditor upon repossession, the bankruptcy court did not err in issuing a contempt order for violation of the automatic stay against a secured creditor which refused to return to a debtor a vehicle that the creditor had repossessed prepetition.

July 20, 2004
Case	Court	Holding

Muratore v. Darr
(DBN Subscription Required)

1st Cir.

Merely holding and collecting assets, collecting and liquidating assets, and taking steps for the care and preservation of property does not constitute "carrying on business" for the purpose of being able to bring suit agianst a trustee under 28 USC 959(a) without advance court permission.

The Barton Doctrine continues to apply even after a bankruptcy case is closed.

There is no generalized "tort claim" exception to the Barton Doctrine.

July 19, 2004
Case	Court	Holding

In re Vision Metals, Inc.
(DBN Subscription Required)

Bankr. DE

Liberal relief under Rule 60(b) is available only to debtors which are reorganizing.

Section 105 cannot be used to create a result directly at odds with the Bankruptcy Code.