Gary Allan Spraker

How Judge Spraker rules, drawn from 5 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Alaska
Position
bankruptcy
Commissioned
2012-10-04
Education
Stetson University, B.A., 1985; University of Denver Sturm College of Law, J.D., 1988
Signed orders read
5

How Judge Spraker decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

For Chapter 13 confirmation, Spraker treats projected contractual bonuses as disposable income that must be committed throughout the applicable plan period.

“He must commit, and pay, those bonuses over the course of his applicable commitment period.”

Procedural preferences

A debtor seeking voluntary dismissal must show that dismissal will not increase creditors' risk of nonpayment, particularly when disclosure and cooperation remain incomplete.

“The court finds the risk of nonpayment to constitute legal prejudice precluding the voluntary dismissal of this bankruptcy.”

He enforces notice requirements before closing a fully administered bankruptcy case and will deny an unsupported ex parte shortcut without prejudice.

“Others may not agree. They are entitled to notice of the Motion for Final Decree and the opportunity to be heard if they disagree.”

Cautions

An exceptional excusable-neglect ruling should not be treated as assurance that similar attorney omissions will be forgiven later.

“Counsel should not rely on the court’s exercise of discretion to reach the same result in any future similar situations.”

A collateral surcharge must be tied to a specific, quantifiable benefit to the secured creditor rather than the general value of administering the bankruptcy.

“amount of a surcharge is limited to the amount of the benefit and must be proven with specificity.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

In re James Storm Faltz
22-00096 · 2023-02-23
Objection to plan confirmation (chapter_13_trustee) Granted

“the court shall deny confirmation of the current Plan”

In re Paul Ritz and Valerie Ritz
23-00060 · 2023-10-06
Motion to dismiss bankruptcy case (debtor) Denied

“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Voluntary Motion to Dismiss Bankruptcy Case (ECF No. 49) is DENIED.”

In re Yak Timber Inc.
23-00080 · 2024-11-15
Motion for final decree (debtor) Denied

“Case (ECF No. 368) is DENIED without prejudice.”

In re John Karl Youse
23-00172 · 2024-02-13
Motion for reconsideration (creditor) Granted

“the court exercises its discretion to grant the Clifts’ request to reconsider its order on relief from the automatic stay for excusable neglect, and to annul the stay retroactively.”

In re Whittier Seafood, LLC
24-00139 · 2026-05-08
Motion for derivative standing and surcharge (former_debtor_counsel) Denied

“Collateral (ECF No. 586) will be denied in a separate order to be entered by the court.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

The twelve terminated sampled matters ranged from 114 to 1,997 days, with a median of 371 days. The sample deliberately spans Spraker's earliest post-appointment filings and recent written-decision cases and is descriptive only.

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Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Spraker, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.

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