Mark D. Houle
How Judge Houle rules, drawn from 24 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
How Judge Houle decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
A party claiming that commingled funds remain separate or exempt should provide a tracing analysis tied to the account record.
“Because Debtor has not provided a tracing analysis, and the Court has concluded that the entirety of the Funds should be treated as community property, Mr. Hammond's exemption is not valid.”
Issue preclusion requires a record showing that the prior tribunal actually resolved the precise mental-state issue presented.
“The State Court Judgment is therefore insufficient to permit application of collateral estoppel as to the willfulness prong of § 523(a)(6).”
A creditor's work that substantially benefits a Chapter 7 estate may support an administrative expense, but the award is limited to services performed for the estate rather than the creditor alone.
“where a creditor has made a substantial contribution to a Chapter 7 case, the Bankruptcy Court has discretion to allow an administrative expense in accordance with the equities of the case.”
Procedural preferences
When lien avoidance changes a secured claim's status, Houle requires the resulting unsecured claim to remain accounted for in the Chapter 13 plan.
“Quite simply, the Chapter 20 debtor cannot have its cake and eat it too.”
Cautions
An individual creditor generally cannot pursue estate avoidance claims without the trustee's authority and the court's permission.
“Plaintiff, a creditor, does not have standing to pursue the fraudulent transfer claim, absent Trustee's avoidance powers.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“AMENDED MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER DENYING MOTION TO DISALLOW CLAIM”
“the amended complaint's first claim is DISMISSED. Because the amended complaint's second and third claims are contingent on the first claim, those claims are also dismissed.”
“Albrecht is not entitled to summary judgment on either prong of § 523(a)(6).”
“Schrader is not entitled to summary judgment as to 'willfulness' but partial summary judgment shall be entered as to a finding that the State Court Judgment and record support a finding that Sangha's conduct as adjudicated by the State Court was 'malicious' under § 523(a)(6).”
“Because Claim 5 was not discharged, there can be no violation of the discharge injunction, and, therefore, the motion is DENIED.”
“The Motion is granted for the reasons set forth in the Court's Tentative Ruling”
“For those reasons, and as set forth above, Debtors' motion is DENIED.”
“the Trustee's Motion for Order Revoking Abandonment of Real Property (6 Dover Ct., Rancho Mirage, CA 92270) be, and hereby is, DENIED.”
“the total allowed administrative expense will be $8,491.02.”
“Defendants' motion for summary judgment is hereby granted.”
“The Motion is granted in part, and denied in part as follows:”
“the Court GRANTS Defendant's motion, VACATING entry of default on the condition that Defendant reimburse Plaintiff in the amount of $4,593.75.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Five sampled early-tenure matters terminated in 109 to 2,191 days, with a median of 379 days. Five recently filed sampled matters remained pending. This boundary sample is descriptive and is not a complete caseload census.
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