Neil W. Bason

How Judge Bason rules, drawn from 12 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California
Position
bankruptcy
Appointed by
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Commissioned
2011-10-24
Education
Johns Hopkins University (B.A., 1984; studies at the University of London, 1982-1983); Boston University School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 1988; note editor, Boston University Law Review)
Signed orders read
12

How Judge Bason decides

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

What persuades

A debtor's plan to end, rather than continue, a cannabis-business connection supported keeping the bankruptcy case open.

“Debtor is attempting to divest itself of its investment in a Canadian cannabis business that is legally traded on a Canadian stock exchange; nothing that Debtor proposes to do postpetition will foster a single additional sale of cannabis products”

Civil-contempt relief followed where parties lacked an objectively reasonable basis for treating state-court litigation as consistent with the automatic stay.

“Respondents lacked an objectively reasonable basis to believe that their actions were consistent with the automatic stay.”

Procedural preferences

Unauthorized supplemental briefing may be disregarded even when the court also addresses it in the alternative.

“this Court disregards Plaintiff/Debtor’s supplemental brief because it was unauthorized. Second, and alternatively, the supplemental brief is unpersuasive.”

At the pleading stage, proposed amendments survived where the court could not determine that the claims would necessarily be futile.

“this Court cannot find that granting Trustee leave to amend as to his § 3405 negligence claim would be futile.”

Stay relief may be tailored to permit adjudication while preserving estate property from collection or disposition.

“the parties can proceed with their State Court litigation to final judgments or orders. But the automatic stay remains in place to prevent collection of any monetary judgment out of the bankruptcy estate or disposition of estate property”

Cautions

Repeated noncompliance with discovery orders and false testimony can support court-initiated monetary sanctions.

“He acted willfully and in bad faith, not inadvertently, when he repeatedly violated this Court’s discovery orders.”

An involuntary petition cannot proceed when the asserted partnership and its debts are subject to bona fide disputes.

“there are genuine issues of material fact as to both the existence of the Itkin & Sabadash partnership and the validity of the claims asserted against it.”

Signed rulings

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

Sagatelian v. U.S. Bank, N.A., et al.
2:24-ap-01262 · 2026-04-20
Summary judgment (defendants) Granted

“Defendant is entitled to summary judgment in its favor with respect to Plaintiff/Debtor’s claims under Cal. Civ. Code 2923.1”

Summary judgment (defendants) Granted

“Defendant is entitled to summary judgment in its favor with respect to Plaintiff/Debtor’s claims under the Truth in Lending Act (‘TILA’)”

Summary judgment (defendants) Granted

“Defendant is entitled to summary judgment in its favor with respect to Plaintiff/Debtor’s claims under the Federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (‘FDCPA’)”

Summary judgment (defendants) Granted

“Defendant is entitled to summary judgment in its favor with respect to Plaintiff/Debtor’s claims for breach of contract”

Summary judgment (defendants) Granted

“Defendant is entitled to summary judgment in its favor with respect to Plaintiff/Debtor’s claims for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing”

Summary judgment (defendants) Granted

“Defendant is entitled to summary judgment in its favor with respect to Plaintiff/Debtor’s claims for declaratory and injunctive relief”

Ehrenberg v. Bank of America, N.A.
2:24-ap-01124 · 2025-07-07
Motion for leave to amend (Chapter 7 trustee) Granted

“TRUSTEE IS GRANTED LEAVE TO AMEND HIS CLAIM FOR CONVERSION UNDER CAL. COMM. CODE § 3420(a)”

Motion for leave to amend (Chapter 7 trustee) Granted

“TRUSTEE IS GRANTED LEAVE TO AMEND HIS CLAIM FOR NEGLIGENCE UNDER CAL. COMM. CODE § 3405”

Motion for leave to amend (Chapter 7 trustee) Denied

“TRUSTEE’S NON-COMMERCIAL CODE CLAIM FOR NEGLIGENCE FAILS BECAUSE TRUSTEE CANNOT ESTABLISH ANY ‘DUTY’ RUNNING FROM BANK TO DEBTOR”

Motion for leave to amend (Chapter 7 trustee) Denied

“Proposed SAC’s claim for aiding and abetting conversion fails as a matter of law”

In re Itkin & Sabadash
2:25-bk-11235 · 2025-06-16
Motion to dismiss involuntary petition (alleged partner Alexander Sabadash) Granted

“Based upon the foregoing, a separate judgment dismissing this involuntary petition will be issued concurrent with this Memorandum Decision.”

In re Leslie Klein
2:23-bk-10990 · 2025-04-28
Motion to enforce automatic stay (Chapter 11 trustee) Granted

“Respondents violated § 362(a)(3) of the automatic stay by filing the State Court Actions”

Request for civil contempt sanctions (Chapter 11 trustee) Granted

“civil contempt sanctions are appropriate. The dollar amount of those sanctions will be determined in future proceedings.”

In re The Hacienda Company, LLC
2:22-bk-15163 · 2023-09-20
Motion to confirm chapter 11 plan (debtor) Granted

“Debtor is directed to lodge a proposed order confirming the Plan, subject to the foregoing limitations and for the reasons stated in this Memorandum Decision.”

In re The Hacienda Company, LLC
2:22-bk-15163 · 2023-09-20
Motion to dismiss bankruptcy case (United States Trustee) Denied

“Debtor should lodge a proposed order denying the Second MTD for the reasons stated in this Opinion”

In re GL Master, Inc.
2:18-bk-24302 · 2022-01-03
Court initiated sanctions (court) Granted

“He will be sanctioned $2,000.00 by separate order.”

In re GL Master, Inc.
2:18-bk-24302 · 2021-12-17
Motion for stay pending appeal (discovery respondents) Denied

“For the reasons set forth above, the Stay Motion is denied”

Court initiated limited relief (court) Granted

“this Court will grant limited relief on its own motion, subject to further directions from the BAP.”

Duff v. Quinn
2:18-ap-01158 · 2021-03-01
Objection to discharge (creditor James T. Duff) Denied

“This Court will enter judgment in Debtor’s favor and against Plaintiff as to this claim.”

Objection to discharge (creditor James T. Duff) Granted

“Accordingly, Debtor’s discharge is denied under 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(4)(A).”

In re Korean Western Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles
2:20-bk-11675 · 2020-04-21
Motion to confirm automatic stay applies (Ko faction) Granted

“the automatic stay of § 362(a) applies to pending state court litigation”

Motion for relief from stay (Choi faction) Granted

“the motion of the Choi Faction for relief from the automatic stay under § 362(d)(1)”

In re Korean Western Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles
2:20-bk-11675 · 2020-04-21
Motion to dismiss or appoint chapter 11 trustee (Choi faction) Granted in part

“For all of the foregoing reasons, the Dismissal/Trustee Motion will be granted to the extent set forth above.”

In re David MacMillan and Cynthia Barrett Martin
2:16-bk-21559 · 2019-11-12
Objection to claimed exemption (Wyndham Vacation Resorts, Inc.) Denied

“this Court overrules the Wyn. Exemption Objection”

Motion for turnover (Chapter 7 trustee) Granted

“grants Trustee Gonzalez’s Turnover Motion with respect to the Porsches.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

Five sampled matters were terminated, with durations from 72 to 297 days and a median of 233 days. Five recently filed sampled matters remained pending. This boundary sample is descriptive and is not a complete caseload census.

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