Fredrick E. Clement
How Judge Clement rules, drawn from 18 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Clement no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Clement
Fredrick E. Clement served as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of California from 2012 until his retirement in March 2026. He served as chief judge from 2022 to 2025. Before taking the bench, he practiced law for 24 years.
How Judge Clement decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
A professional-employment defect may be cured where the omission was unintentional, the relationship was visible in the record, the outcome was unaffected, and continued participation served the estate.
“First, the court believes the error was unintentional. Second, the court notes that it was Hawkins that first brought the matter to the court’s attention. Third, Allen’s representation of the Hartys was not being concealed as the representation was evident from the Hartys’ judgment”
Procedural preferences
A compensation request should match the governing fee election and provide records supporting the amount sought.
“Moreover, Glazer and Cherry have not sustained their burden of proof as to the amount. The default method for approval of compensation in a Chapter 13 case is the lodestar method.”
Cautions
In Watson v. Confer, Clement declined to infer fraud from one declaration sentence summarizing a defendant’s statement made 21 months after the disputed events, and denied default judgment without prejudice.
“As to Mr. Confer, the court is unwilling to find fraud based on a single sentence in a declaration, which purports to summarize a defendant’s statement made 21 months after the events giving rise to this dispute.”
Repeated continuances do not preserve a Chapter 13 case indefinitely when the debtor still cannot confirm a viable plan; dismissal may follow once the court finds cause and creditor interests favor it.
“The debtor’s objection to the Bank of New York Mellon’s claim is sustained without prejudice and his motion to confirm will be denied. The trustee’s motion to dismiss the case will be granted.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For each of these reasons, the motion will be granted with prejudice as to the first four causes of action. As to the fifth cause of action, the motion will be granted with leave to amend, and denied as to all other defendants.”
“For the reasons indicated, the motion for compensation is denied;”
“The motion for confirmation is granted, provided the order confirming includes verbiage correcting the First Modified Chapter 13 Plan § 3.0 to provide for payment of the administrative claim of Glazer and Cherry in equal monthly installments over the term of the Chapter 13 Plan.”
“the motion to disgorge granted.”
“The order approving Macdonald Fernandez LLP’s employment will be revoked.”
“For the reasons stated herein, Sedgwick FundingCo, LLC’s motion will be granted in part and denied in part;”
“the NewDelman Group’s motion will be granted in part and denied in part.”
“As to the estate, the motion will be denied as moot; as to the debtors and their property, including 295 San Joaquin Drive, Red Bluff, California, the motion will be denied.”
“Based on the foregoing, the motion will be granted, and the case dismissed.”
“For the reasons discussed, the motion for nunc pro tunc employment is denied.”
“Since employment is a prerequisite to compensation from the estate, the motion for compensation is also denied.”
“the supplemental application to employ Allen as special counsel will be approved nunc pro tunc to July 23, 2012,”
“the motion to vacate the order previously approving his employment will be denied.”
“For each of these reasons, the motion in limine to exclude evidence of ‘employee misconduct’ is denied.”
“For each of these reasons, the motion in limine to exclude testimony and other evidence of non-percipient witnesses is denied.”
“For each of these reasons, Gregory Schmidt’s motion for reconsideration is denied.”
“The plaintiff’s request for a default judgment will be denied without prejudice.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Completed-case duration is reported for 5 terminated matters in the fixed sample.
A historical record
Judge Clement no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.