S. Martin Teel Jr.
How Judge Teel rules, drawn from 24 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Teel
S. Martin Teel Jr. served as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Columbia from 1988 until his retirement in March 2020 and later served by recall. Before joining the bench, he clerked for Judge Roger Robb of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and worked in the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
Judge Teel's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Teel's own (checked October 11, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 11, 2026).
How Judge Teel decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Relief from the automatic stay was appropriate in the sampled property dispute where there was no equity and the property was unnecessary to an effective reorganization.
“relief from the stay is appropriate under 11 U.S.C. § 362(d)(2) based on the lack of equity and the fact that the property is not necessary for an effective reorganization.”
Procedural preferences
A party seeking to reopen or reinstate a dismissed case must identify a concrete legal and procedural basis for relief.
“the debtors have not shown why vacating the dismissal of their case would not be prejudicial to creditors.”
Cautions
The statutory prepetition credit-counseling requirement was enforced strictly when the debtor's certification lacked the required factual detail.
“the debtor does not qualify for a temporary exemption from obtaining credit counseling and therefore is ineligible under 11 U.S.C. § 109(h)(1) to be a debtor.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“PNC Bank’s second application (Dkt. No. 29) for release of unclaimed funds in the amount of $743.35 is DENIED without prejudice”
“the debtors’ Motion to Enforce the Plan Injunction and Discharge Injunction Against the Internal Revenue Service (Dkt. No. 339) is thus granted with respect to discharging and enjoining collection of the claim for penalties relating to the income taxes for the year 2003 but is otherwise DENIED.”
“the debtors’ request for waiver of the reopening fee is GRANTED.”
“the Motion to Avoid Lien (Dkt. No. 62) is stricken as filed prior to the case being reopened”
“the Amended Motion to Avoid Lien (Dkt. No. 66) is stricken as filed prior to the case being reopened”
“the debtor’s motion to convert this case to Chapter 13 is DENIED.”
“Stewart’s motion to reopen (Dkt. No. 52) is DENIED.”
“the debtor’s motion docketed as Docket No. 95, which the court treats as a motion pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 60 to reconsider the dismissal of her case, is DENIED.”
“the Motion for Objection to Disallow Claim (Dkt. No. 30) is dismissed based on the court’s decision to”
“the motion to reinstate this case (titled Motion to Reinstates My Case (Dkt. No. 36)) is DENIED.”
“the motion to vacate the order dismissing the case is DENIED.”
“the debtor’s Motion to Vacate/Reconsider this Court’s Order to Dismiss the Above-Captioned Adversary Proceeding (Dkt. No. 18) is DENIED.”
“a judgment follows dismissing this adversary proceeding.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The five sampled mature matters closed in a median 736 days. No current assigned cohort was found under the exact docket name.
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