Dennis R. Dow
How Judge Dow rules, drawn from 20 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Dow no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Dow decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
A debtor established undue hardship through a record showing that repayment would not permit a minimal standard of living and that her circumstances were unlikely to improve materially.
“the Court finds that repayment of Debtor’s student loan indebtedness to ECMC would impose an undue hardship on her pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(8) and it is therefore dis-chargeable.”
Procedural preferences
A modified Chapter 13 plan could be confirmed conditionally while requiring the debtor to restore amounts creditors lost through missed or suspended payments.
“Confirmation of the Debtor’s plan is ordered subject to the condition that the Debtor pay over the remaining life of the plan all amounts the Credit Union would have received from payments the Debtor failed to make or suspended beginning on the date the Debtor was obligated to commence plan payments through the date of the surrender of the vehicle.”
Cautions
A plan serving only to pay administrative expenses and counsel while providing nothing to creditors was inconsistent with Chapter 13's purpose and failed good-faith review.
“A Chapter 13 plan which pays only the administrative expenses of the proceeding, primarily debtors’ counsel’s fees, and makes no payment to any creditor, secured or unsecured, violates the spirit and purpose of Chapter 13 and is not proposed in good faith.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Trustees have priority over the unrecorded Deed of Trust held by Chase and can avoid the same pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 544(a)(1).”
“Thus, the Plaintiffs’ debt is dischargeable.”
“Callaway’s summary judgment motion is granted as to Kevin”
“Callaway’s motion for summary judgment against Yvette is denied.”
“the Credit Union’s objection to confirmation of the modified plan is overruled in part and sustained in part.”
“the Court denies the Trustee’s request for an order avoiding the alleged preferential transfers.”
“ORDERED that the indebtedness owed by Debtor to ECMC be discharged pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(8).”
“For the reasons set forth below, I overrule the Debtors’ objections to their Chapter 13 plans.”
“Trilogy’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is hereby denied.”
“The Court hereby grants the Trustee partial summary judgment as to Count I, II and III of the Complaint and declares each of the transfers avoidable pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 547(b). The Court denies the Trustee summary judgment as to Count IV of the Complaint as none of the transfers are recoverable on summary judgment.”
“The Court grants Karbank summary judgment on Count I as to the February Rent under 11 U.S.C. § 547(c)(1). The Court denies summary judgment to Karbank on Count II as to the Late Fees Payment and on Count III as to the March Rent as there remain genuine issues of material fact which must be resolved at trial. The Court also denies summary judgment to Karbank on the common fund matter.”
“the Court finds that under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A) all Plaintiffs’ debts are excepted from discharge”
“The Court further finds that punitive damages shall be awarded to all Plaintiffs in the amount of twice their actual damages pursuant to common law;”
“Plaintiffs’ Objection to Confirmation is sustained.”
“the judgment debt in the amount of $324,768.50 resulted from Debtor’s willful and malicious conduct, it is non-dischargeable pursuant to § 523(a)(6).”
“the Court finds that the alleged indebtedness owed by Debtor Cynthia Marie Murray to Plaintiffs is not excepted from discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(4).”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
No case-duration or motion-timing estimate is reported because the sampled docket records contained no entries and the available baseline lacks a bankruptcy-case denominator.
A historical record
Judge Dow no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.