William L. Stocks
How Judge Stocks rules, drawn from 27 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Stocks no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Stocks decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a perfection dispute, the court applied the standard filing search strictly and treated financing statements under the wrong debtor name as seriously misleading.
“the GE Capital and Maxus Capital financing statements are seriously misleading as a matter of law”
Procedural preferences
Detailed insolvency and value allegations were enough to move a fraudulent-obligation claim beyond the pleading stage.
“The amended complaint therefore states a claim for relief under section 548(a)(1)(B) and is not subject to dismissal under either Rule 8 or Rule 12(b)(6).”
Cautions
A sanctions request failed where counsel did not allow a reasonable opportunity to correct the asserted stay problem before filing.
“Only allowing Mr. Taylor two or three days to correct the situation before filing a motion for sanctions was an insufficient amount of time under the circumstances.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Defendant’s motion to dismiss the Plaintiffs amended complaint is hereby overruled and denied”
“the Application shall be and hereby is DENIED.”
The court struck a late reaffirmation agreement on its own initiative while preserving stay protections for the compliant debtor.
“Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is denied.”
“the Debtors’ objection to the proof of claim filed by Shulanda Richardson should be overruled”
“the Trustee’s objection to the Debtor’s second amended claim for property exemptions should be sustained”
The court rejected one anti-modification ground but deferred valuation and final plan confirmation for another hearing.
“The Plaintiffs Motion therefore should be granted”
“the Defendants’ Cross-Motions denied.”
“all of the expenses that were approved in the order entered on November 17, 2008 (Docket # 253), significantly and materially facilitated the sale of the jointly-owned property and are properly deductible from the proceeds realized from the sale prior to the division of such proceeds”
“the Plan, including the modifications that were announced in open court at the beginning of the confirmation hearing, should be confirmed.”
“all of the objections should be overruled”
After trial, the purchaser's setoff exceeded the trustee's recovery on two promissory notes.
After trial, the court allowed an unsecured nondischargeable claim but found no legal or equitable lien.
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
All five sampled matters were terminated after 112 to 489 days, with a median of 280 days. Four streams supplied express motion outcomes.
A historical record
Judge Stocks 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.