Cecelia G. Morris

How Judge Morris rules, drawn from 22 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Judge Morris no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.

Court
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York
Position
bankruptcy
Status
Retired 2024
Served
2000–2024
Commissioned
2000-07-01
Education
West Texas State University; John Marshall Law School, J.D.
Signed orders read
22

How Judge Morris decides

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

What persuades

Issue preclusion supported dismissal where the same issues had already been necessarily decided after a full and fair opportunity to litigate.

“The issues underlying both counts were necessarily decided by the Supreme Court of New York, Orange County in the foreclosure action, and Plaintiff had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issues.”

Procedural preferences

A request to dismiss a joint case failed when the movant supplied little authority and dismissal would not serve the debtors or their creditors.

“the United States Trustee’s scant legal authority and the Court’s own analysis that dismissal is not in the best interest of the Debtors or their creditors, the Court finds insufficient cause to dismiss this petition”

Cautions

A creditor that filed an unwarranted stay-relief motion was required to bear the debtor's resulting costs and fees.

“Where, as here, Chase Home Finance filed an unwarranted motion, Chase Home Finance should bear all of the costs of its overly simplistic and myopic system”

Signed rulings

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

Assante v. Eastern Savings Bank (In re Assante)
· 2012-05-22
Motion to dismiss adversary complaint (Eastern Savings Bank) Granted

“Counts I and II of Plaintiffs Adversary Complaint are barred by collateral estop-pel and are hereby dismissed.”

In re Smith
· 2012-05-02

The court required continued participation in a previously entered loss-mitigation process after resolving property-transfer and secured-claim issues.

In re Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, LLC
· 2011-07-18
Motion for relief from automatic stay (Kraken Investment, Ltd.) Denied

“Kraken’s motion for relief from the stay is DENIED in all aspects.”

Armstrong v. Trustco Bank (In re Armstrong)
· 2010-08-04
Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment (Debtor plaintiffs) Denied

“The Court denies Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, and grants Trastco’s motion for summary judgment.”

Trustco motion for summary judgment (Trustco Bank) Granted
In re Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers of New York
· 2011-03-14

The court retained core jurisdiction over a labor-department claim and scheduled an evidentiary hearing on allowance and amount.

Esposito v. Hartley (In re Hartley)
· 2011-10-05
Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment (Judith Esposito) Granted

“MEMORANDUM DECISION GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGEMENT”

In re Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers of New York
· 2010-05-14
Debtors motion to enforce automatic stay (Debtors) Granted

“the State Court Plaintiffs are enjoined from proceeding in the State Court Action”

Objection to final closure order (State Court Plaintiffs) Denied

“their objection to entry of the Final Order Authorizing Debtors to Continue Implementation of Plan of Closure is overruled”

McClelland v. Grubb & Ellis Valuation and Advisory Group (In re McClelland)
03-37997 / 07-9014 · 2011-12-09

The court held that the adversary proceeding was core but deferred the forum for any jury trial until the case became trial-ready.

In re Salander
· 2011-06-02
Motion to enforce settlement agreement (First Republic Bank) Granted

“First Republic’s Motion to Enforce the Agreement is granted.”

Debtors cross motion to vacate settlement order (Debtors) Denied

“The cross-motions of the Debtors and Wells Fargo are denied.”

Wells fargo cross motion to vacate settlement order (Wells Fargo) Denied
In re Cutignola
· 2011-05-18
Trustees motion for turnover of assets (Chapter 7 trustee) Denied

“The trustee’s motion is denied.”

In re Somers
· 2011-05-04
Motion to dismiss chapter 7 case (United States Trustee) Denied

“The Trustee’s motion to dismiss is DENIED.”

In re A.T. Reynolds & Sons, Inc.
· 2010-02-05
Order to show cause for mediation sanctions (Court) Granted

“the Court issues sanctions pursuant to its inherent authority to enforce its orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1927 and Fed.R.Civ.P. 16”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

All five sampled matters were terminated, but their retained docket streams contained no entries.

A historical record

Judge Morris 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.