Jessica E. Price Smith
How Judge Smith rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
How Judge Smith decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Ability to repay, sustained pre-filing spending, and the totality of the circumstances supported dismissal for abuse and bad faith.
“The Trustee has met his burden to show that the presumption of abuse arises, that dismissal is appropriate under the totality of the circumstances and for bad faith.”
Procedural preferences
Claim objections that contradicted the debtors' sworn schedules failed without evidence overcoming the proofs of claim.
“Statements in schedules are made under penalty of perjury and can be used against a debtor as judicial admissions.”
Cautions
A pending nondischargeability dispute did not delay lien avoidance where the lien impaired an available exemption.
“Contrary to Creditors’ position, lien avoidance is independent from dischargeability of the underlying debt.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The Trustee’s Motion is granted and the Debtors’ objection is overruled.”
“Objections to Claim Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9 are overruled.”
“The Trustee’s Objections are sustained in their entirety (Doc. Nos. 16 and 31).”
“Accordingly, the Trustee’s request to refund the funds on hand to the Debtor is granted.”
“Zions’ objection is overruled.”
“Accordingly, the Trustee’s Motion for Default Judgment is denied and the adversary proceeding is dismissed.”
“Debtor’s Motion to Avoid Judgment Lien states good cause and is granted.”
“the Court allows the fee application in the amount of $870.00.”
“For these reasons, the Objection to Claim is overruled.”
“Accordingly, the Debtor’s Objection to the Notice of Mortgage Payment Change is overruled.”
“Accordingly, Creditor’s Objection to the Trustee’s Final Report is overruled in part and sustained in part.”
“The Motion is granted in part and denied in part with respect to Lorain County Parcel No. 07-00-035-103-029.”
“this Court, out of respect for the state court in which this matter is already pending, and in light of the fact that the majority of the claims alleged in the Complaint require the application of state law, permissively abstains from this adversary proceeding.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
All six sampled matters were recorded as terminated. The Kirk docket supplied one dismissal outcome; the five oldest historical streams contained no entries.
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