Frank R. Alley III

How Judge Alley rules, drawn from 30 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

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

Court
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon
Position
bankruptcy
Status
Retired 2016
Served
1995–2016
Commissioned
1995
Education
Wesleyan University, bachelor's degree (1971); Seattle University School of Law, J.D. (1976)
Signed orders read
30

How Judge Alley decides

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

What persuades

Administrative priority was construed narrowly to preserve equal distribution among creditors.

“restrictive language of the Bankruptcy Code respecting administrative priority, and priorities in general, reflects a Congressional policy of promoting equal distribution among creditors.”

Procedural preferences

A pleading with potentially viable theories received a defined amendment period after partial dismissal.

“An order will be entered by the Court on the motions to dismiss, allowing Plaintiff to file an amended complaint within 28 days of its entry.”

Cautions

An unexplained multi-year delay in challenging a claim could not undermine the finality of confirmation after the creditor relied on the agreed treatment.

“Debtor waited too long to object to the claim. The preclusive effect and finality of the order confirming plan may not be undermined in these circumstances.”

Signed rulings

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

Huffman v. Gollersrud (In re Westby)
16-6018-fra · 2017-02-13

The trustee prevailed in avoiding an unperfected personal-property security interest and preserving the lien for the estate, but the adversary judgment did not resolve a discrete motion.

Keating v. Deutsche Bank (In re Miller)
16-6023-fra · 2016-05-27
Motions to dismiss (Deutsche Bank and Northwest Trustee Services) Granted in part

“The Defendants’ motions to dismiss will be granted and denied as discussed above.”

Motions to dismiss (Chapter 7 trustee Vanesa Pancic) Granted

“An order will be entered by the Court on the motions to dismiss, allowing Plaintiff to file an amended complaint within 28 days of its entry.”

Hunsaker v. United States (In re Hunsaker)
14-6218-fra · 2016-01-13

After trial, the debtors received emotional-distress damages and fees for automatic-stay violations; the award was later reversed on appeal.

In re D'Agnese
15-61167-fra13 · 2015-12-15
Objection to plan confirmation (Debtor's former wife) Granted

“Debtor’s plan of reorganization was not proposed in good faith, and therefore cannot be confirmed.”

Freeland v. U.S. Department of Education (In re Freeland)
14-6102-fra · 2015-09-02

After trial, the debtors failed the minimum-standard-of-living prong for hardship discharge of their student loans.

In re Christianson
15-60288-fra13 · 2015-08-12
Objection to plan confirmation (Chapter 13 trustee) Granted

“An order will be entered by the Court denying confirmation and allowing time for Debtors to file an amended chapter 13 plan.”

Credit Bureau of Josephine County v. Todor (In re Todor)
14-6195-fra · 2015-04-16

On a stipulated record, the debtor received statutory damages and fees for collection conduct that violated the automatic stay and federal collection law.

Endeavor Structured Equity and Mezzanine Fund I, LP v. Engel (In re C & K Market, Inc.)
14-6119-fra · 2015-04-16
Summary judgment (Endeavor and THL Credit) Granted in part

“the Court will enter an order granting in part the Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment”

Summary judgment (Engel defendants) Denied

“Defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment will be denied.”

In re Benbrook
11-60781-fra12 · 2015-02-10
Objection to claim (Debtor) Denied

“the Debtor’s objection to claim #3 of William Ganong will be denied.”

Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones v. Arlie & Co. (In re Arlie & Company)
14-6206-fra · 2015-02-04

The court dismissed post-confirmation state-law claims and counterclaims for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction on its own analysis.

In re Sugg
14-60916-fra13 · 2014-07-22
Motions to dismiss (Chapter 13 trustee) Denied

“An order will be entered by the Court denying the Trustee’s motion to dismiss.”

In re C & K Market, Inc.
13-64561-fra11 · 2014-04-08
Objection to claim (Creditors' committee, mezzanine lenders, and U.S. Bank) Denied

“Objections to Sunstone’s unsecured claim in the amount of $250,000 will be denied”

Motion for administrative expense (Sunstone Business Finance) Denied

“Objections to Sunstone’s unsecured claim in the amount of $250,000 will be denied as will Sunstone’s motion for an administrative expense under § 503(b).”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

All five sampled matters were terminated; the median reflects case-level filing and termination dates only.

A historical record

Judge Alley 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.