Polly Susanne Higdon
How Judge Higdon rules, drawn from 36 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Higdon no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Higdon decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
The court treated full professional disclosure as mandatory even when the professional believed a connection immaterial.
“a professional seeking employment under § 327(a) has a duty to disclose all possible conflicts or connections with the debtor to the court”
Procedural preferences
A party seeking privileged work product was directed to use the specified discovery motion and prove substantial need.
“he is free to file a Bankruptcy Rule 7026(b)(3) motion for the purpose of obtaining any documents which he has requested”
Cautions
The court warned that postpetition lease arrangements replicating discharged obligations must comply with reaffirmation protections.
“a creditor who enters into a postpetition contract or lease which obligates the debtor under similar terms to those which existed under a prebankruptcy agreement, without observing the reaffirmation rules of 11 U.S.C. § 524(c) and (d), may find itself in violation of the permanent postbankruptcy injunction”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the court has determined that it must deny Global’s request for allowance of the commission arising from the sale of Hood’s assets to Dimeling.”
“this court will not require Global to disgorge the commission it earned from the sale of the North Santiam Plywood Mill to Freres Lumber Company.”
“The IRS’s objection to confirmation of the debtors’ second modified plan is overruled. The court will enter an order of confirmation.”
“The trustee may not obtain Mr. Smith’s files at this time”
“The court holds that under these facts the doctrine of collateral estoppel applies. It further holds that the debt owed to the Department by the defendant was incurred by fraud or misrepresentation and is non-dischargeable under § 523(a)(2)(A).”
“the Union Group’s claims for prepetition vacation pay shall be allowed. The court finds that the debtor is a ‘prevailing party’ under the WARN Act and is entitled to an award of attorney’s fees incurred in objecting to that claim.”
“For these reasons the court will enter an order dismissing this adversary proceeding.”
“The court denied the motion”
“Those debts are therefore not exempt from discharge under §523(a)(15).”
After trial, the bank failed to prove fraudulent intent or a knowingly false financial statement.
“the court will deny the debtor’s motion for summary judgment”
“and grant BOLI’s cross motion.”
“Plans containing such provisions are not confirmable.”
“the 1984 income taxes are not entitled to priority status in the debtors' latest bankruptcy case.”
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, while their entry streams were empty.
A historical record
Judge Higdon 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.