Thomas M. Renn
How Judge Renn rules, drawn from 26 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Renn no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Renn decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Participation in income-based repayment programs supported good faith where the creditor itself had repeatedly determined that no payment was due.
“Defendant cannot first say that Plaintiff’s income was low enough to excuse him from making payments, then argue that he should have made payments anyway and his failure to do so shows a lack of good faith.”
Procedural preferences
Prospective estate professionals were expected to disclose relevant connections fully without repeated court prompting.
“As a rule, bankruptcy courts should not have to pry information from a prospective professional, as has been the case at bar. Initial disclosures should be as complete as possible.”
Cautions
A plan's lack of good faith was treated as a finding about the proposed treatment and conduct, not a judgment about the debtors' character.
“A finding the current plan is not proposed in good faith does not necessarily connote Debtors are bad people.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Harvest’s counsel is to prepare one order denying Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and granting both cross motions for summary judgment”
“Trustee’s motion will be granted. As a corollary, CitiMortgage’s and Trustee’s objections to exemption will be sustained, and Debtors’ homestead exemption claim disallowed.”
“Plan 2 however is neither excluded from the estate nor is Debtor’s beneficial interest therein exempt. Trustee’s objection is sustained.”
“It is also established that Debtor is entitled to no Schedule C deductions, except that the allowability of the claimed $12,750 insurance deduction will be held over for an evidentiary hearing.”
After trial, the court avoided a prepetition fraudulent transfer and an unauthorized postpetition transfer, with the monetary recovery dependent on a reopened valuation record.
On its own motion, the court dismissed several precluded debt-collection counts and defined the jurisdiction, consent, and jury-trial issues governing the surviving claims.
“SOA’s claim for administrative expense priority will thus be denied.”
“The Court will enter an order granting the Amended Settlement Motion, overruling the Fee Objections with prejudice, and denying the Motion to Set Aside with prejudice.”
“Of the total $4,173.25 at issue, Debtor is entitled to exempt $3,792.61 ($2,090.23 of the cash on hand as of the petition, plus $1,697.73 of the returned garnished funds, plus $4.65 of the funds in the credit union account as of the petition). The $380.64 remainder is not exempt.”
“Ms Hauf has failed on these fronts, and, as such, the Trustee’s application to employ will be denied on the alternative independent ground of inadequate disclosure.”
“For the above reasons, Defendants’ motion as to Claim #1 will be denied.”
“Because the motion is unnecessary as described above, Debtor’s motion is denied.”
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 supplied no express motion disposition.
A historical record
Judge Renn 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.