Helen E. Burris

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

Court
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of South Carolina
Position
bankruptcy
Appointed by
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Commissioned
2006-03-03
Signed orders read
30

How Judge Burris decides

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

What persuades

Repeated notice followed by continued collection and eviction activity can establish a willful stay violation and support punitive relief.

“Strong has met his burden to establish that American willfully violated the automatic stay, warranting the award of actual and punitive damages.”

Procedural preferences

A party seeking to reduce a tax claim must provide sufficiently reliable evidence for the court to determine or estimate the claimed deductions.

“Debtors have failed to meet their burden to present evidence sufficient and reliable enough to allow the Court to make even an approximate guess on the amount of any deduction and thus have failed to show that the IRS’ claim should be reduced.”

Cautions

Preliminary injunctive relief requires a clear connection to the complaint and a showing of imminent rather than speculative harm.

“the Trustee has failed to meet his burden to clearly show that the extraordinary relief of the requested injunction is appropriate.”

Signed rulings

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

In re Mark Edward Sanders Strong
25-03068-HB · 2026-04-13
Motion for sanctions (Mark Edward Sanders Strong) Granted

“The Motion for Sanctions for Willful Violations of the Automatic Stay and Violations of the Discharge Injunction is granted as indicated herein;”

In re Michael Gene Putnam
25-04591-HB · 2026-01-09
Motion for relief from automatic stay (Greenville Federal Credit Union) Granted

“The Motion to Modify and Lift Stay filed by Greenville Federal Credit Union is granted, and the automatic stay of 11 U.S.C. § 362 is terminated as to the 2019 Infiniti QX60”

In re Dwayne Johnson and Shaki Juanita Franklin-Johnson
19-00890-HB · 2024-08-28

Court-initiated sanctions proceeding retained as reviewed context but excluded from motion statistics.

In re William Cooper Lee and Tracy Quick Lee
19-05186-HB · 2024-06-05
Objection to proof of claim (William Cooper Lee and Tracy Quick Lee) Denied

“IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED the Objection to Claim No. 6-4 filed by Debtors William Cooper Lee and Tracy Quick Lee on May 2, 2023, is overruled.”

In re Samuel Frank Cooper
21-02110-HB · 2024-05-15
Motion to review attorney fees (Samuel Frank Cooper) Granted in part

“IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED the Firm’s fees are allowed and disallowed as set forth herein, and as a result the Firm shall pay Cooper $1,486.00 within twenty-one (21) days of the entry of this Order.”

Motion for sanctions (Moss & Associates, Attorneys, P.A.) Denied

“Accordingly, the Firm’s Sanctions Motion is denied.”

In re The Muffin Mam, Inc.
21-02909-HB · 2025-05-07
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to James C. Irick – Claim 20-2) Granted

“IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED that the Objections to Claim filed by the Trustee are sustained. The claims in the attached Exhibit A are disallowed.”

Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Tequitha M. Tribble – Claim 21-1) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Martin B. Pierce – Claim 30-1) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Joseph Wilkinson – Claim 31-1) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to T’yada M. Vega – Claim 40-1) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Gregory L. Marshall – Claim 42-2) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Sunny R. Marshall – Claim 43-1) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Randall G. Dalton – Claim 45-1) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Cynthia D. Templeton – Claim 58-1) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Stephen McKinney – Claim 73-1) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Lizett G. Ramirez Ramirez – Claim 78-1) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Dale Strickler – Claim 80-1) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Brad A. Albert – Claim 83-1) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Ken A. Landrith – Claim 129-1) Granted
Objection to proof of claim (John K. Fort, Chapter 7 trustee, as to Kimberly Wade – Claim 146-2) Granted
In re Carnetha Shont’e White
23-02200-HB · 2024-04-05
Motion to review attorney conduct (United States Trustee) Granted

“Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 329(b), the retainer agreement between Recovery Law Group, APC and Debtor Carnetha Shont’e White is void and cancelled;”

In re Michael Gavin Morgan
23-02686-HB · 2024-04-09
Motion for relief from automatic stay (Wells Fargo Bank, National Association) Granted

“Wells Fargo’s Motion for Relief from the automatic stay pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(d)(1) is granted, and Wells Fargo may pursue any remedies it has under state law”

Motions to dismiss (Wells Fargo Bank, National Association) Denied

“Wells Fargo’s Motion to Dismiss pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1112 is denied.”

In re Curtis Vance Hoffman
23-02973-HB · 2024-09-18
Motion to reopen bankruptcy case (Stacie Hoffman) Denied

“For the foregoing reasons, the Motion to Reopen pursuant to § 350(b) is denied.”

Church v. BIJ Motors, TX, LLC
23-80042; 23-01436-HB · 2024-10-08

Post-trial judgment retained as reviewed context but excluded from motion statistics.

In re Matthew Ryan Niemiec
24-00441-HB · 2024-07-17

Court-initiated sanctions proceeding retained as reviewed context but excluded from motion statistics.

In re Matthew Ryan Niemiec
24-00441-HB · 2024-08-19
Chapter 13 plan confirmation (Matthew Ryan Niemiec) Denied

“confirmation of the Chapter 13 plan filed by Debtor Matthew Ryan Niemiec on June 26, 2024, is denied pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(3), (6) and (7);”

Motion to convert to chapter 7 (Chapter 13 trustee) Granted

“The Motion to Convert this case to Chapter 7 is granted pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1307(c)(1)”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

Two sampled 2020 matters had terminated; the two newer matters remained pending and supplied the motion timelines.

Draft for Judge Burris with the record in hand

Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Burris, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.

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