Russell F. Nelms
How Judge Nelms rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Nelms no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Nelms decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
A default judgment still required service directed to a corporate officer or qualifying agent and evidence that notice was reasonably calculated to reach the defendant.
“Plaintiff has not (1) explained who Ms. Yocum is, (2) described her position with Defendant, or (3) demonstrated how her receipt of the summons and complaint complies with fundamental notions of due process.”
Procedural preferences
A debtor claiming an entire asset as exempt may use a full-market-value formula, after which an objection can lead to an evidentiary hearing on value.
“Now the Trustees are entitled to evidentiary hearings, if they wish, respecting the value of Debtors’ exemptions.”
Cautions
When a creditor challenges Chapter 13 good faith, reliance on the plan and means-test form alone may not satisfy the debtor's evidentiary burden.
“When a creditor challenges a plan as being in bad faith, it is the debtor’s burden to establish good faith.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Plaintiff’s Motion for Default Judgment is denied.”
“Plaintiff’s claims in this adversary proceeding are dismissed for failure to state a claim”
“The motion to lift stay to terminate the Lease is granted.”
“The Lease is rejected.”
“The motion for new trial on the Atlantic Parties’ motion to dismiss is denied.”
“the court also denies as moot debtor’s motion for new trial on debtor’s objections to the Atlantic Parties’ claims, debtor’s disclosure statement, and debtor’s motion to sell its assets free and clear of liens and encumbrances.”
“the court also denies debtor’s request that the court amend and supplement its findings as requested by debtor.”
“the debtor’s plan is not confirmed.”
“debtor’s section 1983 claim fails to satisfy the second prong of Lugar v. Edmonson and must be dismissed for failure to state a claim.”
“the motion to strike is denied.”
“the court will issue an order conditionally granting the motion.”
“grounds to set aside the second notice of termination of stay do not exist in this case.”
“The court construed this as a motion for stay pending appeal and denied it.”
“The Plan meets all requirements of Title 11 for confirmation and should be confirmed and approved.”
“confirmation is denied without prejudice.”
“Confirmation is denied without prejudice to the debtor’s right to modify his plan”
“this court respectfully recommends that the District Court deny Commerzbank’s motion to dismiss and motion for summary judgment.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
All five sampled matters were terminated, but the archive returned no docket entries for any sampled stream.
A historical record
Judge Nelms 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.