Stephen C. St. John

How Judge John rules, drawn from 14 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
Position
bankruptcy
Appointed by
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Commissioned
1995-09-27
Signed orders read
14

How Judge John decides

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

Procedural preferences

The statutory elements for a temporary credit-counseling exemption are conjunctive, so failure to show a request for counseling is fatal.

“In the instant case, the Debtor has failed to make a showing, either through his Original Certificate, his Amended Certificate, or during the hearing, that he made any request for credit counseling services.”

Signed rulings

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

In re Watson
05-77864-DHA · 2005-11-03
Request to extend time for credit counseling (Debtor) Denied

“However, because the Debtor has failed to satisfy the requirements under Section 109(h)(3)(A), this Court has no discretion to permit the Debtor an extension of time to obtain the credit counseling required under the statute.”

Dismissal of bankruptcy case (Court sua sponte) Granted

“Accordingly, the Court ORDERS that the above-captioned bankruptcy case is DISMISSED.”

In re Stoney
· 2011-02-09
Objection to claimed exemptions (Tom C. Smith Jr., Chapter 7 trustee) Granted in part

“A separate order sustaining in part and overruling in part the Trustee’s Exemption Objection for the reasons set forth above shall be entered.”

Smith v. Porter (In re Carr & Porter, LLC)
· 2009-03-17
Summary judgment (J. Ridgely Porter III) Granted

“Separate orders denying the Motion to Amend and awarding summary judgment to Porter and dismissing the Complaint of the Trustee will be entered by the Court.”

Motion to amend complaint (Tom C. Smith Jr., Chapter 7 trustee) Denied

“The Motion to Amend of the Trustee is untimely and prejudicial to Porter and must be denied.”

Drake v. Franklin Equipment Co. (In re Franklin Equipment Co.)
· 2009-10-02
Summary judgment (Roger Drake) Granted in part

“For the reasons set forth above, the Court finds that the Partial Summary Judgment Motion should be granted as to the defense and counterclaim of the Chapter 7 Trustee of recharacterization and should be denied as to the validity of the Drake Lien.”

Rountree v. Nunnery (In re Rountree)
· 2011-03-02
Summary judgment (June Laurie Rountree) Granted in part

“The Discharge Order and the in-junctive provisions of § 524 enjoin Nunnery and Klein (i) from continuing the N.C. Fraudulent Transfer Proceeding against Rountree and (ii) from initiating any action against Rountree to collect on the judgment in personam. The continuation of the N.C. Fraudulent Transfer Proceeding against the DeWolfs violates neither the Discharge Order nor the injunctive provisions of § 524. To the extent the Motion for Summary Judgment seeks injunctive relief against Nunnery and Klein from continuing the N.C. Fraudulent Transfer Proceeding against the De-Wolfs, relief shall be denied.”

In re Cobb
· 2010-04-22
Objection to proof of claim (Jacqueline A. Short) Denied

“Accordingly, the Short Objection should be overruled.”

Objection to plan confirmation (Internal Revenue Service) Granted

“As the Plan fails to provide for the payment of the liability of Short to the IRS, the IRS Objection to *41 confirmation should be sustained and confirmation of the Plan should be denied.”

In re Wyche
08-73778-SCS; 09-70602-SCS · 2010-01-29
Application for compensation and expense reimbursement (Boleman Law Firm for Jasper and Anita Wyche) Granted in part

“After much evidentiary review and careful legal analysis, this Court concludes that expense reimbursement of $536.31 must be allowed in the Wyche Case, and expense reimbursement of $338.54 must be allowed in the Brewer Case. Expenses exceeding those amounts must be denied, as the applicants failed to meet their burden to demonstrate that they are ‘actual and necessary’ within the meaning of 11 U.S.C. § 330(a).”

Application for compensation and expense reimbursement (Boleman Law Firm for Jason and Gabrielle Brewer) Granted in part
In re Smith
· 2008-12-05
Objection to proof of claim (Michael Stephen Smith) Granted

“The Claim Objection filed by Smith to Proof of Claim Number 8 filed by Leach *632 must be sustained.”

In re Loy
· 2007-12-18
Petition for recognition of foreign main proceeding (Jeremiah Anthony O’Sullivan, foreign trustee) Granted

“A separate Order will be entered, consistent with this Memorandum Opinion, recognizing the petition and denying the Trustee’s request for a prefiling injunction against Loy.”

Request for prefiling injunction (Jeremiah Anthony O’Sullivan, foreign trustee) Denied
In re Varona
· 2008-05-22
Objection to proof of claim (Jamy and Danielle Varona as to Claim 1) Granted in part

“A separate order will be issued sustaining in part the Claims Objections, denying the Motions for Sanctions, granting the Motions to Withdraw Claim Number 1 and Claim Number 9, and overruling the Objections to Withdrawals.”

Objection to proof of claim (Jamy and Danielle Varona as to Claim 9) Granted in part
Motion for sanctions (Jamy and Danielle Varona as to Claim 1) Denied
Motion for sanctions (Jamy and Danielle Varona as to Claim 9) Denied
Motion to withdraw proof of claim (Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC as to Claim 1) Granted
Motion to withdraw proof of claim (Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC as to Claim 9) Granted
Objection to withdrawal of proof of claim (Jamy and Danielle Varona as to Claim 1) Denied
Objection to withdrawal of proof of claim (Jamy and Danielle Varona as to Claim 9) Denied
SunTrust Bank v. Roberson (In re Baseline Sports, Inc.)
· 2008-08-01
Motion to dismiss adversary complaint (Baseline Sports, Baseline Licensing, Gary Roberson, and David Barnes) Granted

“Accordingly, Sun-Trust’s Complaint should be dismissed under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(h)(3), as incorporated by Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7012.”

In re Ellegood
· 2007-02-22
Objection to plan confirmation (HSBC Auto Finance) Denied

“Accordingly, the Objection of HSBC to the Plan should be overruled, and the Debtors’ Plan should be confirmed.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

All six sampled matters were terminated. Watson supplied one express contested outcome; the five other sampled matters supplied no classifiable ruling.

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