Robert D. Martin

How Judge Martin rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Judge Martin no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.

Court
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
Position
bankruptcy
Status
Retired 2016
Served
1978–2016
Commissioned
1978
Education
B.A., Cornell College, 1966; J.D., University of Chicago Law School, 1969
Signed orders read
16

How Judge Martin decides

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

What persuades

Binding high-court guidance controls even when it appears in explanatory language rather than the narrow holding.

“Essentially, dicta or not, the Supreme Court provides a clear directive concerning the limits of federal power.”

Procedural preferences

Derivative standing can be appropriate when a colorable estate claim can be pursued with little estate cost or downside.

“Derivative standing is made appropriate here by the low cost and risk placed on the estate.”

Cautions

Exemption work performed after reorganization has ceased to be feasible may not be compensable from the estate.

“Those fees must be denied. First, because exemption work performed by a chapter 11 debtor's attorney is of no benefit to the estate.”

Signed rulings

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

In re Henning
14-15312-7 · 2016-09-01
Objection to exemption (chapter 7 trustee) Denied

“the exemptions for the accounts receivable are allowed”

Objection to exemption (chapter 7 trustee) Granted

“this inherited IRA does not qualify for exemption under the Wisconsin statute”

In re Symdon
13-14692-13 · 2016-08-30
Objection to priority claim (debtor) Granted

“Balisle lacks standing to assert priority in this case for the claim it asserts against Debtor”

In re CS Estate, Inc.
15-13766-11 · 2016-08-22
Request for ruling that contract condition precedent failed (debtor) Granted

“the plain language of the Contract imposes a condition precedent to the formation of the contract”

Request to unilaterally waive contract condition (Houlihan Lokey Capital, Inc.) Denied

“Houlihan does not have the right to unilaterally waive the condition”

Wenzel v. Green Tree Servicing LLC (In re Wenzel)
13-15445-7 / 15-0105 · 2016-05-09
Objection to secured claim (debtor) Denied

“a mortgage’s appearance in the grantor/grantee index establishes constructive notice to subsequent purchasers and the bankruptcy trustee may not use his strong-arm power to avoid the mortgage”

Objection to secured claim (chapter 7 trustee) Denied
In re Carter
15-10406-7 · 2016-04-15
Objection to exemption (chapter 7 trustee) Denied

“The objection to the exemption must be overruled”

In re Montgomery
01-33567-7 · 2016-04-13
Motion to reopen bankruptcy case (debtor) Denied

“That motion must be denied”

In re Gorniak
13-15827-7 · 2016-04-08
Motion for turnover of estate property (chapter 7 trustee) Granted

“Turnover of the DIP account at question here to the trustee is compelled by the controlling law”

Kasdorf v. Home Casual Enterprise, Ltd. (In re Home Casual LLC)
13-11475 / 15-00043 · 2015-11-30
Avoidance of prepetition transfer (chapter 7 trustee) Granted

“the trustee is entitled to judgment against the defendants for the return of debtor’s interest in the Sanderson promissory note”

Avoidance of postpetition transfer (chapter 7 trustee) Granted

“The trustee is entitled to judgment against the defendants for $250,000.00 with interest”

Motion for turnover or accounting (chapter 7 trustee) Denied

“there is no basis on which to compel an accounting”

Objection to proof of claim (chapter 7 trustee) Granted

“The claims of the defendants are disallowed completely”

In re Community Health Systems, Inc.
14-11319-11 · 2015-08-25
Objection to proof of claim (debtor) Denied

“I allowed his claim for the vacation pay”

Objection to proof of claim (debtor) Granted

“Denial of the claims based on CME may be ordered”

In re Home Casual LLC
13-11475-7 · 2015-05-19
Motion for derivative standing (Chinese factory creditors) Granted

“The motion for an order granting the factories standing to prosecute claims of the estate is granted”

In re Heffron-Clark
10-18035-7 · 2015-04-23
Objection to proof of claim (debtors and trustee) Granted in part

“KP's claim is disallowed as a secured claim and allowed as an unsecured claim”

Swenby v. Swenby (In re Swenby)
13-15958-7 / 14-00048-7 · 2015-04-23
Motion for attorney fees (debtor-defendant) Denied

“The motion is denied”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

All ten sampled matters were terminated and every entry stream was empty.

A historical record

Judge Martin 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.