Patrick M. Flatley
How Judge Flatley rules, drawn from 19 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Flatley no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Flatley decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Delay alone does not establish laches when the opposing party identifies no concrete prejudice from the timing.
“PACCAR has not asserted any prejudice to it based upon the passage of time, and the court perceives none.”
Procedural preferences
The governing procedure matters: a civil-rule dismissal motion does not automatically apply to a contested claim objection.
“there is no motion to dismiss a contested matter that is governed by the Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b).”
Cautions
Schedules that materially understate discretionary spending can support dismissal for abuse despite otherwise sympathetic circumstances.
“the court simply cannot countenance debtors obtaining Chapter 7 relief when they chose to finance excessive spending beyond their means.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the court entered an order granting the motion of Thomas H. Fluharty (the ‘Trustee’) to conclude sales of certain of the Debtor’s personal property”
“the court subsequently entered another order denying as moot a motion for stay relief filed by 21st Century Mortgage Corporation”
No substantive summary is available for this decision.
“will simply dismiss it without prejudice”
“The court will therefore dismiss Count III”
“The court will therefore dismiss Count V of the Plaintiffs’ complaint alleging a violation of the automatic stay”
“the Debtors are current on their obligation to U.S. Bank, at least through February 2019”
“U.S. Bank’s nondischargeable claim includes the $12,166.27 not paid during the life of the Debtors’ Chapter 13 plan”
“granting Ford Credit’s motion to dismiss Counts I through III and V”
“denying its motion regarding Count IV”
“the court will GRANT in part, and DENY, in part the motion to dismiss”
“grant the Defendants’ motions to dismiss the respective adversary proceedings”
“the court will enter a separate order sustaining, in part, the Debtor’s objection to Premier’s amended proof of claim”
“the court will enter a separate order overruling the trustee’s objection to Mr. Schultze’s homestead exemption”
“the trustee is entitled to summary judgment on the explicit allegations of his complaint seeking to avoid the lien recorded by Western Surety within the 90-day preference period”
The court scheduled a factual hearing and left the trustee's dismissal request unresolved.
“the Motion to Dismiss filed by Comm2013 on July 17, 2018 (Document No. 19), be and hereby is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
All five sampled matters were terminated. Three motions had express outcomes; the remaining entries were procedural, label-only, or lacked a separate disposition.
A historical record
Judge Flatley 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.