B. McKay Mignault
How Judge Mignault rules, drawn from 8 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
How Judge Mignault decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
The court treated a reasonable prospect of successful performance as sufficient for Chapter 11 feasibility, without demanding certainty.
“Overall, the court thus finds that the Debtor has a reasonable prospect of success. As set forth above, guaranteed success is not required.”
A party seeking to explain missing assets needs corroborating records; an unsupported narrative did not create a genuine dispute over the debtor's failure to account for more than one million dollars.
“The Debtor’s failure to provide any corroborating documentary evidence leads the court to conclude that the Debtor’s explanation is unreliable and not credible.”
Procedural preferences
At the pleading stage, the court separates a claim's sufficiency from whether the claimant will ultimately prove it.
“the court only adjudges the sufficiency of the complaint at this stage of the proceeding”
Cautions
A filing by an already-liquidated company served no bankruptcy purpose where it offered no realistic reorganization or liquidation and primarily protected related parties.
“the court does not perceive any purpose of the Bankruptcy Code served by this filing.”
Repeated bad-faith filings, frivolous motions, disclosure failures, and delay supported dismissal with prejudice and a five-year refiling bar.
“If ever there were a quintessential case warranting a bar to refiling under § 349(a), this is it.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the court will enter a separate order overruling the UST’s objection to the Debtor’s proposed Chapter 11 plan”
“and denying the UST’s motion to convert the case to one under Chapter 7.”
“the court entered its July 29, 2022 order denying Mannington’s motion to dismiss and granting summary judgment to the Chapter 7 trustee.”
“separate order granting summary judgment to Ms. Wakim and denying the Debtor a discharge under § 727(a)(5).”
“IT IS ORDERED that the relief sought in the Complaint be, and hereby is, DENIED. The Disputed Transfers are dischargeable by Mr. Levine in his bankruptcy case.”
“Based upon the foregoing, the trustee’s complaint is not subject to either arbitration or dismissal. The court will enter a separate order denying Mr. Levine’s motion.”
“will enter a separate order granting the MTD and dismissing this case.”
“a separate order granting the Debtor’s motion for judgment on the pleadings regarding the Defendants’ liability to the Debtor; however, it requests that the parties engage in a 60-day discovery period regarding any evidence of incidental and consequential damages related to the re-sale of the Warwood Property.”
“Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED that: 1. The Motion is GRANTED. 2. The case is hereby DISMISSED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The five primary-court matters were terminated. The Chapter 11 designation matter remained open and supplied two express outcomes.
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