Motion To Re-open

[Gaile]

Statement of Decision

Mr. Lee:  Some ruthless characters drove me to BK in 2007.  Five months into my BK and 4.5 weeks prior to discharge, they sued me in state court alleging fraud among other causes of action for $20 M in punitive damages and 3M in actual damages. The day of my discharge, my friend suggested I add them as alleged creditors to 20M. Of course they filed an adversary proceeding and the Judge said I did not give them enough time to file a proof of claim so they could continue to sue me and get a judgment for fraud in a court of competent jurisdiction. Midway through a 10.5 week trial, they pulled the cause of action for fraud and as a pro per, I basically prevailed with only a 4K judgment against me. Again, there was no fraud, no malicious or willful intent, no conversion, NOTHING, it was all about harassment and 1.2 million spent in a civil court docket of over 950 entires to obtain a puny 4k judgment. Now, I want to re-open my BK and add that judgment and the 18K awarded to them in costs since there was no fraud on my part.  Of course after all this, i am too broke to retain an attorney....what is some of the language I should use and are there any case law I should consult to make my Motion to Reopen more compelling to the judge?  I am sending the 1st page of the Statement of Decision and I am less worried about the default because they never served me the Summons in their adversarial proceeding against me, and I appeared before the judge when I figured out I had a default and he told me I had to re-open my BK, so that is why I am contacting you, to see if you can provide me any language, any case law, or any sample motions I can use to re-open my case. Feel free to break this down and put it on your website.

[Byrleigh]

The applicable law is 11 U.S.C. § 350(b) and Federal Bankruptcy Rule 5010.  

Generally speaking, motions to reopen a case are granted as a matter of right, however I must strongly suggest that you retain an experienced bankruptcy attorney to accomplish this for you.

The motion should contain a brief history(see the docket report) of your bankruptcy case and clearly and briefly state the reason(s) for requesting that the case be reopened.  The motion should also contain a proposed order.

Brian V. Lee, Esq.

Bankruptcy lawyer Virginiahttp://www.lee-legal.com