Fortier v. 3139 Mount Whitney Rd. Trust Dated 06-14-2021 U.S. Financial L.P.
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Todd W. Robinson (author)
Analysis
Plaintiffs filed a motion for withdrawal of reference from the bankruptcy court, but the bankruptcy court had already remanded the adversary proceeding and dismissed the bankruptcy petition. The district court dismissed the action without prejudice and denied the motion as moot.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Dismissal of the action“The Court therefore DISMISSES WITHOUT PREJUDICE this action” | agree with court The court correctly identified that the underlying bankruptcy case and adversary proceeding were no longer pending, rendering the district court's involvement moot. Dismissal without prejudice is the appropriate procedural mechanism when a case is moot due to the resolution of the underlying matter in another court. |
Denial of Motion for Withdrawal of Reference as moot“DENIES AS MOOT Plaintiffs’ Motion for Withdrawal of Reference (ECF No. 1)” | agree with court Because the bankruptcy court had already remanded the adversary proceeding and dismissed the bankruptcy petition, there was no longer a pending case or proceeding for the district court to withdraw. Therefore, the motion was moot. |
The order itself: sound — The order is procedurally sound. It correctly applies the doctrine of judicial notice to the public docket records of the bankruptcy court to establish that the underlying proceedings were no longer pending. This factual finding logically leads to the conclusion that the motion for withdrawal is moot and the district court action should be dismissed. The reasoning is concise and directly addresses the motion.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 IN RE GLENN ANTHONY FORTIER, Case No.: 22-CV-986 TWR (AHG) Bankruptcy No.: 3-22-01293-LT13 12 Debtor. Adversary No.: 22-90026-LT 13 ORDER (1) DISMISSING CASE AND 14 GLENN FORTIER; and DEBRA (2) DENYING AS MOOT MOTION 15 TONER, FOR WITHDRAWAL OF REFERENCE 16 Plaintiffs, 17 v. (ECF No. 1) 18 3139 MOUNT WHITNEY RD. TRUST DATED 06-14-2021 U.S. FINANCIAL 19 L.P., as Trustee, et al., 20 Defendants. 21 22 On July 6, 2022, Plaintiffs Glenn Fortier and Debra Toner filed a Motion for 23 Withdrawal of Reference from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern 24 District of California. (ECF No. 1.) The Motion seeks mandatory withdrawal or, 25 alternatively, permissive withdrawal, of Bankruptcy Petition No. 22-01293 (the 26 “bankruptcy petition”) and Adversary Proceeding No. 22-90026 (the “adversary 27 proceeding”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157. (See ECF No. 1 at 1.) 28 / / / 1 After receiving Plaintiffs’ Motion, the Court issued an Order Setting Hearing and Briefing 2 Schedule and set a Motion Hearing for November 3, 2022. (ECF No. 3.) 3 At any stage of a proceeding, the Court may take judicial notice of facts that are not 4 subject to reasonable dispute. See Fed. R. Evid. 201(b). “A fact is ‘not subject to 5 reasonable dispute’ if it is ‘generally known,’ or ‘can be accurately and readily determined 6 from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.’” Khoja v. Orexigen 7 Therapeutics, Inc., 899 F.3d 988, 999 (9th Cir. 2018) (quoting Fed. R. Evid. 201(b)(1)– 8 (2)). Accordingly, a court may take judicial notice of undisputed matters of public record. 9 See Lee v. City of Los Angeles, 250 F.3d 668, 689 (9th Cir. 2001). 10 The docket indicates that the bankruptcy court remanded the adversary proceeding 11 on July 14, 2022, see Order on Plaintiff’s Motion to Remand Case to State Court, 3139 Mt. 12 Whitney Rd. Tr. Dated 6/14/21 U.S. Fin. LP. v. Fortier et al., No. 3-22-90026 (Bankr. S.D. 13 Cal. filed July 14, 2022), ECF No. 18, and dismissed the bankruptcy petition on September 14 8, 2022. See Order Dismissing Bankruptcy Case with One Year Bar to Filing; Coercive 15 Sanctions Against Debtor and Debra Lynn Toner; Compensatory Sanctions Against Debra 16 Lynn Toner, In re Fortier, No. 3-22-01293-LT13 (Bankr. S.D. Cal. filed Sept. 8, 2022), 17 ECF No. 45; Order Dismissing Bankruptcy Case with One Year Bar to Filing; Coercive 18 Sanctions Against Debtor and Debra Lynn Toner; Compensatory Sanctions Against Debra 19 Lynn Toner, 3139 Mt. Whitney Rd. Tr. Dated 6/14/21 U.S. Fin. LP. v. Fortier et al., No. 3- 20 22-90026 (Bankr. S.D. Cal. filed Sep. 8, 2022), ECF No. 39. Accordingly, there is no 21 longer a pending case or proceeding for this Court to withdraw from the bankruptcy court. 22 / / / 23 / / / 24 / / / 25 / / / 26 / / / 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 || The Court therefore DISMISSES WITHOUT PREJUDICE this action and DENIES AS 2 || MOOT Plaintiffs’ Motion for Withdrawal of Reference (ECF No. 1). The Clerk of the 3 Court SHALL CLOSE the file. 4 IT IS SO ORDERED. 5 || Dated: October 25, 2022 —— (2 [5 □□ re 7 Honorable Todd W. Robinson United States District Judge 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Cites, in this corpus
- Karim Khoja v. Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. 16-56069 · 2018-08-13