In re Gonzalez
| Decision Date | 27 March 2019 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 2:15-bk-25283-RK |
| Citation | 620 B.R. 296 |
| Parties | IN RE: Arturo GONZALEZ, Debtor. |
| Court | U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Central District of California |
Pending before the court are: (1) the Motion of Wesley H. Avery, the Chapter 7 Trustee ("Trustee") Objecting to the Debtor's Claimed Homestead Exemption in Real Property Located at 329 Hawaiian Avenue, Wilmington, California ("Original Objection Motion"), Electronic Case Filing Number ("ECF") 96, filed on June 8, 2016; and (2) Trustee's Motion Objecting to Debtor's Amended Schedules filed December 12, 2017 to Claim a Homestead Exemption in Real Property at 329 Hawaiian Avenue, Wilmington, California, and to Claim a Tools of the Trade Exemption in Commissions ("Amended Objection Motion"), ECF 241, filed on January 8, 2018.
Debtor Arturo Gonzalez ("Debtor") filed a written opposition to the Original Objection Motion on June 24, 2016, ECF 113, and Trustee filed a reply thereto on June 30, 2016, ECF 115. The Original Objection Motion initially came on for hearing before the undersigned United States Bankruptcy Judge on July 7, 2016. At that hearing, the court determined that since the Original Objection Motion raised disputed factual and legal issues, it would treat it as a contested matter under Rule 9014 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. On August 17, 2016, the court conducted an evidentiary hearing on this contested matter. Brett B. Curlee, of the Law Offices of Brett Curlee, appeared for Trustee, and Anerio V. Altman, of Lake Forest Bankruptcy Law Office, appeared for Debtor. Following the evidentiary hearing, the court ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs addressing the issue of whether Debtor is barred by the doctrines of judicial estoppel and/or collateral estoppel from switching from the so-called "bankruptcy-like" exemptions claimed under California Code of Civil Procedure ("C.C.P.") § 703.140(b) to regular California non-bankruptcy exemptions claimed under C.C.P. § 704.010 et seq. , and C.C.P. § 704.730 after a final judgment had been entered allowing the previously claimed C.C.P. § 703.140(b) exemptions. See Order after Hearing on Motion by the Chapter 7 Trustee Objecting to the Debtor's Claimed Homestead Exemption, ECF 145, filed and entered on August 23, 2016; see also 1 March, Ahart and Shapiro, California Practice Guide: Bankruptcy , ¶ 2:601 at 2-84 (2018) ( ) (emphasis in original), citing, 11 U.S.C. § 522 ; 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(1) ; C.C.P. § 703.140(a) and (b). The court ordered Debtor to file a supplemental brief by November 4, 2016 and Trustee to file a supplemental brief by November 18, 2016. Following the supplemental briefing, the court authorized Debtor to file a reply to Trustee's supplemental brief by November 30, 2016, and thereafter the matter would be deemed under submission. Id. On November 4, 2016, Debtor through counsel filed his supplemental brief, ECF 156, and filed a request for judicial notice in support thereof, ECF 157. On November 30, 2016, Trustee filed his supplemental reply brief. ECF 163.
On November 6, 2016, Debtor filed a substitution of attorney substituting himself for his counsel, ECF 158. At a status conference in a related adversary proceeding on November 15, 2016, Debtor requested that the court extend the deadline for Debtor to file his reply brief in response to the Trustee's supplemental brief, and at this hearing Trustee consented to the extension of time allowing Debtor to file his reply by January 31, 2017. See Amended Order on Motion by the Chapter 7 Trustee Objecting to the Debtor's Claimed Homestead Exemption in Real Property , ECF 161, filed and entered on November 18, 2016. Debtor failed to file the reply brief by this deadline, so the matter was deemed submitted as of February 1, 2017.
On June 27, 2017, the court issued two memorandum decisions and two orders on the Chapter 7 Trustee's original motions objecting to Debtor's claimed homestead exemption and "tools of the trade" exemption. ECF 202-205. The court ruled that Debtor was not entitled to claim a homestead exemption under C.C.P. § 704 based on equitable estoppel principles. The court also ruled that Debtor was not entitled to claim a "tools of the trade" exemption with respect to his real estate sales commissions under C.C.P. § 704.
On July 11, 2017, Debtor filed his motion for reconsideration of the orders granting Trustee's motions disallowing the claimed homestead exemption and "tools of the trade" exemption. ECF 210. On August 1, 2017, Trustee filed his opposition to Debtor's motion for reconsideration. ECF 212. On August 2, 2017, the court filed and entered its order granting Debtor's motion for reconsideration, staying the prior orders pending reconsideration in light of the opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in In re Lua , 692 Fed.Appx. 851 (9th Cir. 2017), which reversed the orders of the lower courts upon which this court had cited in its memorandum decisions disallowing Debtor's exemptions. In this order, the court set a schedule of further briefing from the parties regarding the impact of the Ninth Circuit's opinion in Lua .
By order filed and entered on September 27, 2017, the court granted Debtor's request to extend time to file his supplemental brief. ECF 218. On November 7, 2017, Debtor filed his supplemental brief on his right to claim a homestead exemption. ECF 222.
On December 12, 2017, Debtor filed an amended Schedule C: The Property You Claimed as Exempt (Official Form 106C) to claim a homestead exemption of $100,000, ECF 229, amending his claim of exemptions to increase the homestead exemption from the $75,000 claimed on his amended Schedule C filed in May 2016, see ECF 85. On December 15, 2017, Debtor filed a motion requesting that the court's rulings denying his homestead exemption be set aside pursuant to In re Lua and based on misconduct of Trustee for failing to object to untimely creditor claims in light of the May 2017 decision of the United States Supreme Court in Midland Funding, LLC v. Johnson. ––– U.S. ––––, 137 S.Ct. 1407, 197 L.Ed.2d 790 (2017). ECF 231. On December 22, 2017, Debtor filed another supplemental brief on his right to claim a homestead exemption. ECF 233. On December 29, 2017, Debtor filed a motion to amend his supplemental brief on his right to claim a homestead exemption. ECF 238. On January 7, 2018, Trustee filed his opposition to Debtor's motion to amend his supplemental brief. ECF 240.
On January 8, 2018, Trustee filed the Amended Objection Motion objecting to Debtor's amended schedules filed on December 12, 2017, claiming the increased homestead exemption of $100,000 and a "tools of the trade" exemption. ECF 241.
On January 9, 2018, Debtor filed an amended responsive brief regarding his right to claim a homestead exemption. ECF 246. On January 17, 2018, the court filed and entered an order on Debtor's motion to amend his responsive brief on his claimed homestead exemption, granting his request to amend his brief and granting additional time for Trustee to respond. ECF 248. On January 31, 2018, Trustee filed his brief in response to Debtor's amended responsive brief. ECF 253.
On February 1, 2018, Debtor filed a second motion to amend his responsive brief regarding his claimed homestead exemption. ECF 254. On February 12, 2018, Trustee filed his opposition to Debtor's second motion to amend his responsive brief. ECF 257. On February 21, 2018, Debtor filed a motion to reopen discovery on the dispute regarding his claimed homestead exemption and to extend time to file a reply to Trustee's opposition to his second motion to amend his responsive brief. ECF 263. This motion was refiled on February 23, 2018 due to a noticing defect. ECF 264. On February 27, 2018, Trustee filed an opposition to Debtor's motion to reopen discovery. ECF 266. On February 28, 2018, the court filed and entered an order granting Debtor's second motion to amend his responsive brief regarding his claimed homestead exemption. ECF 270. On March 6, 2018, Debtor filed his responsive brief regarding his right to amend his bankruptcy schedules to increase his claimed homestead exemption from $75,000 to $100,000. ECF 274. Also on March 6, 2018, Debtor filed his amended responsive brief regarding his right to amend his bankruptcy schedules to increase his claimed homestead exemption from $75,000 to $100,000. ECF 275. On March 6, 2018, Debtor also filed an amended motion to reopen discovery regarding the dispute over his claimed homestead exemption. ECF 278. On March 29, 2018, the court filed and entered its order granting Debtor's motion to reopen discovery on his claimed homestead exemption, setting a deadline for completing discovery by May 31, 2018 and setting a briefing schedule for Trustee's motion objecting to Debtor's amended homestead exemption claim. ECF 286. This order set a deadline for further briefing and evidence to be filed by Debtor by June 29, 2018, with a hearing on August 29, 2018. Id. On June 22, 2018, the court filed and entered an order denying Debtor's motion to continue the hearing on the claimed homestead exemption on August 29, 2018 due to alleged lack of compliance with discovery subpoenas. ECF...
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In re Eberhardt
...each of the four elements for equitable estoppel. In so holding, the Court finds In re Gonzalez, 620 B.R. 296,[21] to be instructive. In Gonzalez, after the trustee had engaged a real estate agent to sell subject real property, the debtor attempted to amend his Schedule C to exempt the equi......
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In re Guevarra, Case No. 18-25306-B-7
...would later be amended to use the same exemption to exempt proceeds from the sale of a different asset. See In re Gonzalez, 620 B.R. 296, 319-20 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. 2019). Third, unlike Lua, there are no changed circumstances. The debtor's opposition to the chapter 7 trustee's objection to th......