Truesdail v. Hall, Bankruptcy No. 74-60885.
| Decision Date | 26 October 1979 |
| Docket Number | Bankruptcy No. 74-60885. |
| Citation | 1 BR 130 |
| Parties | In the Matter of Richard M. TRUESDAIL, Jr., Bankrupt, v. Cecil and Leda HALL, Plaintiffs. |
| Court | U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Eastern District of Michigan |
Maurine Jones McKenna, Flint, Mich., for plaintiffs.
Frank L. Talkow, Flint, Mich., for bankrupt/defendant.
The sole issue before the court in this reserved decision is whether a State Court Judgment which predated the bankruptcy and arose out of an injury inflicted on Mrs. Hall's person is a dischargeable debt.
Although several issues requiring motions and argument before the court germane to the issue before the court have been disposed of, this court is limited to the sole issue of whether the judgment debt obtained in a trial in the State Court, pre-dating the bankruptcy, is a dischargeable debt.
A summary of the facts is as follows:
On March 29, 1976, about 1:30 a.m., plaintiffs, husband and wife, were seated at a table in Princess Arms, a liquor dispensing establishment in this county. At the same table were the sister and brother-in-law of Mrs. Hall. The brother-in-law left the table to play pool at a table a short distance from where the four parties were seated. While the remaining three parties were at the table, the bankrupt entered the bar and subsequently engaged in an altercation at the bar which spread to the pool table and there the bankrupt pulled a gun brandishing it and threatening to shoot nearby people. Several men near the pool table subdued Mr. Truesdail and during the process the gun was fired, discharging a bullet into the ceiling of the drinking establishment. The bankrupt succeeded in disengaging from the restraint of the patrons who were trying to subdue him and swinging his gun wildly at anyone within reach swung the gun at the head of Cecil Hall who ducked and the gun struck Mrs. Hall fracturing the frontal bone and leaving a four inch cut in her forehead and also disfiguring her nose with a large cut across the nose. At all times, the plaintiffs were seated at a table, had not engaged in any of the altercation going on, and had not sought in any way to interfere with the bankrupt. The bankrupt had visited two other bars prior to coming to the Princess Arms and admitted that he was intoxicated.
Mrs. Hall was taken to a hospital and thereafter the frontal bone of her forehead was submitted to corrective surgery and the total amount of the bills sustained as a result of the injury amounted to $3,300.
After hearing the testimony of the plaintiffs and the defendant the District Judge awarded a judgment for the full amount of the ad damnum clause of the suit, to wit, $10,000.
The bankrupt brings this action before this court to determine the dischargeability of the debt.
The plaintiffs have furnished the court with the transcript of the proceedings in the State Court which this court has read. In essence, we have here a drunken man, armed, who enters into a drinking establishment, causes a...
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