As they say, bad cases make bad law.
In a case that is yet to be published the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Alabama has ruled in In re Willford, in essence, that Debtors who continues with a divorce filed in violation of the automatic stay will not find protection later when things do not go their way.
Mr. and Mrs. Williford had and have major problems.
On October 3, 2003, Kenneth Williford, together with his former spouse Charlotte Williford, filed a joint petition in bankruptcy pursuant to Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. (Doc. 1). At that time, the Willifords jointly owned five mobile home parks in Lee Chambers County, Alabama, which they valued in their bankruptcy schedules at $3,650,000.
Among the problems they had and have, Kenneth Williford was convicted of one count of rape and one count of sodomy in connection with a sequence of events which took place in an abandoned mobile home in one of Williford's trailer parks. Kenneth Williford was sentenced to 25 years on the rape conviction and 15 years on the sodomy conviction, with the sentences to run concurrently. Williford appealed his convictions, which were affirmed by the Alabama Supreme Court.
One of the precipitating problems resulting in the bankruptcy, other than the criminal conviction, is that a couple of consumers had brought a civil action against Kenneth and Charlotte Williford. The consumers purchased a mobile home from the Willifords. Kenneth Williford subsequently evicted the consumers from the mobile home. The consumers had alleged in their civil action that the Willifords had wrongfully repossessed the mobile home. A jury in Chambers County awarded the consumers $33,000 in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages. The trial court's judgment was appealed twice to the Alabama Supreme Court. In the first appeal, the Alabama Supreme Court remanded the case to the trial court. In the second appeal, the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court.
On April 9, 2003, Charlotte Williford petitioned the Circuit Court in Lee County, Alabama for a divorce from Kenneth Williford. Notwithstanding the fact that they had filed a joint petition in bankruptcy, Charlotte and Kenneth Williford were unable to agree on a resolution of their divorce case, and the trial was held on September 22-23, 2003. Judgment was entered on October 31, 2003. It should be remembered that the Willifords filed their joint petition in bankruptcy on October 3, 2003. Thus, the petition in bankruptcy was filed after the trial but before entry of judgment of divorce. Both Charlotte and Kenneth Williford were represented by separate counsel at the September 22-23 trial in the divorce case. The Circuit Court in Lee County awarded most of the marital assets to Charlotte Williford. Kenneth Williford prosecuted an appeal to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, which affirmed the judgment of the trial court without an opinion by the date of the Bankruptcy Court's order. Neither Charlotte nor Kenneth filed a motion for relief from the automatic stay in this bankruptcy case.
Only after Kenneth Williford loses does he file a motion demanding
the Bankruptcy Court void the division of property and ruling of the
divorce court because that proceedings because it was taken in violation of the automatic stay.
The Bankruptcy Court found that Kenneth Willford's opinion of the stay was correct, ruling that upon the filing of a petition in bankruptcy, an automatic stay comes into effect. That a divorce property division does impinges upon the automatic stay in that such division of property by a divorce court of an individual in bankruptcy necessarily entails a transfer of property which by definition violates the automatic stay. Further, in accordance with the law in 11th Circuit the divorce proceeding is void.
That said, the Court found that it had the power under the Bankruptcy Code to annul the automatic stay in this case, and did so based upon the seemingly outrageous set of facts presented. Specifically, the Bankruptcy Court found that it "is plainly inconsistent for Kenneth Williford to argue here that the proceedings in state court are void as violative of the automatic stay, as he nevertheless prosecuted an appeal in the state court system. To give Kenneth Williford a federal court "do over" here would do violence to the principle of comity with the state court system and waste scarce judicial resources".
You are the biggest piece of shit for writing this. Trailer trash? Your mad because the willifords trump your petty ass. Please hope to Buddha, God, or whoever the fuck you pray to that your name stays hidden. I will rip you and every little thing I can dig up on your family apart. Oh and trust me I wont stop until I do.
Posted by: saun jaun | May 30, 2011 at 08:42 PM