Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-09-06070/USCOURTS-ca8-09-06070-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Bank of Bennington
Appellee
Keith Burton Thomas
Appellant
Patricia Ann Thomas
Appellant

Document Text:

United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT 

______ 

Nos. 09-6070/6071 

______

In re: Keith Burton Thomas; * 

Patricia Ann Thomas, * 

 * 

Debtors. * 

 * 

Bank of Bennington, * Appeals from the United States, 

 * Bankruptcy Court for the 

Plaintiff – Appellee, * District of Nebraska 

 – Cross-Appellant, * 

 * 

v. * 

 * 

Keith Burton Thomas; * 

Patricia Ann Thomas, * 

 * 

Defendants – Appellants, * 

 – Cross-Appellees. * 

______ 

Submitted: May 28, 2010 

Filed: June 22, 2010 

______ 

Before KRESSEL, Chief Judge, FEDERMAN and VENTERS, Bankruptcy 

Judges. 

______ 

KRESSEL, Chief Judge. 

1

Appellate Case: 09-6070 Page: 1 Date Filed: 06/22/2010 Entry ID: 3676424
The bankruptcy court1

 sustained the Bank of Bennington’s objection to 

debtor Keith Thomas’s discharge and overruled its objection to debtor Patricia 

Thomas’s discharge. It also determined that Keith Thomas’s debts to the bank 

were dischargeable. Everyone appealed. We affirm the bankruptcy court’s order 

denying Keith Thomas’s discharge and granting Patricia Thomas’s discharge. We 

dismiss the balance of the bank’s appeal as moot and Patricia Thomas’s appeal for 

lack of standing. 

FACTS 

Keith and Patricia Thomas owned several corporations along with their son, 

Timothy Thomas, and his wife. The Thomas entities included: Four T 

Corporation; Sceptre Storage, L.L.C.; Four T Companies, Inc.; and Papiotrade, a 

wholesale distributor of tobacco products. Keith and Tim were in control of all of 

the Thomas entities, but their wives had very little involvement. On December 12, 

2002, the two couples and some of the Thomas entities executed a promissory note 

to the Bank of Bennington in the original principal amount of $4,000,000, and 

received a line of credit on a borrowing base that included inventory, accounts 

receivable, and other collateral. In order to access the line of credit, Papiotrade 

was required to submit monthly borrowing base certificates to the bank. On March 

27, 2004, Four T Companies, Inc. executed a promissory note for $400,000. The 

note was guaranteed by the Thomas entities and by the debtors personally. 

Papiotrade submitted monthly borrowing base certificates to the bank. The 

certificates were generally submitted by CFO Dan Kraft, but were usually2

reviewed and approved by Keith and Tim. 

                                                            1

 The Honorable Timothy J. Mahoney, United States Bankruptcy Judge 

for the District of Nebraska.

2

 The bank disputes this characterization of the pretrial statement. The 

bank submitted as uncontroverted that “These borrowing base certificates were 

reviewed and approved by Keith Thomas and Tim Thomas prior to submission to 

the Bank.” However, in the pretrial statement, the debtors responded, “Debtors 

agree with the Plaintiff’s Uncontroverted Fact (f), except that Keith Thomas and 

2

Appellate Case: 09-6070 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/22/2010 Entry ID: 3676424
The borrowing base certificates showed the value of inventory, state 

cigarette tax stamps, accounts receivable, cash, and other miscellaneous assets. 

The bank relied on the accuracy of the certificates in reviewing the loan and 

deciding whether or not to allow the companies to continue to borrow. In late 

2004, bank officers met with Keith and Tim Thomas and told them they would 

need to balance their borrowing base. The bank offset $176,000 from Papiotrade’s 

bank account, but the borrowing base still was not sufficient. In January of 2005, 

bank officers told Keith and Tim that if the end-of-January certificate did not show 

sufficient assets, the bank would shut down the lending relationship. 

In response to the bank’s warning, Tim initially tried to make more sales to 

increase accounts receivable. By the close of business on January 31, 2005, the 

assets were still insufficient. Tim continued to “work on sales” throughout the 

evening. The next morning, Papiotrade prepared a new borrowing base certificate 

based on the new invoices and sales from the night before, which showed that the 

assets were now sufficient to meet the requirements of the loan. The sales invoices 

from the January 31 evening sales were never sent to the alleged purchasers. The 

borrowing base certificates submitted through March reflected those sales. No one 

from Papiotrade ever informed the bank that the sales and accounts receivable 

were not actual sales or accounts receivable. Eventually, real sales increased, and 

all of the January 31 invoices were backed out of the accounting system between 

mid-February and the end of April 2005. Papiotrade and the other companies later 

closed. After the liquidation of the bank’s collateral, a significant amount of the 

debt remains. 

Keith and Patricia filed a voluntary chapter 7 petition on November 22, 

2006. Keith and Patricia failed to disclose on their schedules or statement of 

financial affairs: 1) a $397,000 tax refund they had received within the year prior 

to the filing of their petition; 2) a loan (and its repayment) in the amount of 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

Timothy Thomas did not always review the monthly borrowing base certificates 

prior to their submission to the bank.”

3

Appellate Case: 09-6070 Page: 3 Date Filed: 06/22/2010 Entry ID: 3676424
$150,000 from the wife of Keith’s relative that occurred within two years of the 

petition; 3) state tax refunds of $56,000; 4) $500,000 in settlement payments 

received within two years of filing the petition; and 5) $90,000 in payments from 

Papiotrade received as income within two years of the petition. At the § 341 

meeting, the bank’s counsel brought the first three omissions to the attention of the 

debtors, who shortly thereafter amended their statement to include the refunds, 

loan and repayment. Keith still did not disclose the fourth or fifth omissions. 

The bank filed an adversary proceeding against Keith and Patricia. The 

bank sought to except from Keith’s discharge his debts arising out of the notes and 

guarantees made in connection with his business, under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2), (4) 

and (6), based on Keith’s alleged involvement in submitting the fraudulent 

borrowing base certificates to the bank after Papiotrade encountered financial 

difficulties in 2004. The bank also sought to deny Keith and Patricia discharges 

under 11 U.S.C. § 727. 

The bankruptcy court ruled against the bank on its § 523(a) claims. The 

bankruptcy court found that Tim, but not Keith, was involved in creating the 

fraudulent sales and invoices, ordering the collection department to refrain from 

attempting collection and directing the accounts receivable to be reversed after the 

CFO suggested that an audit would soon occur and the auditors would find the 

erroneous accounts receivable. 

The bankruptcy court denied Keith’s discharge on the basis of his numerous 

omissions, but did not deny Patricia’s discharge. The court found (and Keith does 

not dispute) that Keith knew of the existence of all of the refunds and payments 

that he omitted from his petitions and schedules but chose not to disclose them. 

The court found that there was insufficient evidence of Patricia’s knowledge of the 

omissions. 

4

Appellate Case: 09-6070 Page: 4 Date Filed: 06/22/2010 Entry ID: 3676424
STANDARD OF REVIEW 

 We review the bankruptcy court’s findings of fact for clear error. First 

Nat’l Bank of Olathe, Kansas v. Pontow, 111 F.3d 604, 609 (8th Cir. 1997); 

Merchs. Nat’l Bank of Winona v. Moen (In re Moen), 238 B.R. 785, 790 (B.A.P. 

8th Cir. 1999). “A finding is ‘clearly erroneous’ when although there is evidence 

to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and 

firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.” Anderson v. Bessemer City,

470 U.S. 564, 573, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985) (quoting U.S. v. U.S. 

Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. 364, 395, 68 S.Ct. 525, 92 L.Ed. 746 (1948)). Whether the 

bank proved an exception to discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 727 is a question of law, 

which we review de novo. Block v. Moss (In re Moss), 266 B.R. 408, 413 (B.A.P. 

8th Cir. 2001).

ANALYSIS 

I. The court did not err in denying Keith’s discharge under § 727(a)(4)(A). 

Section 727(a)(4)(A) provides that “[t]he court shall grant the debtor a 

discharge, unless ... the debtor knowingly and fraudulently, in or in connection 

with the case ... made a false oath or account.” The court found that Keith 1) made 

statements under oath on his petition and schedules and at his 341 meeting; 2) the 

statements were false because he failed to list two tax refunds, a large settlement, 

and $90,000 from Papiotrade; 3) he knew the statements were false because he 

knew of the refunds, settlement and $90,000 but decided not to include them; 4) he 

made the statements with fraudulent intent, which was implied from the 

recklessness of the sizable omissions; and 5) the statements were material to the 

bankruptcy case because they concerned the discovery of assets or the existence 

and disposition of estate property. 

5

Appellate Case: 09-6070 Page: 5 Date Filed: 06/22/2010 Entry ID: 3676424
Keith disputes the court’s application of the fourth prong, intent. He argues 

that the court’s denial of his discharge amounts to strict liability for his omissions, 

which he claims were honest mistakes that he corrected as soon as they were 

brought to his attention. Reckless disregard for the truth will support a finding of 

fraudulent intent for the purpose of denying a debtor his discharge under § 

727(a)(4)(A). Korte v. Internal Revenue Serv. (In re Korte), 262 B.R. 464, 474 

(B.A.P. 8th Cir. 2001) (“Intent can be established by circumstantial evidence, and 

statements made with reckless indifference to the truth are regarded as 

intentionally false.”); see also Jordan v. Bren (In re Bren), 122 Fed. Appx. 285, 

286 (8th Cir. 2005) (unpublished) (citing Korte). Keith completely ignores the 

court’s finding of reckless indifference to the truth, essentially arguing that his 

false statements were mitigated by his later actions to provide full information, and 

that the failure to include the $397,000 refund on the schedules was his attorney’s 

fault. 

On appeal, Keith argues that the bankruptcy court “ignored evidence” that 

mitigated his responsibility. We presume that the bankruptcy court reviewed all 

evidence presented to it and it specifically referred to Keith’s evidence several 

times and simply found it unpersuasive. In any event, the bankruptcy court’s 

findings were supported by the record and, except for the finding of intent, not 

disputed by Keith. Regarding the finding of intent, the court noted several 

omissions, which Keith does not dispute, and the court inferred intent from the 

recklessness and magnitude of the omissions. These omissions were serious 

enough to support the court’s inference of fraudulent intent. The bankruptcy 

court’s findings were not clearly erroneous.

 

II. The bankruptcy court did not err in not denying Patricia’s discharge 

under § 727(a)(4)(A). 

The bank also objected to Patricia’s discharge under § 727 based on the 

same omissions. The court found that there was “insufficient evidence with regard 

to Mrs. Thomas’s knowledge and understanding of the dates on which certain 

6

Appellate Case: 09-6070 Page: 6 Date Filed: 06/22/2010 Entry ID: 3676424
settlement monies were received and transferred and no evidence concerning her 

knowledge of the $90,000 that Keith Thomas received in several checks from 

Papiotrade in February and May of 2005.” 

 

The bank did very little to make a case against Patricia. It asked no 

questions of her at trial. The court found insufficient evidence of intent, and the 

bank has not pointed to anything in the record to support its position that the 

bankruptcy court erred in not denying Patricia’s discharge. See Jordan v. Bren (In 

re Bren), 122 Fed.Appx. 285 (8th Cir. 2005) (unpublished) (bankruptcy court did 

not have basis to deny wife’s discharge based on omissions from the married 

couple’s joint bankruptcy petition and schedules where wife was not involved in 

business’s financial affairs and was ignorant of her own financial affairs). The 

bankruptcy court’s findings as to Patricia are supported by the record and were not 

clearly erroneous. 

III. The balance of the bank’s appeal is moot. 

Because we find that the bankruptcy court properly denied Keith’s 

discharge, the dischargeability of its particular debt is moot. See Cepelak v. Sears 

(In re Sears), 246 B.R. 341, 352 (B.A.P. 8th Cir. 2000) (“Since the granting of an 

exception to discharge under § 523(a) is subsumed within a denial of general 

discharge under § 727(a), the cross-appeal is mooted by our disposition of the 

Debtors’ appeal.”) (citing Vaughn v. Aboukhater (In re Aboukhater), 165 B.R. 904, 

912 (B.A.P. 9th Cir. 1994); Columbia Farms Distrib., Inc. v. Maltais (In re 

Maltais), 202 B.R. 807, 810 (Bankr. D. Mass. 1996); Kellogg-Citizens Nat’l Bank 

of Green Bay v. DeBruin (In re DeBruin), 144 B.R. 90, 94 (Bankr. E.D. Wis. 

1992); Watson v. City Nat’l Bank (In re Watson), 78 B.R. 267, 271 (Bankr. C.D. 

Cal. 1987)). Since Keith is not receiving a discharge, it is obvious the question of 

whether a debt is excepted from his discharge is irrelevant. At oral argument, the 

bank expressed concern that if Keith filed another case, it would be put in the 

position of having to prove its exception to discharge. However, the bank’s debt, 

7

Appellate Case: 09-6070 Page: 7 Date Filed: 06/22/2010 Entry ID: 3676424
together with the debts of all current creditors, would not be discharged in any 

subsequent case. 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(10). 

IV. Patricia lacks standing to appeal. 

Although Patricia joined in the appeal filed by Keith, she was in no way 

aggrieved by the bankruptcy court’s order or judgment and thus lacks standing to 

appeal. 

 

CONCLUSION 

 We affirm the bankruptcy court’s decision to deny Keith’s discharge and to 

grant Patricia hers. We dismiss as moot the bank’s appeal of the bankruptcy 

court’s decision determining its debts to be dischargeable. Lastly, we dismiss 

Patricia’s appeal for lack of standing. 

______________________________

8

Appellate Case: 09-6070 Page: 8 Date Filed: 06/22/2010 Entry ID: 3676424