UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT 

FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA 

Miami Division 

www.flsb.uscourts.gov

In re: 

PAUL WIGODA, 

 Debtor. 

______________________________________/

 Case No. 19-22567-AJC 

 Chapter 11 

PW CAPITAL COLLECTIONS, LLC’S MOTION FOR COMFORT ORDER 

 Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 105 and 362, PW Capital Collections, LLC (“PW Capital”) moves 

for the entry of a comfort order with respect to its continued prosecution of a state court action to 

enforce a final judgment against Paul Wigoda M.D., P.A., a Florida corporation (“Wigoda PA”). 

The individual Debtor, Paul Wigoda, is a co-defendant in the state court action and the pendency 

of this case stays the action as to the Debtor. The grounds for this motion are as follows. 

Statement of Facts 

1. PW Capital holds a final judgment against Wigoda PA and the Debtor, entered on 

March 5, 2019, in the amount of $4,732,216.76, in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court in and for 

Miami-Dade County, Florida, Case No. 18-39577 CA 30. A copy of the final judgment is attached 

as Exhibit 1. A copy of the assignment to PW Capital is attached as Exhibit 2. 

2. On September 20, 2019, the Debtor filed this chapter 11 bankruptcy case. 

3. On September 25, 2019, the state court entered an order placing the case on inactive 

status due to the bankruptcy stay. A copy of the order is attached as Exhibit 3. 

Legal Argument 

“Comfort orders serve a valuable purpose. The orders are entered primarily for a third 

party’s benefit, often to help a sister state court attempting to determine whether it can proceed 

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with a pending action, such as a foreclosure. The orders merely identify and reiterate what has 

already occurred by operation of law. Comfort orders also protect creditors from potential 

ramifications of acting in violation of the automatic stay by obtaining a cloak of cover from the 

court.” In re Hill, 364 B.R. 826, 828 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2007) (internal quotations and citation 

omitted). “Courts traditionally have exercised broad discretion in determining whether to enter 

comfort orders. The power to issue comfort orders is encompassed within Section 105 of the 

Bankruptcy Code, which supplies bankruptcy courts with the authority to ‘issue any order, process, 

or judgment that is necessary or appropriate to carry out the provisions of’ the Bankruptcy Code.” 

Id. (quoting 11 U.S.C. § 105; other citation omitted). 

The Debtor’s petition operates as an automatic stay of state court actions against the Debtor 

only. See 11 U.S.C. § 362(a); see Chicago Title Ins. Co. v. Lerner, 435 B.R. 732, 735 (S.D. Fla. 

2010) (“Although the scope of the automatic stay is broad, the clear language of section 362(a) 

stays actions only against a debtor”); Puig v. PADC Mktg., LLC, 26 So. 3d 45, 47 (Fla. 3d DCA 

2009) (“The language of section 362 refers only to actions against the debtor and does not relate 

to any other interparty claims. Both federal and state courts in Florida have followed the general 

rule that the United States Bankruptcy Code generally stays proceedings against the debtor 

alone.”). “The law makes clear ... that the automatic stay provisions of section 362(a) generally 

are not available to third-party non-debtors.” In re Sunbeam Sec. Litig., 261 B.R. 534, 536 (S.D. 

Fla. 2001) (citations omitted). 

Courts have “on occasion” applied the automatic stay to non-debtors based on “unusual 

circumstances.” Id. Those circumstances may include (a) where there is such identity between the 

debtor and the third-party defendant that the debtor may be said to be the real party defendant and 

that a judgment will in effect be against the debtor, (b) where the action seeks possession or control 

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over property of the debtor, or (c) where stay protection is deemed essential to the debtor’s efforts 

of reorganization. See id. at 536-37 (quotations and citations omitted). No unusual circumstances 

are present in this case. Wigoda PA is a separate entity with its own assets, PW Capital’s state 

court action does not seek possession or control over any property of the Debtor, and a stay as to 

Wigoda PA would not serve to benefit the Debtor in any way. 

PW Capital seeks to continue the prosecution of the state court action only against Wigoda 

PA. The state court action, as to Wigoda PA, is not automatically stayed by the filing of this 

bankruptcy case and neither the Debtor nor Wigoda PA has sought to stay it. PW Capital is 

accordingly requesting a comfort order from this Court to confirm that its prosecution of the state 

court action to enforce its judgment against Wigoda PA is not and will not be deemed a stay 

violation. The Debtor is not opposed to the relief sought in this motion. 

WHEREFORE, PW Capital respectfully requests that the Court enter a comfort order 

providing that PW Capital’s state court action, as to Wigoda PA, is not stayed, including all related 

post-judgment discovery, garnishments, and proceedings supplementary that do not involve the 

Debtor or the Debtor’s property, and that PW Capital’s prosecution of the action to enforce its 

judgment against Wigoda PA is not and will not be deemed a stay violation, and such further relief 

as is just and appropriate. 

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I hereby certify that I am admitted to the Bar of the United States District Court for the Southern 

District of Florida and that I am in compliance with the additional qualifications to practice in 

this Court set forth in Local Rule 2090-1(A). 

Respectfully submitted, 

WEISSMAN & DERVISHI, P.A. 

 

By: /s/ Peter A. Tappert

 Brian S. Dervishi 

Peter A. Tappert 

 Fla. Bar Nos. 350303 and 27100 

 SunTrust International Center 

 One Southeast Third Avenue, Suite 1700 

 Miami, Florida 33131 

 305-347-4070 (Telephone) 

 305-347-4077 (Facsimile) 

 bdervishi@wdpalaw.com

ptappert@wdpalaw.com 

 

 Attorneys for PW Capital Collections, LLC 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I HEREBY CERTIFY that on October 1, 2019, a true and correct copy of the foregoing 

was served by CM/ECF on the parties named below and all others entitled to receive notice. 

 /s/ Peter A. Tappert

 Peter A. Tappert 

Bradley S. Shraiberg, Esq. 

Shraiberg Landau & Page, P.A. 

2385 NW Executive Center Dr., Suite 300 

Boca Raton, FL 33431 

U.S. Trustee 

Office of the U.S. Trustee 

51 S.W. 1st Ave., Suite 1204 

Miami, FL 33130 

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Exhibit 1 

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Exhibit 2 

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Exhibit 3 

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