IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

No. 13-31134

Summary Calendar

WILLIAM D. CARROLL, JR.; CAROLYN K. CARROLL,

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.

JP MORGAN CHASE BANK,

Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court 

for the Middle District of Louisiana

USDC No. 12-CV-637

Before DAVIS, SOUTHWICK, and HIGGINSON, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:* 

Plaintiffs-Appellants William and Carolyn Carroll (“Plaintiffs,” 

collectively) appeal from the district court’s grant of summary judgment in 

favor of Defendant-Appellee J.P. Morgan Chase Bank (“Chase”). Plaintiffs filed 

suit in October 2012, alleging that Chase breached a contract related to a 

borrowing agreement entered into in 2000, which affected property owned by 

Plaintiffs. In May 2008, more than four years prior to initiating the instant 

case, Plaintiffs filed a voluntary Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition, which was 

* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not 

be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH 

CIR. R. 47.5.4.

United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit

FILED

July 10, 2014

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

 

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No. 13-31134

converted to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 5, 2008, and then converted 

again to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy on August 27, 2008. The Chapter 7 

bankruptcy trustee is Samera L. Abide. 

The filing of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition creates an estate consisting 

of “all legal or equitable interests of the debtor in property as of the 

commencement of the case.” 1 “The phrase ‘all legal or equitable interests’ 

includes legal claims—whether based on state or federal law.”2 A bankruptcy 

trustee is the representative of the bankruptcy estate and has the capacity to 

sue and be sued.3 “Thus, a trustee . . . is the real party in interest, and is the 

only party with standing to prosecute causes of action belonging to the estate 

once the bankruptcy petition has been filed.”4 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 

17(a) requires that “[a]n action must be prosecuted in the name of the real 

party in interest.”5

Relying on these principles, the district court found that the Plaintiffs 

lacked standing because they were not the real party in interest to prosecute

their claim for breach of contract. The district court reasoned that the trustee 

was the only party capable of bringing the claim because it accrued before the 

filing of their bankruptcy petition in 2008, had never been abandoned by the 

trustee, and was therefore part of the bankrupt estate. For the reasons stated 

above and those set forth in the district court’s careful September 24, 2013, 

Memorandum Order, we agree with the district court’s conclusion, and affirm 

1 11 U.S.C. § 541(a)(1).

2 United States ex rel Spicer v. Westbrook, 751 F.3d 354, 361-62 (5th Cir. 2014) (citing In re 

Seven Seas Petroleum, Inc., 522 F.3d 575, 584 (5th Cir. 2008)).

3 11 U.S.C. § 323.

4 Kane v. Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co., 535 F.3d 380, 385 (5th Cir. 2008) (citing 11 U.S.C. §§ 323, 

541(a)(1); Wieburg v. GTE Sw. Inc., 272 F.3d 302, 306 (5th Cir. 2001) (bankruptcy trustee 

has exclusive standing to assert undisclosed claims that fall within the bankruptcy estate)).

5 FED. R. CIV. P. 17(a).

2

 

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No. 13-31134

its judgment. All pending motions are DENIED.

AFFIRMED.

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