Opinion ID: 166570
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 Joelson has never contested the bankruptcy court's factual findings. Moreover, Joelson's appendix contains only the bankruptcy court's docket sheet, order and judgment, and the BAP's docket sheet and opinion. Thus we may not disturb the bankruptcy court's factual findings in this case, and we draw the following description of the events underlying this suit from those findings. See Jenkins v. Hodes (In re Hodes), 287 B.R. 561, 570 (D.Kan.2002) ([B]ecause the parties do not specifically contest the bankruptcy court's findings of fact, the court will not disturb this ruling on appeal.), aff'd, 402 F.3d 1005 (10th Cir.2005); cf. McEwen v. City of Norman, 926 F.2d 1539, 1550 (10th Cir.1991) (noting that we are unable to review an appellant's factual contention when the evidentiary matters relied on by a lower court are not included in the record on appeal). 3 Cadwell is a single, retired man who lives in Casper, Wyoming. Cadwell met Joelson at a café in Casper where she was working as a waitress. Around March 1996, Joelson told Cadwell that she needed to travel to Scottsdale, Arizona to check on a house that she owned and pick up her mother. 4 Cadwell agreed to drive Joelson from Casper to Scottsdale. While Cadwell and Joelson were in Scottsdale, someone gave Joelson money. Joelson represented to Cadwell that the money was rent for the house that she owned in Scottsdale. 5 After Cadwell and Joelson returned to Casper, Joelson informed Cadwell that she needed a loan of over $50,000 to save her Scottsdale home from foreclosure. Joelson stated that her brother, Larry Oltman, would later loan her these funds, and that as soon as Oltman did so, she would repay Cadwell. Joelson promised that she would provide Cadwell with collateral to secure the loan and represented that she owned residences in both Casper and Glendo, Wyoming; a motel in Glendo; and a number of antique vehicles stored in Glendo. When Cadwell asked to see the properties, Joelson took Cadwell to Glendo and showed Cadwell the inside of a house, the outside of another house and a motel, and a storage facility in which the antique cars were allegedly housed. Joelson also provided Cadwell with a list of the antique cars that she allegedly owned. 6 After he viewed the properties, Cadwell mortgaged his home and borrowed over $50,000. Joelson gave Cadwell a promissory note, 1 and the two traveled to Arizona, where they met with a lender's representatives regarding the foreclosure. In the course of these dealings, Cadwell learned that the Arizona property was titled in the name of Joelene M. Joelson. However, Cadwell knew Debtor as Jeanne Joelson, not Joelene M. Joelson. After Debtor told Cadwell that she and Joelene M. Joelson were the same person, Cadwell advanced approximately $54,000 to Joelson to pay off the Deed of Trust. 7 Cadwell's attempts to collect the loan have proved fruitless, as Joelson has not repaid the loan or forfeited collateral. Joelson has rebuffed Cadwell's claims by asserting that she never had an interest in the Scottsdale property and that the funds that Cadwell gave to her in connection with that property were a gift.
8 Before bringing this suit, Cadwell brought suit in Wyoming state court on the promissory note that Joelson had given to him. The state court entered judgment (the state court judgment) against Joelson. After Joelson filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Cadwell filed an adversary proceeding in the bankruptcy court seeking to bar all of Joelson's debts—or, in the alternative, just the state court judgment—from being discharged. 9 Joelson failed to appear before the bankruptcy court. Nonetheless, Joelson's counsel presented Joelson's case to the court, and both parties presented closing arguments. The bankruptcy court refused to deny the discharge of all claims against Joelson, but the court relied on § 523(a)(2)(A) to hold that Cadwell's claim was not dischargeable. 10 In making this ruling, the bankruptcy court was unable to conclude whether Jolene Joelson, Joelene Joelson, and Jeanne Joelson are three names for Debtor, or two (or three) separate people. However, the court did determine that Joelson's assertion that she owned residences in both Casper and Glendo, a motel in Glendo, and a number of antique vehicles stored in Glendo was false. 11 On appeal, the BAP affirmed the bankruptcy court's decision. The BAP ruled that some of the misrepresentations that Joelson made to Cadwell were not statements respecting [her] financial condition. As a result, the BAP ruled that under § 523(a)(2)(A) those misrepresentations, which induced Cadwell to loan money to Joelson, prevented the state court judgment from being discharged. 12 This appeal from Joelson followed.