Opinion ID: 3165449
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Inconsistent Legal Position

Text: The first element of judicial estoppel requires that a party “assert[] a legal position that is plainly inconsistent with a prior position.” Id. As we have previously recognized, “Chapter 13 debtors have a continuing obligation to disclose post-petition causes of action.” Id. Moreover, “debtors have a duty to disclose to the bankruptcy court” whether post-confirmation assets are treated as property of the estate or vested in the debtor. See id. at 130 (noting that this duty is “notwithstanding uncertainty”). This is because “[w]hether a particular asset should be available to satisfy creditors is often a contested issue, and the debtor’s duty to disclose assets—even where he has a colorable theory for why those assets should be shielded from creditors—allows that issue to be decided as part of the orderly bankruptcy process.” Id. Here, the Allens never disclosed the existence of their personal injury suit to the bankruptcy court, even though they amended the Plan three separate times after filing the personal injury suit. “Because [the Allens] had an affirmative duty to disclose [their] personal-injury claim to the bankruptcy court and did 5 Case: 15-30330 Document: 00513320000 Page: 6 Date Filed: 12/23/2015 No. 15-30330 not do so, [they] impliedly represented that [they] had no such claim.” Id.; see also In re Superior Crewboats, Inc., 374 F.3d at 335 (“[T]he [debtors’] omission of the personal injury claim from their mandatory bankruptcy filings is tantamount to a representation that no such claim existed.”). Thus, “[s]uch blatant inconsistency readily satisfies the first prong of the judicial estoppel inquiry.” In re Superior Crewboats, Inc., 374 F.3d at 335.