Opinion ID: 1399098
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Mason's standing.

Text: In the appellants' reply brief, they claim that the lender-liability lawsuit was abandoned to Mason, because Mason scheduled the lawsuit as an asset in his Chapter 7 filing on February 8, 2005, and the bankruptcy estate was closed on May 24, 2005, without the lawsuit being administered. They emphasize that, unless otherwise ordered by the court, any scheduled property that is not administered at the time of the closing of the estate is considered abandoned to the debtor. They direct this court to 11 U.S.C. § 554(c), which reads: (c) Unless the court orders otherwise, any property scheduled under section 521(1) of this title not otherwise administered at the time of the closing of a case is abandoned to the debtor and administered for purposes of section 350 of this title. As the lender-liability lawsuit was abandoned to Mason, he contends he had standing to prosecute the litigation. We refuse to address this argument for two reasons. Our initial reason is that Mason makes the argument for the first time in his reply brief on appeal. This is too late. See Maddox v. City of Fort Smith, 346 Ark. 209, 56 S.W.3d 375 (2001) (We do not consider arguments raised for the first time in a reply brief because the appellee is not given a chance to rebut the argument.). Secondly, though the circuit judge made a finding in his judgment of no abandonment, appellants did not argue section 554(c) to the circuit judge in either their brief opposing summary judgment or in their motion for reconsideration. See Perry v. Baptist Health, 368 Ark. 114, 243 S.W.3d 310 (2006) ([W]e will not consider an argument raised for the first time on appeal.). The appellants' argument to the circuit judge in their response brief solely regarded judicial estoppel and did not address abandonment under section 554(c) and its effect on Mason's standing. In their petition for review, appellants contend that they did not have the opportunity to argue the abandonment/standing point under section 554(c) before the circuit judge due to the circuit judge's decision to proceed with the summary-judgment hearing without their counsel being present. What occurred at the hearing, however, does not change the fact that appellants raised the abandonment argument for the first time in their reply brief on appeal, thus precluding Community Bank from responding. See Maddox, supra . As already mentioned, appellants could have raised the abandonment argument in their brief to the circuit judge in support of their response to the summary-judgment and dismissal motions or in their motion for reconsideration, and they failed to do so. [4] We are aware that Mason reopened his Chapter 7 bankruptcy estate on July 25, 2006, which might suggest that any previous abandonment by Mason's trustee was revoked by the new filing. Courts are generally in agreement that unadministered assets that are abandoned to a debtor under section 554(c) are not automatically reeled back into the estate by reopening the case. See, e.g., In re Menk, 241 B.R. 896 (1999); 9E Am.Jur.2d Bankruptcy § 3748, p. 23 (2006). Nor do we agree that filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 2005 four months after filing the original Chapter 7 bankruptcy gave Mason standing to prosecute a scheduled lender-liability suit on August 8, 2005. This, again, is in the nature of an abandonment argument under section 554(c), which was not made to the circuit judge or made to this court until the reply brief.