Opinion ID: 3053354
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Reversible Error by the Bankruptcy Court

Text: [8] The Bankruptcy Court in this case made no rulings as to the “malicious” prong of § 523(a)(6). Appellee briefed the malicious prong in its First Summary Judgment Motion in the Bankruptcy Action. At the hearing on the First Summary Judgment Motion the Bankruptcy Judge stated “I could not grant summary judgment as to [intent]. I think you’ve got virtually everything else lined up.” However, there is no discussion on the record of what “everything else” refers to. The Bankruptcy Court apparently considered the issue of whether Albarran actually copied the tapes resolved by the District Court Action. However, we do not know whether that issue was all the Bankruptcy Court was referring to when it stated “everything else [was] lined up.” A proposed order on the First Summary Judgment Motion was submitted to the Bankruptcy Judge that would have found “that all the elements of § 523(a)(6) have been established for the purposes of the Trial of this matter except for the single element of ‘Intent.’ ” However, this proposed order was specifically rejected by the 13428 IN THE MATTER OF BARBOZA Bankruptcy Court, and an alternative order was adopted which only held in relevant part that: “The findings of the jury and the judgment in the Federal Court action . . . bind this Court and the parties, and shall not be re-litigated in this adversary proceeding.” Because the District Court Action did not address the “malicious” prong of § 523(a)(6), and the jury made no findings in this regard, we cannot discover any separate findings of uncontroverted fact of maliciousness by the Bankruptcy Court.