Opinion ID: 766991
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Nature of the Casses' Conduct

Text: 20 The nature of the Casses' conduct throughout this bankruptcy litigation lies at the heart of the case. It is a subject which Bankruptcy Judge Feller addressed in no uncertain terms. Two quite different perceptions of the Casses are conceptually possible. On this Chapter 13 appeal, Casse portrays himself as an honorable but unlucky debtor, deserving of the fresh start in life bestowed upon such citizens by the remedial provisions of the Bankruptcy Code. 2 Presumably Casse would confer that same state of grace upon Carol Casse, his partner in marriage and Chapter 11 filings. 21 A different view of the Casses is suggested by Bankruptcy Judge Hardin's decision in In re Felberman, 196 B.R. 678, 681 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 1995): 22 The filing of a bankruptcy petition merely to prevent foreclosure, without the ability or the intention to reorganize, is an abuse of the Bankruptcy Code. Serial filings are a badge of bad faith, as are petitions filed to forestall creditors. 23 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). If the Casses fit this profile of serial filers, they are to be found not in the ranks of the nation's honest debtors, but among the Hannibal Lecters of current bankruptcy litigation. 24 Bankruptcy Judge Feller entertained no doubt that the Casses deserved that opprobrium. He wrote in his April 21, 1998 opinion: 25 By the time of dismissal of the third Chapter 11 case, if not earlier, it became abundantly clear that the Debtors were impermissibly employing the Bankruptcy Code in repeated futile bankruptcy reorganization efforts solely to thwart Key Bank from exercising its legitimate contractual and state law foreclosure remedies. . . . Here, the fact that the Debtor's numerous bankruptcy petitions were filed solely to delay a foreclosure sale of the Property, rather than forwarding any honest attempt to reorganize debt, is glaringly apparent. 26 219 B.R. at 658, 661. 27 Thus the bankruptcy judge found as a fact that the Casses acted in bad faith throughout this litigation. We have no reason to disturb that finding. Given the undisputed chronology of scheduled Property foreclosure sales and bankruptcy filings, viewed in the light of Felberman and similar authorities, the bankruptcy court's finding of bad faith can hardly be characterized as clearly erroneous. 28