Court Opinion

ID: 2964429
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:25:32.276285+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:42:56.110629
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

                                [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]
                                [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

                              _________________________

          No. 96-1684

                           IN RE:  ROBERT J. SPENLINHAUER,

                                       Debtor.

                              _________________________

                                ROBERT J. SPENLINHAUER,

                                      Appellant,

                                          v.

                                 SPENCER PRESS, INC.,

                                      Appellee.

                              _________________________

                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
                              FOR THE DISTRICT OF MAINE

                       [Hon. Gene Carter, U.S. District Judge]
                                          ___________________

                              _________________________

                                        Before

                                Selya, Circuit Judge,
                                       _____________
                            Aldrich, Senior Circuit Judge,
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                              and Boudin, Circuit Judge.
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                              _________________________

               Christopher  B. Branson,  with  whom E.  Stephen Murray  and
               _______________________              __________________
          Murray, Plumb & Murray were on brief, for appellant.
          ______________________
               Stephen  G. Morrell,  with whom  Eaton, Peabody,  Bradford &
               ___________________              ___________________________
          Veague, P.A. was  on brief,  for Joseph V.  O'Donnell, Chapter  7
          ____________
          trustee. 
               U. Charles Remmel, II, with  whom Kelly, Remmel &  Zimmerman
               _____________________             __________________________
          was on brief, for appellee Spencer Press, Inc.

                              _________________________

                                  November 14, 1996
                              _________________________

                    Per Curiam.  After careful review of the briefs and the
                    Per Curiam.
                    __________

          record  in this  matter, and  after consideration  of the  points

          raised  by counsel at oral  argument, we see  no fairly debatable

          question.   The  debtor sought  exclusion of the  res of  the JRS
                                                            ___

          Realty Trust (or, at least, his beneficial interest therein) from

          the  bankruptcy estate  under 11  U.S.C.   541(c)(2)  (1994); the

          trustee in bankruptcy obviously had standing to resist exclusion;

          and the trustee timely voiced an objection to exclusion.  More to

          the point, the self-settled JRS Realty Trust, of which the debtor

          is  both  a settlor  and  a beneficiary,  contains  a spendthrift

          clause which is vulnerable under  Maine law and which, therefore,

          cannot  support  the  claim  for  exclusion.    Accordingly,  the

          bankruptcy court did not  err in denying the debtor's  request to

          withhold his interest in the trust from the bankruptcy estate.

                    We have repeatedly stated    and today reaffirm    that

          we will  not write at length  to explicate points that  have been

          made  perfectly clear by lower courts.  Here, both the bankruptcy

          court, In re Spenlinhauer, 182 B.R. 361 (Bankr. D. Me. 1995), and
                 __________________

          the district court, Spenlinhauer v. Spencer Press, Inc., 195 B.R.
                              ____________    ___________________

          543 (D. Me. 1996), have written comprehensive opinions explaining

          why  the debtor's quest for exclusion  of his beneficial interest

          in the JRS Realty  Trust from the bankruptcy estate is  doomed to

          failure.  Thus, we need go no further, but, rather, we  summarily

          affirm the judgment on the basis of the lower courts' opinions.

                    Affirmed.
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