Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Old Republic National Title v. Levasseur, 1st Cir. (2013)
Old Republic National Title v. Levasseur, 1st Cir. (2013)
Old Republic National Title v. Levasseur, 1st Cir. (2013)
Before
Lynch, Chief Judge,
Stahl and Lipez, Circuit Judges.
money
she
obtained
by
false
pretenses,
see
11
U.S.C.
See In
2013).
I.
The bankruptcy court made the following findings of fact,
based in part on its own assessment of Levasseur's testimony.
In
The
At the same
with
her
family
in
different
home
in
Byfield,
Massachusetts that she purchased in June 2003, and she had notified
Fleet of her new address.
-3-
The
P.
Sullivan
and
the
other
as
Andrea
Levasseur.
She
Although the Home Equity Account had been paid in full, the
formal discharge of the Home Equity Mortgage was not recorded until
after the events of the case.
-4-
first
check
(for
$50,000)
was
returned
for
insufficient funds around June 21, because that check was drawn on
her closed checking account.
Rowley
Home
Equity
Account.
Bank
of
America
commenced
were
debt
insured
by
Old
Republic,
which
-5-
paid
the
to
avoid
When
In
August 2008, Old Republic sought a determination that its prepetition judgment was excepted from discharge as a debt for fraud,
false pretenses or misrepresentation, 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(2), and
willful and malicious injury, id. 523(a)(6).
The bankruptcy
the
debt
to
be
non-dischargeable
in
bankruptcy
representation
with
fraudulent
-6-
intent
(i.e.,
with
Similarly,
Palmacci, 121
record
plainly
supports
the
bankruptcy
court's
conclusion that Levasseur was fully aware that the Home Equity
Account should no longer have been available for her use after the
sale of the Rowley Property. Levasseur had not applied for any new
lines of credit at Bank of America.
to obtain certified checks from an account that she knew should not
have been available, Levasseur acted under false pretenses and with
an intent to defraud.
-7-
As
to
the
remaining
elements
required
under
Levasseur
"did not alert the bank to what [s]he knew to be an error because
[s]he planned to use the error to h[er] advantage."
238 B.R. at 793.
In re Moen,
In light of
-8-
Printy
v. Dean Witter
Reynolds, Inc., 110 F.3d 853, 859 (1st Cir. 1997) (quoting 4
Collier on Bankruptcy 523.12 (15th ed. 1996)).
482
B.R.
at
32,
were
malicious.
Likewise,
the
which
incorrectly
credited
his
account
an
extra
$3.5
-9-
her Home Equity Account when she sold the Rowley property and gave
the Bank no notice of the sale.
We
need
not
reach
the
other
grounds
for
non-
She contends
para la Difusin Pblica, 242 F.3d 418, 423 (1st Cir. 2001).
Our
review is for abuse of discretion, see id., and there was none.
III.
The judgment of the bankruptcy court is affirmed.
are awarded to Old Republic.
-10-
Costs