From the Editor’s Desk – Dismissal and Conversion

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired)

Failure to disclose personal injury lawsuits grounds for conversion. Debtor’s alleged belief that prepetition causes of action were not “viable” did not overcome duty to disclose them, and failure to disclose was evidence that petition was filed in bad faith, constituting grounds for conversion to Chapter 7. “Notice and hearing” is a defined term, meaning an opportunity for hearing, and the debtor had that opportunity, but the court did not abuse discretion in not conducting evidentiary hearing in absence of debtor’s request. Zizza v. Pappalardo (In . . .

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