CLICK HERE FOR FULL TEXT |
IN RE: INSIGHT TERMINAL SOLUTIONS, LLC
Debtor.
___________________________________________
INSIGHT TERMINAL SOLUTIONS, LLC,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
CECELIA FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, LLC; OASIS
AVIATION LLC; HALAS ENERGY, LLC; JOHN J.
SIEGEL,JR.,
Defendants,
BAY BRIDGE EXPORTS, LLC,
Intervening Defendant-Appellee. |
No. 23-8004 |
Appeal from the United States Bankruptcy Court
for the Western District of Kentucky at Louisville.
Nos. 19-bk-32231; 21-ap-03013—Joan A. Lloyd, Bankruptcy Judge.
Argued: November 7, 2023
Decided and Filed: February 28, 2024
Before: CROOM, DALES, and GUSTAFSON, Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
SCOTT W. DALES, Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Judge. Had the principal witness in
this matter survived his deposition long enough to submit to cross-examination, the adversary
proceeding to disallow or recharacterize the claim at issue may have turned out differently. The
key witness, however, did not survive long enough to complete his direct examination, let alone
submit to cross-examination. So, in an unremarkable exercise of its discretion under the rules,
the Bankruptcy Court declined to admit his incomplete testimony. Such are the risks of
litigation.
Consequently, after trial in the underlying adversary proceeding, the Bankruptcy Court
entered judgment allowing Proof of Claim No. 1 originally filed by Cecelia Financial
Management, LLC (the “Claim”) over the objection of chapter 11 debtor-in-possession Insight
Terminal Solutions, LLC (“ITS”). The court found that ITS failed to rebut the presumption of
validity and amount of the Claim that arose under Bankruptcy Rule 3001(f), rejecting ITS’s
effort to disallow the Claim (1) for want of consideration, or (2) as a disguised equity
contribution.1 ITS appealed from the judgment and, finding no reversible error, we AFFIRM. |
|