News & Publications

August 18, 2011

Reed v City of Arlington En Banc Opinion Released

Singer and Levick, PC is pleased to announce that our client, Diane Reed, the Chapter 7 Trustee has prevailed in the Reed v. City of Arlington matter which the Fifth Circuit considered on an en banc basis. By a 13 to 3 decision, the Fifth Circuit established a general rule that a Chapter 7 Trustee is not judicially estopped from pursuing assets of the estate that a bankruptcy debtor fails to disclose in bankruptcy schedules. In this case, the Court ruled that the trustee is not judicially estopped from pursuing a judgment in excess of $1,000,000 which the Debtor failed to list on his Schedules. This case is significant as debtors frequently omit assets from their bankruptcy schedules. This en banc decision is consistent with decisions of Seventh, Tenth and Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Larry Levick and Todd Hoodenpyle represented Ms. Reed at the Fifth Circuit and Mr. Hoodenpyle made the oral argument at the en banc hearing.

This case is the product of 11 years of litigation (our firm participated for 5 of those years) and three trips to the Fifth Circuit. We are proud to have represented Ms. Reed in such an important case.

The En Banc Opinion can be downloaded here.

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

F I L ED
August 11, 2011

No. 08-11098 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk
DIANE G REED, Real party in Interest,
v. CITY OF ARLINGTON,
Plaintiff – Appellee Cross-Appellant
Defendant – Appellant Cross-Appellee
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Before JONES, Chief Judge, and KING, JOLLY, DAVIS, SMITH, GARZA, DeMOSS, BENAVIDES, STEWART, DENNIS, CLEMENT, PRADO, OWEN, ELROD, SOUTHWICK, and HAYNES, Circuit Judges.*

KING, Circuit Judge, joined by E. GRADY JOLLY, W. EUGENE DAVIS, JERRY E. SMITH, EMILIO M. GARZA, BENAVIDES, CARL E. STEWART, DENNIS, PRADO, OWEN, JENNIFER WALKER ELROD, LESLIE H. SOUTHWICK, and HAYNES, Circuit Judges: