Opinion
Case No. 06-00254, Adversary Proceeding No. 07-10023.
November 15, 2007
Not for Publication in West's Bankruptcy Reporter
MEMORANDUM DECISION RE MOTION TO DISMISS
The defendant has filed a motion to dismiss for lack of standing, contending that only the chapter 13 trustee is authorized to sue on estate causes of action, and citing Pacific Mortg. and Inv. Group, Ltd. v. Horn, 100 Md.App. 311, 641 A.2d 913 (1994), as supporting this contention. However, the point was academic dicta in Pacific Mortgage, The court held that the cause of action at issue had been abandoned from the bankruptcy estate before the defendant's motion to dismiss was addressed, and that the debtor Horn's premature filing of her complaint, if she lacked standing initially to pursue the action, was no bar to her continuation of her action once abandonment occurred.
In any event, Pacific Mortgage erroneously relied on cases decided under chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code (or decided under the Bankruptcy Act) in assuming that a debtor in a case under chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code lacks standing to pursue a cause of action that is property of the estate. It is now well settled that a debtor in a case under chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code is authorized to sue on a cause of action that has become property of the estate. See Cable v. Ivy Tech State Coll., 200 F.3d 467 (7th Cir. 1999); Olick v. Parker Parsley Petroleum Co., 145 F.3d 513 (2d Cir. 1998).
An order follows denying the motion to dismiss.
The decision below is signed as a decision of the court.