Legal Question in Bankruptcy in California
Requesting nondischargal of debt owed to me
After informing a moving company (an individual-owned business) numerous times by phone and by mail twice that if damages incurred during the move were not taken care of, I would seek legal action for the costs of repairs (I specified the amount that he owed). He refused to pay or fix the damages. I then filed and won a small claims court action against the mover (who did not appear in court). After he was notified of the judgment, I received an ''Amended Schedule of Creditors'' listing my debt in his bankruptcy filing. However, I had never been informed of the bankruptcy. But, he had filed this bankruptcy 2 months before being served for the small claims action. When I learned of the bankruptcy, it had already been dismissed and told he did not have to pay me. I want to know how to contest this action because I was never given the chance to appear at the Meeting of Creditors. Also, I later learned that he illegally functioned as a mover, misleading clients by providing a PUC number in his ad and claiming that he was ''fully insured.'' He was neither insured or even licensed by the PUC nor had a business license. Thus, this debt was incurred by his willful misconduct and it should not be dismissed.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Requesting nondischargal of debt owed to me
You can file a complaint petition with the bankruptcy court to ask the debt not be discharged--you'll have to weigh the cost of preparing and filing such a complaint against the amount you're likely to recover from the individual.
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