In re Raejean S. Bonham dba World Plus
Bankruptcy No. F95-00897
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This is a little arcane. The debtor, in response to the involuntary Chapter 7 petition back in December 1995, filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition. The court subsequently dismissed the petition. The trustee, as a kind of procedural backstop to the motion for substantive consolidation, appealed that dismissal. U.S. District Judge Singleton, sitting as an appellate judge, reinstated the dismissal and remanded the Chapter 11. This order acknowledges that decision and stays it pending outcome of the main case.


HERBERT A. ROSS
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge

 

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ALASKA

605 West 4th Avenue, Room 138, Anchorage, AK 99501-2296 (Phone 907/271-2655)




In re

RAEJEAN S. BONHAM, dba World Plus; Jean Bonham, Jeannie Bonham, Atlantic Pacific Funding Corporation,* World Plus, Inc.* [* This is an individual filing. These are names of corporations in which debtor was a former shareholder.],





Debtor(s)

Case No. F96-00013-HAR

Chapter 11



ORDER TO REOPEN CASE AND STAY PROCEEDINGS

 

The U.S. District Court entered an order(1) remanding this case, "Bonham II," with directions to reopen the main bankruptcy case and stay all further proceedings until a final decision on the substantive consolidation order in the first Bonham bankruptcy case ("Bonham I").(2) I suspect it will serve little purpose to reopen Bonham II since it was filed by Ms. Bonham individually, and not jointly for the two related corporations which the trustee seeks to substantively consolidate. Only a husband and wife can file a voluntary joint petition, and a joint petition by an individual and a corporation is improper.(3) When Ms. Bonham filed Bonham II without counsel, she put in the caption her own name and the name of the two corporations, but in pen she inserted an asterisk next to the name of each corporation which referred to the handwritten notation that "This is an individual filing. These are the names of the corporations in which debtor was a former shareholder."(4) The Bonham II petition had a caption substantially similar to the one on this order. There is no way, in my opinion, for the trustee to transmogrify Bonham II into a corporate case for World Plus, Inc. or Atlantic Pacific Funding Corp. as of January 5, 1996, when it was filed. Nonetheless, the district court has ordered the reopening of the case with all proceedings stayed and, therefore,

IT IS ORDERED that this case be REOPENED, but that all proceedings be stayed pending the outcome of the appeal of the substantive consolidation order in Bonham I.(5)



Dated: February 24, 1999

______________________________
HERBERT A. ROSS
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge

Serve:

RaeJean Bonham, Debtor

Cabot Christianson, Esq., for Trustee, Larry Compton, in Case No. F95-00897-HAR

Larry Compton, Trustee, in Case No. F95-00897-HAR

David Parry, Esq., Courtesy Copy

Rebecca Copeland, Esq., Courtesy Copy

U.S. Trustee

Clerk's Office D3729

1. Larry D. Compton, Trustee v RaeJean Bonham, et al., Case No. A98-0155-CV (JKS), in the United States District Court for the District of Alaska.

2. Order Granting Trustee's Motion For Substantive Consolidation of World Plus, Inc. and Atlantic Pacific Funding Corporation With Debtor, filed in Case No. F95-00897-HAR, In re RaeJean Bonham, aka Jean Bonham, aka Jeannie Bonham, dba World Plus; World Plus, Inc., an Alaska corporation; and Atlantic Pacific Funding Corp., a Nevada corporation, on April 30, 1998, at Docket Entry 1545.

3. See, 11 USC ß 302 and Benny v Chicago Title Ins. Co. (In re Benny), 842 F2d 1147, 1149 (9th Cir 1988) (an involuntary case, voluntarily acceded to by a husband and wife); In re Johnston Hawks Limited, 72 BR 361, 363 (Bankr D HI 1987).

4. Docket Entry 1, filed January 5, 1996.

5. See, footnote 2.

 

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