George Chen v. E. Schoenmann

FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION DEC 13 2011
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
GEORGE Q. CHEN, No. 10-17371
Appellant, D.C. No. 3:10-cv-00146-JSW
v.
MEMORANDUM *
E. LYNN SCHOENMANN, as Trustee of
the Chapter 7 Estate of George Q. Chen,
Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of California
Jeffrey S. White, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted December 7, 2011 **
San Francisco, California
Before: O’SCANNLAIN and BERZON, Circuit Judges, and ENGLAND, District
Judge.***
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
***
The Honorable Morrison C. England, Jr., United States District Judge
for the Eastern District of California, sitting by designation.
George Chen contends that the bankruptcy court erred when it found that he
received $729,044.19 in post-petition payments on account of a pre-petition loan.
We review the bankruptcy court’s factual findings for clear error. See, e.g., In re
Int’l Fibercom, Inc., 503 F.3d 933, 940 (9th Cir. 2007). The court heard two days
of testimony, examined the parties’ exhibits, and reviewed an expert report. The
record provides more than adequate support for the factual determinations made,
including the court’s rejection of Chen’s explanation for the checks made payable
to cash or denominated as repayment of loans. We thus conclude that the
bankruptcy court did not clearly err.
Chen also contends that the court erred when it found that his conduct
warranted revocation of his discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 727(d). Chen did not
disclose to the Trustee his entitlement to repayment on the loan or the equity
distributions he received as part-owner of a restaurant. The record thus supports
the court’s finding that Chen “knowingly and fraudulently failed to report the
acquisition of or entitlement to” property of the estate, 11 U.S.C. § 727(d)(2), and
there was no clear error.
AFFIRMED.