# Waker v. Brown (In Re Brown)

> United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Maryland · August 21, 1989 · 103 B.R. 734

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/1868249

## Case

- **Full name:** In Re Calvin R. BROWN, Debtor. Lorraine WAKER, Plaintiff, v. Calvin R. BROWN, Defendant
- **Court:** United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Maryland
- **Decided:** August 21, 1989
- **Citations:** 103 B.R. 734; 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 1458; 1989 WL 103595
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Opinion by Schneider
- **Judges:** James F. Schneider
- **Cited by:** 10 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/1868249

## Opinion text

MEMORANDUM OPINION DENYING DEBTOR’S PRAYER FOR JURY TRIAL
JAMES F. SCHNEIDER, Bankruptcy Judge.
On April 18, 1989, Lorraine Waker, a creditor, filed the instant complaint to determine dischargeability of debt. Calvin R. Brown, the debtor, filed an answer [P. 4] in which he prayed a trial by jury.
In the case of
In re Lee,
50 B.R. 683 (Bankr.D.Md 1985) this Court held that a debtor in a chapter 7 case was not entitled to a jury trial on the creditor’s complaint to determine dischargeability of debt, holding that the complaint was a core proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 157 (b)(2)(I) to which the right to a jury trial does not attach.
Id.
at 684 .
The recent decision of the Supreme Court in
Granfinanciera v. Nordberg,
— U.S. -, 109 S.Ct. 2782 , 106 L.Ed.2d 26 (1989) does not alter the result in this case.
Granfinanciera
held that one who had not asserted a claim in a bankruptcy estate was entitled to a jury trial on a suit to recover a fraudulent conveyance brought by the bankruptcy trustee because the nature of the relief sought was legal rather than equitable (the recovery of a certain sum of money).
By contrast, the instant cause of action involving the administration of a bankruptcy estate by the bankruptcy court in the exercise of its traditional equity jurisdiction in the adjustment of the debtor-creditor relationship is equitable in nature. In the case of a complaint to determine discharge-ability, a debtor has never been entitled to a trial by jury. Therefore, the debtor in the instant case is not entitled to a trial by jury and his prayer for jury trial must be DENIED.
ORDER ACCORDINGLY.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/1868249. Public record. Not legal advice.