Christopher Trowbridge credits the shift from state district court to federal bankruptcy court for the win he achieved for his client, the Ward Family Foundation. Rarely do clients want to spend the money to pursue defendants who file for liquidation, because debtors clearly don’t have the means to pay. But the foundation wanted to make a point, so Trowbridge, a partner in Dallas’ Bell Nunnally & Martin, came up with a plan.
On June 7, the Alexandria, Va.-based nonprofit saw the switch pay off when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barbara J. Houser of Dallas issued a memorandum and accompanying judgment in favor of the foundation. In her memorandum in Ward Family Foundation v. Arnette, Houser wrote that defendant Christopher Adam Arnette is personally liable to the foundation for $1.2 million in actual damages and that the amount is “nondischargeable” in accordance with §§523(a)(2)(A) and (a)(6) and §523(a)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code.
