Sometimes bad facts can lead to good law, and the debtor who appears neither honest nor unfortunate can nonetheless raise a good legal point. In this case, the First Circuit, in a colorful opinion alluding to Whack-a-Mole and haunting specters, found that the district court abused its discretion when it dismissed the debtor’s appeal under the fugitive disentitlement doctrine, where the order on appeal was not affected by the debtor’s flight. In re Kupperstein, Nos. 18-2248, 18-2249 (1st Cir. Nov. 15, 2019).
The case arose when attorney, Donald Kupperstein, and his cohort “helped” a homeowner resolve a $3,379.13 local tax liability by purchasing her home for less than $100 and the payment of the outstanding taxes. The homeowner had inherited the home from her father, and, in addition to the tax liability, it was encumbered by a lien held by the Massachusetts Office of Health and Human Services (MassHealth) for a debt owed by the father’s estate of more than $191,000. The state court reversed the sale of the property as illegal, but Kupperstein continued to possess it and collect rents in defiance of courts orders to release the property and turn over the collected rents.
A tangle of state court judgments, arrest warrants, and contempt sanctions ensued and Kupperstein sought refuge in bankruptcy. After the bankruptcy court lifted the automatic stay to allow MassHealth to pursue its state remedies, Kupperstein disappeared. His bankruptcy attorney filed an appeal of the relief from stay order. When Kupperstein continued to skip probate court dates, MassHealth and the father’s estate moved the district court to dismiss the appeal under the “fugitive disentitlement doctrine.” When Kupperstein then missed yet another state hearing, the district court dismissed the case for the reasons sought in the motion. This appeal followed. Read More
