U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 1994

In re Douglas SPEIGHT, Debtor. Joe LAUGHTER v. C. Douglas SPEIGHT

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Decided February 9, 1994 · Beam, Arnold, Strom

16 F.3d 287; 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 2000; 1994 WL 33570 (Federal Reporter, Third Series)

Counsel

Counsel who presented argument on behalf of the appellant was Jimmy D. Eaton of Little Rock, AR., Counsel who presented argument on behalf of the appellee was William J. Butt of Fayetteville, AR.

Cases that cite this one

12 later published cases cite this decision.

Bilandzic v. Fishman (In re Fishman) (United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Arkansas 1997)
Virginia Glass v. Cagle (In re Cagle) (United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Arkansas 2000)
Dunn v. Davis (In re Davis) (United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Arkansas 1994)
Clear Sky Properties LLC v. Roussel (In re Roussel) (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas 2013)
Clear Sky Properties, LLC v. Roussel (In re Roussel) (United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Arkansas 2012)
Meyer v. Asbury (In re Asbury) (United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Missouri 1996)
Happy Hollow Ranch, LP v. Howley (United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Texas 2024)
Gupta v. Eastern Idaho Tumor Institute, Inc. (5th Cir. 2004)
Spinoso v. Heilman (In re Heilman) (United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Maryland 1999)
Vaughn v. Quinn (In re Quinn) (United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Missouri 1994)
Davis v. Williams (In re Williams) (United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Arkansas 1994)
Reichenbach v. Kizer (In re Reichenbach) (United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Arkansas 1994)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion

MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

This is a core proceeding that arose in a voluntary bankruptcy proceeding under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. At issue is the dischargeability of a judgment entered against the debtor by the Chancery Court of Benton County, Arkansas. Under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(4), a debt for “fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity ...” is not dischargeable. We agree with the district court 1 that the judgment in question, 147 B.R. 489, rendered in the context of an accounting on dissolution of a partnership, was quite plainly based on a finding that the debtor had committed a defalcation in the context of a fiduciary relationship. Indeed, the judgment says specifically that Speight “breached his fiduciary duty to Laughter.”

We agree, too, with the district court’s conclusion that the fifteen-page judgment of the state court contained all that was necessary to establish, under well-known principles of collateral estoppel, that the judgment debt was not dischargeable.

We therefore affirm the district court on the basis of its well-reasoned opinion below.

. The Honorable Jimm Lairy Hendren, United States District Judge for the Western District of Arkansas.

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