In Re Robert John Price, Debtor. Roy E. Lompa v. Robert John Price

In this appeal we are asked to decide whether a bankrupt’s creditor was given proper notice of the debtor’s filing of a petition in bankruptcy when he was not listed as a creditor in the filing but his attorney, who was representing the creditor in a suit on the claim that the creditor is now seeking to have declared nondis-chargeable, received notice of the filing from the debtor’s counsel.

In February 1983 Roy Lompa sued Robert Price in state court in regard to a contract dispute, alleging, among other things, fraud. On April 3, 1986, before the suit was resolved, Price filed a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief. Lompa was not listed on Price’s schedule of creditors and thus was not notified by the bankruptcy court of the bar date for the filing of dischargeability complaints pursuant to section 523(c) of the Bankruptcy Code. There is no evidence of when Lompa was personally notified of the bankruptcy proceeding. On May 21, 1986, however, Lom-pa’s counsel in the state court suit against Price received a Notice of Injunction from Price’s counsel which stated that a bankruptcy petition had been filed and that the state court suit would be subject to the automatic stay. This…