In Re Barbara Gail Markus, Debtor, Barbara Gail Markus v. Mary-Ann Gschwend

Barbara Gail Markus appeals the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel’s (BAP) reversal of a bankruptcy court’s dismissal as time-barred of an adversary complaint objecting to Markus’s discharge by Mary-Ann Gschwend, who was a judgment creditor of Markus. The complaint was untimely under Bankruptcy Rules 4004(a) and 4007(a) because it was filed more than 60 days after the first date set for the meeting of creditors. However, the BAP held in a published opinion that the complaint related back to a “Motion to Object to Debtors [sic] Discharge and Convert the Chapter 7 Case to Chapter 13” which had been filed within the statutory period. Gschwend v. Markus (In Re Markus), 268 B.R. 656, 564 (9th Cir.BAP 2001). We disagree with the BAP that the motion substantially complied with the pleading requirements of Bankruptcy Rule 7008(a) and Rule 8(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or that the allegations in the complaint were sufficiently linked to those in the motion for the complaint to relate back under Rule 15(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Markus also appeals the BAP’s reversal of sanctions awarded to Markus’s counsel for attorney’s fees incurred in defense of…