In re Brown

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER DENYING MOTION TO RECONSIDER DENYING REQUEST FOR DISMISSAL OF CASE FILED BY DEBTOR

Before the court is the second motion for reconsideration of the court’s July 25, 2014 order (“Conversion Order”) converting this case to one under Chapter 7 despite the request of Debtor Jason Scott Brown (“Brown”) that the court dismiss his case instead. The court denied Brown’s first motion for reconsideration of the Conversion Order on September 23, 2014. The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit (“BAP”) then affirmed both the Conversion Order and the court’s denial of Brown’s first motion for reconsideration on October 26, 2015. After failing to timely appeal the BAP’s decision to the Ninth Circuit, Brown brought this second motion to reconsider the Conversion Order under Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(5), 60(b)(6), and 60(d), made applicable by Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9024.

While this motion could be disposed of on procedural grounds, it raises an important issue which no court in the Ninth Circuit has addressed. That is, whether Law v. Siegel, — U.S. -, 134 S.Ct. 1188, 1194 , 188 L.Ed.2d 146 (2014), requires that any apparent conflict between 11 U.S.C. § 1307 (b)…