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In re: SAMEER B. PATEL, Debtor. ____________________________________ SAMEER B. PATEL, Defendant-Appellant, v. SHAMROCK FLOORCOVERING SERVICES, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee. |
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit.
No. 07-13712—Nancy G. Edmunds, District Judge.
Argued: April 29, 2009
Decided and Filed: May 12, 2009
Before: MARTIN, SUHRHEINRICH, and GIBBONS, Circuit Judges.
BOYCE F. MARTIN, JR., Circuit Judge. Bankruptcy is designed to give debtors a “fresh start.” Ordinarily, whatever assets a debtor has are allocated among his creditors and, even though they rarely cover all liabilities, he emerges with no outstanding debts. But there are exceptions: some debts are not dischargeable, and among these are debts arising from a “defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity.” 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(4). This appeal presents the question whether the defendant, Sameer Patel—corporate officer, 50% shareholder, and day-to-day administrator of a “contractor” under the Michigan Builders Trust Fund Act, MICH.COMP.LAWS § 570.151—is a fiduciary such that § 523(a)(4) prevents him from discharging his debt because he breached his fiduciary duty to plaintiff Shamrock Floorcovering. Because Patel was a fiduciary and breached his duties by “defalcation,” we affirm the district court’s ruling that his debt to Shamrock is not dischargeable.
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BILLY R. IRICK, Petitioner-Appellant, v. RICKY BELL, Warden, Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, Respondent-Appellee. |
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville.
No. 98-00666—Curtis L. Collier, Chief District Judge.
Argued: December 11, 2008
Decided and Filed: May 12, 2009
Before: SILER, BATCHELDER, and GILMAN, Circuit Judges.
ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. Billy Ray Irick is on Tennessee’s death row for the rape and murder of seven-year-old Paula Dyer. Irick appeals the district court’s dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He argues that prosecutors failed to provide defense counsel with a statement of the victim’s mother, in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), and that the prosecutor committed misconduct during closing argument in the trial’s penalty phase. Finding merit in neither argument, we AFFIRM.
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DERRICK BELL, Petitioner-Appellant, v. KURT JONES, Warden, Carson City Correctional Facility, Respondent-Appellee. |
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Filed: May 12, 2009
Before: MERRITT, MARTIN, and SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judges.
Derrick Bell petitions for rehearing en banc of this court’s order entered January 6, 2009, by a single judge of this court denying his application for a certificate of appealability. The petition was initially referred to a panel of three judges on which the original deciding judge does not sit. After review of the petition, this panel composed of one active judge and two senior judges issued an order announcing its conclusion that the original application was properly denied. The petition was then circulated to all of the active judges of the court.
No active judge nor the senior judges of this panel having requested a vote on the suggestion for an en banc rehearing, the panel now, pursuant to established court procedures, denies the petition for rehearing en banc.