J. K. Harris in the News and Courier

[Prof]

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2012 ... cooperate/

J.K. Harris, founder of the tax resolution firm, has refused to co-operate with creditors of the company or his personal creditors and now "lives on the road."

[The Observer]

Looks like he got to spend at least one night with a cot and meals courtesy of the county jail...

[Kestrel]

He filed a voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy, then voluntarily converted it to a Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy, and now he's refusing to cooperate with both the civil court AND the bankruptcy court. That's one way to get your bankruptcy dismissed, or wind up in jail for bankruptcy fraud, or both.

I imagine the bankruptcy judge will find it's in the best interests of the creditors to proceed with the Chapter 7. But if Harris doesn't get smart quickly, he may need to get used to striped pajamas.

[Famspear]

Mr. Harris is having a hard time finding it in himself to cooperate in the bankruptcy of a company that he himself... well.... uhm..... put into bankruptcy. This reminds me of the attitude of someone else in case in a Bankruptcy Court here in Texas a while back. Some excerpts from a Court decision in that case:

....the Chapter 7 Trustee for the estate of the debtor in the above-referenced Chapter 7 case, Royce Homes, LP (the Debtor), filed a motion requesting this Court to order Hammersmith Group, LLC, as the general partner of the Debtor, to file a Statement of Personal Assets and Liabilities Pursuant to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 1007(g). This Court granted the Trustee's motion in an Order entered on July 7, 2009 and ordered Hammersmith Group, LLC to file these statements. On July 22, 2009, the Trustee filed a motion to compel John H. Speer (Speer), the manager of Hammersmith Group, LLC, and therefore the representative of the Debtor, to turn over several documents and other information regarding the Debtor's bankruptcy estate.

Speer argues that he has already turned over all relevant documents to the Trustee. The Trustee readily concedes that Speer has given him access to voluminous documents, but the Trustee asserts that only a small percentage of them are relevant to ascertaining the Debtor's financial condition. Speer argues that it is the Trustee's duty to wade through those documents and piece together the applicable information in order to determine the Debtor's financial affairs. This Court disagrees.

The Court concludes that the Debtor, through its designated representative, has a duty to provide the Trustee with the specific documents requested. [footnote omitted] It is not enough to simply give the Trustee access to piles of documents and force him to sort through the information. "It is well settled that a [trustee] should not be required to drag information from a reluctant and uncooperative debtor..."

[ . . . ]

Pursuant to the Bankruptcy Code and the Bankruptcy Rules, Speer, as the designated representative of the Debtor, has a duty to turn over to the Trustee the particular documents requested. At the hearing on July 7, 2009, the Debtor [footnote omitted] argued that it has made a reasonable effort to turn over these documents because the Debtor gave the Trustee access to the storage facilities where they are located. [ ...] However, the Code and the Rules require that the Debtor do more than simply give the Trustee access to a pile of records and leave it to the Trustee to sift through them.

--from In re Royce Homes, Case No. 09-32467-H4-7, United States Bankruptcy Court, S. D. Texas, Houston Div. (Sept. 22, 2009).

See:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case? ... 40&scilh=0