Petitioners' Brief on the Merits - Supreme Court of Texas

5. In re Coastal Plains, Inc.
In In re Coastal Plains, Inc., there was virtually no dispute over whether
the second prong for judicial estoppel (that is to say “acceptance” of Coastal’s first
position by the bankruptcy court) was satisfied because the bankruptcy stay was
lifted based in part on a stipulation representing that Coastal’s intangible assets
were worth less than $20,000 and that its assets were inadequate to satisfy its debt
to Westinghouse. In re Coastal Plains, Inc., 179 F.3d 197, 210 (5 th Cir. 1999).
Additionally, there was no evidence that the debtor listed his other lawsuit in his
statement of financial affairs filed with the bankruptcy court.
In the present case, the bankruptcy court has not accepted the initial
inadvertent omission. Instead the court has accepted the information disclosed to
the bankruptcy trustee, the Fergusons’ Statement of Financial Affairs, and their
amended Schedule B concerning the existence of this case.
6. In re Superior Crewboats, Inc.
In In re Superior Crewboats, Inc., 374 F.3d 330 (5 th Cir. 2004), the debtors
filed their lawsuit after the bankruptcy case was commenced. Id. at 333.
Nevertheless, the debtors failed to formally amend their bankruptcy filings before
discharge of the bankruptcy to reflect their lawsuit as an asset of the bankrupt
estate. Id. at 333. As further evidence of the debtor’s deliberate intent to
manipulate the process, although the debtors disclosed the lawsuit during their
creditors meeting, the debtors misrepresented the viability of the lawsuit by
representing to the creditors that the case was time barred. Id. Based on these
PETITIONERS’ BRIEF ON THE MERITS 28