NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUN 15 2016
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
In re: JAY P. CLARK, DBA Crystal No.14-35242
Springs Ranch,
D.C. No. 1:13-cv-00305-EJL
Debtor,
------------------------------ MEMORANDUM*
JAY P. CLARK, DBA Crystal Springs
Ranch,
Appellant,
v.
TOM DEVRIES; DEVRIES FAMILY
FARM, LLC; SIMPLOT GROWER
SOLUTIONS; MURPHY LAND
COMPANY, LLC,
Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Idaho
Edward J. Lodge, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted May 6, 2016**
Portland, Oregon
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except
as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without
oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
Before: TASHIMA, TALLMAN, and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges.
Jay Clark, d/b/a Crystal Springs Ranch (“Debtor”), appeals an order of the
district court affirming the bankruptcy court’s conversion of his Chapter 12 case into
one under Chapter 7. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 158(a), (d). Rosson
v. Fitzgerald (In re Rosson), 545 F.3d 764, 770 (9th Cir. 2008) (“[A] bankruptcy
court order converting a case from one under another chapter of the Bankruptcy
Code to one under Chapter 7 is a final and appealable order.”). We affirm.
1. Although Debtor moved voluntarily to dismiss his Chapter 12 petition,
the district court had the power to instead convert the case to one under Chapter 7
“upon a showing that the debtor has committed fraud in connection with the case.”
11 U.S.C. § 1208(d); see also In re Rosson, 545 F.3d at 774 (holding that a Chapter
13 debtor’s right to voluntary dismissal under 11 U.S.C. § 1307 “is not absolute, but
is qualified by the authority of a bankruptcy court to deny dismissal on grounds of
bath-faith conduct”).
2. The bankruptcy judge’s decision to convert Debtor’s case to Chapter 7
was not an abuse of discretion. See Levesque v. Shapiro (In re Levesque), 473 B.R.
331, 335 (B.A.P. 9th Cir. 2012) (“We review an order regarding conversion of a case
for abuse of discretion.”). After a state court declared that Debtor had no right to
possess or enter Crystal Springs Farm, and while his Chapter 12 case was pending,
Debtor entered a contract with DeVries for the sale of 1500 tons of alfalfa hay to be
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grown on that land. Debtor did not disclose the state court’s ruling to DeVries,
received $135,000 as a down payment on the hay, and failed to deliver the hay to
DeVries. Debtor’s purported belief that he had a legal right to the hay does not
render immaterial the information he omitted telling DeVries—that a state court had
determined he had no right to possess or even enter the land on which the hay grew.
Debtor clearly understood the state court’s determination, and nevertheless failed to
disclose it. The bankruptcy judge thus reasonably rejected Debtor’s claim that he
operated in good faith.
AFFIRMED.
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