State ex rel. Adkins v. Mun. Court (Shanahan)

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Appellants, Gregory and Jo Ellen Adkins, filed a complaint for a writ of prohibition to prevent Appellee, the county municipal court judge, from exercising any further jurisdiction in Smith v. Adkins. Appellants claimed the judge patently and unambiguously lacked jurisdiction over the underlying municipal court case because a no-asset bankruptcy discharge in 2001 barred the action. The court of appeals dismissed Appellants' claim. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Appellants could not establish that the municipal court judge lacked jurisdiction, as (1) the complaint in the municipal court case alleged a secured-debt claim, which would not be discharged by the bankruptcy; (2) the bankruptcy discharge specified that not all types of debts were discharge; (3) there was evidence that the parties to the underlying suit had an ongoing relationship that continued after the bankruptcy discharge was entered in 2001; and (4) Appellants may have waived their affirmative defense of discharge in bankruptcy by failing to raise it in the municipal court case in an answer or an amended answer. View "State ex rel. Adkins v. Mun. Court (Shanahan)" on Justia Law