In Allers-Petrus v. Columbia Recovery Group,C08-4433FDB (D.Or. 2009), Judge Burgess held that a debtor’s failure to disclose a pending FDCPA claim in her Ch. 13 Bankruptcy schedules judicially estopped her from bringing those claims later in the district court. Nor could the debtor re-open her bankruptcy to cure the issue. Judge Burgess explained:
Plaintiff Allers-Petrus filed her bankruptcy petition with full knowledge that she had an FDCPA claim against Columbia. Plaintiff did not seek to amend her schedule of assets until after her plan had been confirmed and Columbia filed the instant Motion for Summary Judgment in Plaintiff’s subsequent lawsuit. Although the Court finds all three prongs satisfied in this action, it is the failure to disclose assets on her bankruptcy schedule that provides the most compelling reason to bar the prosecution of her claims.