Hedlund v. The Educational Resources Inst., No. 12-35258 (9th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseAfter filing for bankruptcy, plaintiff sought a discharge of his law student loans under 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(8). The bankruptcy court granted a partial discharge, but, on appeal, the district court reinstated the student loan debt in full as non-dischargeable. The district court ruled that plaintiff had not acted in good faith, which was one of the prerequisites for relief under section 523(a)(8). The court concluded that a good faith finding should be reviewed for clear error. The court also concluded that the district court's finding was not clearly erroneous where it relied on substantial evidence in the record and its factual inferences were permissible. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded with directions.
Court Description: Bankruptcy. Reversing the district court’s judgment, the panel held that the bankruptcy court did not err in granting a partial discharge of the debtor’s student loans under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(8). The panel held that the district court erred by reviewing the bankruptcy court’s good faith finding de novo, rather than for clear error. The panel concluded that the good faith finding was not clearly erroneous, and remanded the case to the district court with instructions to reinstate the partial discharge ordered by the bankruptcy court.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.