Norfleet v. Fulcher Exchange, LLC

Filing 3

ORDER that Appellant shall file his initial brief on or before the close of business on Monday, April 9, 2018. Untimely filing of the appeal brief may result in the dismissal of this appeal with prejudice. (Appellant Brief due by 4/9/2018.) Signed by Chief Judge J. Randal Hall on 03/23/2018. (jlh)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COX7RT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
AUGUSTA DIVISION

ROBERT LEE NORFLEET, Sr.,

Appellant,
CV 118-015

V.

(Bankr. Case No. 17-11945
FULCHER EXCHANGE, LLC,

Appellee.

ORDER

On

January

22,

2018,

this

Court

received

notice

that

Appellant had filed a notice of appeal with regards to an Order
issued by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern
District of Georgia in the matter of In re Robert Lee Norfleet,
Sr., Case No. 17-11945 (Bankr. S.D. Ga. dismissed Jan. 25, 2018)

(the

''Bankruptcy

Action").

(Doc.

1.)

Contemporaneously

therewith, this Court received notice that Appellant had failed

to

pay

the

relevant

Bankruptcy Court.

appeal

filing

(See Doc. 1-5.)

fee

to

the

Clerk

of

the

Appellant subsequently paid

the appeal filing fee to the Clerk of the Bankruptcy Court on or
about January 25, 2018.
On

February

22,

(See Doc. 2-1, at 7-8.)

2018,

both

the

Clerk

of

the

Bankruptcy

Court and the Clerk of this Court docketed notice - and provided
notice to Appellant via U.S. mail - that the record on Appeal

had been

transmitted

to

Action, Docs. 37, 38.)

this

Court.

(See

Doc.

2;

Bankruptcy

Appellant's initial brief in this matter

would therefore otherwise be due on or before Monday, March 26,
2018.

See Fed. R. Bankr. P. 8018(a)(1).

Appellant, however, has

failed to take other steps necessary to prosecute this appeal.

Most notably. Appellant failed to: (i) file a designation of the
items to be included in the record on appeal and a statement of

the issues to be presented on appeal as required by Federal Rule

of Bankruptcy Procedure 8009(a)(1); and (ii) order in writing a
transcript

of

the

relevant

proceedings

from

the

Bankruptcy

Court's reporter and file a copy of such written order with the

Clerk of the Bankruptcy Court (or file therewith a certificate
stating that Appellant is not ordering a transcript) as required

by Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 8009(b)(1).^
2;

see

also

Doc.

2-1.)

As

a

result

of

these

(See Doc.

failures,

a

courtesy notice regarding the briefing deadlines in this matter
was not generated.

Accordingly, out of an abundance of caution,

the Court will extend the aforementioned deadline for Appellant

^ On January 19, 2018, the Clerk of the Bankruptcy Court provided notice to
Appellant regarding his obligations to: (i) "file a Designation of Items to
be

included

in

the

record

on

appeal

and

a

Statement

of

Issues

to

be

presented"; and (ii) "file a written request for the transcript [of relevant
proceedings] and make satisfactory arrangements for payment of its cost" or,
"if no transcript is to be included, . . . file a certificate stating that no
transcript is being ordered."
(Doc. 1-3.)
Notably, the Order appealed from
was based, at least in part, upon a hearing held by the Bankruptcy Court on
January 17, 2019.
(See Doc. 1-1 (notice of appeal); Doc. 1-2 (Bankruptcy
Court's Order dated January 19, 2018 noting it is based in part "on the
record at the hearing held January 17, 2018"); see also Doc. 2-1, at 6
(identifying hearing held on January 17, 2018).)

to file his initial brief.

Appellant should be aware, however,

that the Court intends to proceed toward the resolution of this
matter in an expeditious fashion and
assume,

expect,

or

anticipate

extensions

regarding

without

showing

a

the
of

the

deadline

utter

due

therefore he should not
granting

to

file

of

his

diligence,

any

further

initial

brief

independent

and

unforeseeable causes, and manifest injustice.

Therefore, upon the foregoing and due consideration, IT IS
HEREBY ORDERED that Appellant SHALL file his initial brief on or
before

the

close

Plaintiff's

appeal

failure

brief

will

of

to

be

business

on

timely

file

considered

Monday,

a

his

April

9,

forthcoming

showing

of

bad

2018.

initial

faith,

negligence, and/or indifference and may result in the dismissal
of this appeal with prejudice without further notice.
ORDER

ENTERED

at

Augusta,

Georgia,

this

day

of

March, 2018.

J.l^RANm^ HALL,^CHIEF JUDGE

UNITE^STATES DISTRICT COURT
-SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA