Stansell v. Wells Fargo Bank
Plaintiff and appellant Betsy Stansell (plaintiff) appeals from the trial court’s judgment dismissing her first amended complaint, which judgment was based on the trial court’s order sustaining the demurrer of defendants and respondents (defendants)[1] without leave to amend. According to plaintiff, the trial court erred when it sustained the demurrer because the operative complaint stated viable causes of action and the trial court abused its discretion when it refused to grant her leave to amend.
We hold that plaintiff lacks standing to pursue all of the claims in her pleading based on events and conduct that occurred prior to the filing of her Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. As for plaintiff’s claims based upon the postpetition events and conduct, we hold that because the distinction between prepetition and postpetition claims was not raised or discussed in the trial court, plaintiff should be given an opportunity to amend her complaint to state such claims. We therefore reverse the judgment and remand the matter to the trial court with instructions to enter a new order sustaining the demurrer and granting plaintiff leave to amend her pleading to state claims based only on postpetition events and conduct.
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