STEWART, Bankruptcy Judge
A bankrupt was justified in excluding a tax liability and other non-monthly bills from his financial statement since the form was ambiguous. The court ruled that for an indebtedness to be regarded as nondischargeable in bankruptcy, it must be found that any falsification was intentional. Therefore, the bankrupt was granted a discharge of his debt. See Sec. 17(a)(2) at ¶ 2146 and Sec. 523(a)(2) at ¶ 9228.
[Digest of Opinion]
The creditor alleges that the debtor submitted a false financial statement, omitting for two consecutive years, a tax liability, and an indebtedness owed to another corporation. It was the debtor's defense that he omitted these debts on open accounts to the corporation since the instructions on the financing statement provided for only such indebtedness requiring periodic payments of fixed sums.
The court found that the form of the financial statement was ambiguous. It could have been interpreted as calling for the listing of all indebtedness or all indebtedness in respect to which a specified monthly payment was due, or could have been interpreted as calling for the listing of all indebtedness without exception.
Further, for indebtedness to be regarded as nondischargeable in bankruptcy, it must be found that any falsification was intentional. Accordingly, the court found there could be no intent where the form of the financial statement is vague and ambiguous, warranting an interpretation justifying the omission of some of the indebtedness. Consequently, the debt was discharged.