Barletta v. Tedeschi

In Barletta v. Tedeschi (N.D.N.Y., 1990), 121 B.R. 669, the trustee indicated his intention to abandon the plaintiff's claims in a letter to the plaintiff, but took no action to formally abandon those claims. Id. at 674. Seeking to avoid the bar of the statute of limitations, the plaintiff commenced the action during the pendency of his bankruptcy, although he did not have title to the claims at that time. Id. The closing of the plaintiff's bankruptcy estate eventually resulted in the abandonment of the plaintiff's claims, albeit after the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations. Id. In determining that the plaintiff was the real party in interest by virtue of the bankruptcy trustee's abandonment of the claim, the court noted: "Dismissing the plaintiff's claim for lack of standing here would create the inequitable result of extinguishing the plaintiff's claim through the inaction of the trustee, who did not intend to pursue the claim but did not abandon it, while at the same time preventing the plaintiff from taking action until it was too late." Id.