In re: Donald Mack Glaude

Background

Donald Glaude resides at the subject property in Newark, California. On May 7 and June 25, 2025, the Superior Court of Alameda County issued decisions in two unlawful detainer actions involving Jessica Ardell-Smith, individually and as trustee of the VMM Irrevocable Trust. The opinion states that the Superior Court awarded Ardell-Smith possession of the property. Glaude later filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case.

At Ardell-Smith’s request, the bankruptcy court terminated the automatic stay as to the property. An automatic stay is the legal pause that generally takes effect when a bankruptcy case begins and can temporarily stop collection or other enforcement actions. Glaude appealed the bankruptcy court’s order and asked the bankruptcy court to stay enforcement while the appeal was pending. The bankruptcy court denied that request, finding that Glaude had not shown a likelihood of success on appeal. Glaude then renewed his request in the district court.

Court’s Analysis

The district court stated that a party seeking a stay pending appeal must show, among other things, that the appeal is likely to succeed. The court found that Glaude did not make that showing.

Glaude’s arguments primarily challenged the Trust’s ownership of the property. The district court stated that the Superior Court had concluded in two unlawful detainer actions that the Trust owned the property and that those decisions extinguished other legal or equitable possessory interests Glaude might have had. The district court further held that neither the bankruptcy court nor the district court had jurisdiction to review those state-court decisions. Because the state-court decisions had already resolved the relevant property issues, the district court concluded that the bankruptcy court properly terminated the automatic stay as to the property.

Glaude also argued that the Superior Court had not decided title to the property. The district court rejected that argument, citing the Superior Court’s June 25 order, which expressly found that the Trust had perfected title in October 2023 and that Glaude had not presented enough evidence to create a triable issue of material fact on that question.

Disposition

Judge Rita F. Lin concluded that Glaude was unlikely to succeed on the merits of his appeal. The court therefore DENIED Glaude’s motion to stay enforcement of the bankruptcy court’s order terminating the automatic stay.