Assignee Sheldon Eisenberger argued in a motion to dismiss the cases that under the Bankruptcy Code, he had no duty to turn over the assets after being in control of them for 120 days or more, and thus the debtors had no assets and no reason to be in bankruptcy. He also disputed that the ABC process had stalled.

In his decision, Judge Lane said it made sense to dismiss the cases on the basis of abstention, finding that proceeding with the ABC would protect the parties and achieve an equitable distribution.

The ABC proceeding has "made considerable progress while pending in state court for nearly a year and starting anew in bankruptcy court now would [be] costly and inefficient," Judge Lane wrote in his decision.

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The assignee is represented by Keith A. Lazere, Ethan Greenberg, Jason Kosek, Joshua A. Zelen and Salvatore A. Salerno of Anderson Kill PC.

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