DITTO v. MCCURDY
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in DITTO v. MCCURDY, No. 02-16252, a bankruptcy appeal. The panel consisted of Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, A. Wallace Tashima, and Milan D. Smith, Jr., Circuit Judges.
MILAN D. SMITH, JR., Circuit Judge:
Plaintiff-Appellant Janie Ditto appeals the decision of the district court affirming the bankruptcy court’s grant of Defendant-Appellee John McCurdy’s motion for summary judgment and denying Ditto’s motion for leave to amend the pleadings. Ditto seeks a judgment of non-dischargeability of McCurdy’s debt under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(6), which grants an exception to discharge for any debt “for willful and malicious injury by the debtor.” She argues that the malpractice judgment she previously secured against McCurdy, based in part on a theory of informed consent, constitutes a debt for “willful and malicious injury.” She also argues, in the alternative, that she should be permitted to amend her complaint to object to granting McCurdy a discharge in bankruptcy, even though McCurdy was granted a discharge more than a year before her motion to amend. We reject both arguments and affirm the district court’s decision. I Janie Ditto is a Korean immigrant who came to the United States in 1976. She suffers from several chronic illnesses, including diabetes and hyperthyroidism. The drug treatment for her hyperthyroidism caused her breasts to flatten, and in 1986 she went to John McCurdy for breast augmentation surgery. The surgery was unsuccessful, and resulted in complications requiring six additional surgical procedures over. . .