Fowler v. Cooney (In Re Cooney)

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MERRITT S. DEITZ, Jr., Bankruptcy Judge.

A drunken beating in a roadhouse parking lot gives rise to this nondischargeability action in bankruptcy court. The facts have been tried twice. This is the the second opinion to be written in the case. 1 The transcript tells a tawdry tale which must be retold just once more, hopefully for the final time.

Joseph Cooney, after drinking since early that afternoon, found his way to Bill’s Supper Club in the south end of Louisville on the evening of August 4, 1977. There he encountered Mr. Woody, a gambling companion in Cooney’s debt. A…