The following excerpt is from Arden, In re, 176 F.3d 1226 (9th Cir. 1999):
In Cox v. Lansdowne (In re Cox), 904 F.2d 1399 (9th Cir.1990), we addressed whether a bankruptcy court committed a "gross abuse" of discretion when it ruled that a wife was not justified in failing to keep business records and therefore was not entitled to a discharge. Although we noted that the determination whether the wife's action was justified was within the court's discretion, we reversed because the court labored under the erroneous legal premise that the wife could not rely on her husband to keep the records. We held that "[b]y failing to consider a relevant factor in making its justification determination, the bankruptcy court committed an error of law which constitutes a gross abuse of discretion." Id. at 1403.
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