impossible-discharges: qualify Q9 certification as screening leads, not verified violations

Reframes the false-certification assertion (FP-28: name-only identity join, 0
confirmed) to identity-pending screening candidates; removes the categorical
'that certification is false' accusation on unverified identity.

Author: ilikemath9999

reports/impossible-discharges/index.html

@@ -397,8 +397,8 @@ <h3>What the Data Shows</h3>
 <h2>3. What Went Wrong</h2>
 <h3>The Petition Problem</h3>
 <p>Official Form 101 (the <a href="https://voluntarypetition.org" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="Voluntary Bankruptcy Petition -- Open Bankruptcy Project">voluntary petition</a> that initiates every bankruptcy case) asks at <strong>Question 9</strong>: "Have you filed for bankruptcy within the last 8 years?" If the answer is yes, the form requires the debtor to list the prior case number, district, date filed, and status.</p>
-<p>For the 264 barred cases in our verified sample, the prior filing was verifiable in federal records. The debtor had filed before. A discharge had been entered. The dates fell within the statutory bar period. Yet in a significant number of these cases, the petition was filed certifying no prior filing—or with incomplete prior filing information that obscured the bar.</p>
-<p>Attorneys are responsible for the accuracy of bankruptcy petitions. Under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/707">11 U.S.C. § 707(b)(4)</a> and Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9011, the attorney's signature certifies that the petition is accurate after reasonable inquiry. When an attorney files a Chapter 13 petition answering "No" to Question 9 for a debtor who verifiably received a prior discharge within the bar period, that certification is false.</p>
+<p>For the cases in our screening sample, an apparent prior filing was identified by matching debtor records across cases. These are screening candidates, not identity-confirmed matches: name-based matching across court records cannot, on its own, establish that a prior case belongs to the same person — middle-name mismatches, spouse filings, and similar-name collisions all occur — and confirming any individual case requires per-case identity verification against the full Social Security numbers on file with the courts, which our screen does not perform.</p>
+<p>Attorneys are responsible for the accuracy of bankruptcy petitions. Under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/707">11 U.S.C. § 707(b)(4)</a> and Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9011, the attorney's signature certifies that the petition is accurate after reasonable inquiry. Where a Chapter 13 petition answers "No" to Question 9 for a debtor who is confirmed — through identity verification — to have received a prior discharge within the bar period, that certification would be inaccurate. Because our screen identifies candidates rather than confirming identity, it does not establish that any particular certification was false; it flags cases warranting review.</p>
 <h3>No Court Screening Mechanism</h3>
 <p>No bankruptcy court in the United States has a systematic, automated process to check whether a newly filed case triggers the § 1328(f) <a href="https://dischargebar.org" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="Bankruptcy Discharge Bar -- Open Bankruptcy Project">discharge bar</a>. The clerk's office does not cross-reference the debtor's name or Social Security number against prior filings in the same or other districts to verify Question 9 answers at the time of filing.</p>
 <p>The statute is enforced <strong>reactively</strong>, not proactively. Someone—the U.S. Trustee, the Chapter 13 trustee, a creditor, or the court itself—must affirmatively discover the prior filing and raise the issue. If no one does, discharge is entered as a matter of course at the conclusion of the plan.</p>