(In re Beaty), 306 F.3d 914 (9th Cir.2002), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals thoroughly addressed an analogous dischargeability action under § 523(a)(3)(B) of the Bankruptcy Code in which the defendant invoked laches. The Beaty court held that laches is available as a defense in a § 523(a)(3)(B) dischargeability action involving a debt not listed or scheduled by a creditor. Beaty at 923. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals enumerated four reasons that laches is available as a defense in a § 523(a)(3)(B) action: (1) Congress “intended laches to act as a constraint” in other similar bankruptcy actions; (2) the “at any time” language of Rule 4007(b) is not found in § 523(a)(3)(B) itself; (3) laches is “primarily concerned with prejudice” and does no S.Ct. 451, 3 L.Ed.2d 407 (1959) (<HOLDING>). However, the Beaty court disagreed with these
recognizing laches as an affirmative defense holding that a laches defense is inapplicable to a statute providing that a motion to vacate a sentence may be made at any time holding that equitable defense of laches is inapplicable to claims of fraud recognizing laches as an equitable defense to a motion to reopen holding that laches is an affirmative defense