Joining the Tenth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit also has held that chapter 13 trustees are not paid their fees when cases are dismissed before confirmation. The identical issue was argued on February 15 before the Second Circuit.
In short order, we’ll have either unanimity or a split of circuits. A split will give rise to an issue worthy of a grant of certiorari by the Supreme Court.
Notably, the Ninth Circuit’s opinion on June 12 adopted reasoning in an amicus brief filed in support of the debtor by the National Consumer Bankruptcy Rights Center and National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.
In the Ninth Circuit, forgetting to raise discharge as a defense in state court isn’t fatal. At least if the creditor later asks the bankruptcy court to rule on whether the debt was discharged, the.....
In August, Congress adopted the so-called HAVEN Act, which allows military veterans to exclude disability benefits from the calculation of “current monthly income.” In practical terms, the new law.....
Writing about the so-called individual mandate under the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. ACA or Obamacare) seems like beating a dead horse now that Congress has repealed the penalty for taxpayers who didn.....
Bankruptcy Judge Jack B. Schmetterer of Chicago discharged about $73,000 in student loans owed by a 53-year-old single woman who had been unemployed for 16 months, had no income, was not eligible for.....
On an issue where the lower courts are split, the Sixth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel held that a pre-petition personal guaranty is a contingent debt that is discharged, even as to post-petition.....
The Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel eliminated a split among the lower courts by reversing the bankruptcy court and ruling that the failure to report increased income can lead to the.....
On an issue where the courts are split, Chief Bankruptcy Judge Joseph M. Meier of Boise, Idaho, decided that a chapter 13 trustee is entitled to no fee if the case is dismissed before confirmation.
Th.....
A nonprecedential opinion from the Eleventh Circuit shows how Taggart v. Lorenzen allows courts to rule on contempt motions without actually deciding whether there was a violation of the discharge.....
In chapter 13, creditors – not just the debtor – may sometimes lose out if the debtor had concealed the existence of a personal injury claim and the defendant invokes judicial estoppel to bar.....
A $300,000 debt for life-saving, emergency medical treatment was not a “consumer” debt because it was not “voluntarily” incurred, according to Bankruptcy Judge C. Kathryn Preston of Columbus, Ohio.
A.....