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.
To deny an individual’s discharge under Section 727(a)(5) for failure “to explain satisfactorily” a loss of assets, the First Circuit held that the missing assets need not be substantial.
Objecting to.....
Last week, we reported on how Bankruptcy Judge M. Ruthie Hagan of Memphis, Tenn., interpreted the Supreme Court’s Till decision to mean that a fully secured holder of a second mortgage to be paid in.....
Sitting in the Sixth Circuit, Bankruptcy Judge M. Ruthie Hagan of Memphis, Tenn., decided that the Eighth Circuit had better authority interpreting Till and providing guidance for fixing the rate of.....
If a chapter 13 debtor dies before confirmation, it stands to reason that the case should be dismissed because the debtor can’t file a plan, has no regular income and can’t be examined by creditors.
Th.....
Circuit Judge Thomas L. Ambro has written another gem.
For the Third Circuit in an opinion on September 3, Judge Ambro drew the boundaries between the rules of preclusion and the Rooker-Feldman doctrin.....
On an issue where the circuits are divided, Bankruptcy Judge Patricia M. Mayer of Reading, Pa., decided that she could not employ equity to extend a deadline that had expired — in this case, the.....
While most courts more recently are allowing the debtor to dismiss a chapter 13 case even when creditors prefer conversion to chapter 7, a decision by Bankruptcy Judge Michael A. Fagone of Bangor.....
Holding that a debtor’s lawyer has no Seventh Amendment right for a jury to decide what the debtor owes for fees in connection with a chapter 7 case, the Third Circuit upheld bankruptcy courts’ power.....
On January 8, we reported on a decision where Chief Bankruptcy Judge Catherine J. Furay of Madison, Wis., held that a judgment creditor must docket the judgment to have a judgment lien on real.....
At least in the Third Circuit, it’s permissible for a bankruptcy judge to give the debtor a grace period to cure a default beyond the five-year life of a chapter 13 plan, according to a decision by a.....