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.....
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.....
Applying analogies to tort law, the Seventh Circuit held that comparative fault requires a reduction of a debtor’s recovery of compensatory damages for a violation of the discharge injunction.
For the.....
Courts are split over the interpretation of Section 362(c)(3). If a previous bankruptcy by an individual was dismissed within one year, does the automatic stay terminate automatically 30 days after.....
Bankruptcy Judge Donald R. Cassling of Chicago overruled a confirmation objection that would have driven lawyers away from the chapter 13 practice if sustained. He rejected an unsecured creditor’s.....
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.....
Even though a couple were married only one month before the husband filed a chapter 13 petition, Chicago’s Bankruptcy Judge Michael B. Slade decided that the husband was entitled to claim a house of.....
The ultimate outcome of a lawsuit in Chicago will determine whether bankruptcy courts have the power to entertain class actions where the damages for any one debtor are so small that individual.....