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 Taggart, the Supreme Court raised the bar on holding a creditor in contempt for violating the automatic stay. Some might say that the high court defanged the discharge. See Taggart v. Lorenzen, 139.....
Ordinarily, there is a clear winner and a clear loser when a circuit court decides an appeal. In a dischargeability case involving allegedly false representations and pretenses, the First Circuit.....
A bankruptcy court order awarding damages for willful violation of the automatic stay is a final order that must be appealed immediately, even if the court hasn’t yet ruled on how much the debtor is.....
The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the First Circuit used a case involving the split of authority over Section 1322(c)(1) to opine on the binding effect of a BAP opinion on a later BAP panel in the.....
A 3/2 decision by the Rhode Island Supreme Court shows that an inherited individual retirement account, or IRA, can be exempt in bankruptcy under state law even though it would not be exempt under.....
The lower courts are divided on the issue, but the First Circuit is the first court of appeals to decide the question.
The debtor was a fraudster sentenced to 10 years in prison for perpetrating a.....
Expanding First Circuit authority, bankruptcy and district judges in Maine essentially followed the Fifth Circuit in holding that a chapter 7 debtor can sell exempt property after filing and.....
Section 365(p) enables an individual debtor in chapter 7 to retain leased personal property, such as a car, if the trustee rejects the lease. Bankruptcy Judge Melvin S. Hoffman of Boston described the.....
There are two and perhaps three tests among the circuit courts for deciding when the repayment of a student loan amounts to an “undue hardship,” enabling the court to discharge the debt under Section.....
Different Rules Govern When Claims Accrue By or Against an Estate
Recently, courts have been holding that the accrual of claims by and against an estate are not governed by the same rules. An appeal.....