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.
Bankruptcy Judge Timothy A. Barnes of Chicago displayed tools a judge can use to help a debtor who may have had a meritorious defense but could not afford to defend a dischargeability suit.
The.....
On a question where the lower courts are split, Chief Bankruptcy Judge G. Michael Halfenger of Milwaukee decided that the fees paid for a chapter 13 debtor’s counsel must be taken into consideration.....
Auto owners in Chicago sustained a defeat when the Supreme Court held on January 14 that refusing to turn over an impounded car does not violate the automatic stay in Section 362(a)(3). Consequently.....
If a chapter 7 case is converted to chapter 13 after the debtor receives a discharge, creditors with discharged claims are entitled to the allowance of their claims in chapter 13, according to.....
On an issue where the circuits are divided, the First Circuit upheld the two lower courts by ruling that a homestead exemption, valid on the chapter 13 filing date, is not lost if the debtor sells the.....
The Seventh Circuit, per Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook, has issued the third in a series of opinions emphatically requiring bankruptcy courts to make case-specific findings of fact when a chapter 13.....
Believing that Supreme Court authority on preferences didn’t govern, the First Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel ruled that funds allegedly withdrawn from a retirement account before the filing date.....
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.....
Even if the bankruptcy court’s order was final and appealable, the order of the district court deciding an appeal isn’t necessarily a final order conferring the right of appeal to the court of appeals.....
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.....