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.
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.....
On a question where the lower courts are split, Bankruptcy Judge A. Benjamin Goldgar of Chicago took sides with the minority by holding that violating a PACA trust does not give rise to denial of.....
At least in Illinois, unused vacation pay is exempt as wages, no matter how much, according to Seventh Circuit Judge Frank H. Easterbrook.
The debtor lost his job and filed bankruptcy one week later.....
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.....
As a matter of constitutional law, the Seventh Circuit reduced punitive damages from $3 million to $582,000 when the jury had awarded the debtor $582,000 in compensatory damages as a consequence of.....
A decision from Illinois highlights two flaws in the U.S. health care system: (1) Even with health insurance, medical bills can force someone into bankruptcy; and (2) if medical bills are “consumer”.....
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.....
The Seventh Circuit slammed the door on another theory used by bankrupt citizens of Chicago to avoid paying traffic tickets and parking fines incurred while in chapter 13.
In March, the Chicago-based.....