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.
Based on the broad definition given the word “claim,” a creditor has standing to bring a nondischargeability suit against an individual debtor for embezzlement when the debtor didn’t embezzle from the.....
On an important issue about judicial estoppel in bankruptcy cases, the Fifth Circuit handed down a nonprecedential opinion on January 13 raising exactly the same issue coming before the Supreme Court.....
The amendment to Bankruptcy Rule 2003(e) didn’t create a bright-line rule automatically cutting off the time for objecting to exemptions when the trustee doesn’t announce and file a statement.....
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.....
Debtors and trustees should read a Fifth Circuit opinion to understand how the sale of a debtor’s claims should be structured to prevent the sale from being champertous and void.
The debtor severely.....
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.....
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.....