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.
The Third Circuit pronounced an expansive view of “related to” jurisdiction by allowing chapter 13 debtors to mount a lawsuit in bankruptcy court against a contractor for breach of a contract that.....
In Tyler v. Hennepin County, 598 U.S. 631 (2023), the Supreme Court decided in May 2023 that a real estate tax foreclosure can violate the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment when a municipality.....
On two important questions, the Third Circuit handed down a decision on modification of chapter 13 plans that should apply equally to modified chapter 11 plans:
1. When the debtor moves to modify a.....
A four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle is exempt as a “motor vehicle,” at least in Ohio. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Ann Whipple declined to engraft a “use” qualification onto the statutory language.
Judge.....
A troubling decision from a district court in New Jersey seems to have disregarded the power of a bankruptcy court under Section 329 to rule on the adequacy of disclosures and the amount of.....
The Supreme Court’s decisions in Bullard and Ritzen didn’t undercut the Third Circuit’s longstanding “pragmatic approach” to judging finality in bankruptcy cases, nor did they undermine In re Brown, 9.....
The Supreme Court created a problem for cash-starved debtors when the Court held in Lamie that a discharge prevents a lawyer from requiring a chapter 7 debtor to pay for post-petition services after.....
On an issue where the courts are divided, Bankruptcy Judge Beth A. Buchanan of Cincinnati decided that the Social Security benefits of a nonfiling spouse are not to be included in deciding whether the.....
“[W]hen an attorney learns that a client has engaged in fraudulent or unauthorized conduct,” the lawyer “must take reasonable remedial measures, including, if necessary, disclosure to the tribunal,”.....
Other than a judicial lien securing a domestic support obligation, a debtor may avoid a lien that impairs an exemption under Section 522(f), even if the lien secures a nondischargeable debt, according.....