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.
What happens in chapter 13 if a secured creditor doesn’t file a claim, and the debtor doesn’t file a claim for the creditor? There are two schools of thought.
Here’s the situation. The debtor owns a.....
The Supreme Court has yet to say whether enforcement of an arbitration agreement can bring a bankruptcy case to a grinding halt. More specifically, the Court has not said whether (or to what extent).....
While the courts are split, the majority permit a trustee using the so-called strong-arm power under Section 544(b) to extend the statute of limitations to six or 10 years by stepping into the shoes.....
On a question where the courts are split, Chief Bankruptcy Judge Magdeline D. Coleman of Philadelphia decided that dismissal is not mandatory under Section 109(g)(2) if an individual voluntarily.....
Overruling the Seventh Circuit’s own 1984 precedent in deference to the later-decided Barnhill v. Johnson, 503 U.S. 393 (1992), Circuit Judge Frank H. Easterbrook held that a judgment creditor is.....
A decision by a district judge in Madison, Wis., highlights a problem that Congress ought to fix: Chapter 13 debtors should have statutory power to file avoidance actions, because Section 544(b)(1).....
Bankruptcy Judge Gregory L. Taddonio has a way with words. “Sometimes,” he said, “even the most settled legal principles need to be repeated.” For example, “strict rules” exist “governing the.....
On an issue where there is little authority and the lower courts are split, Bankruptcy Judge Beth E. Hanan of Milwaukee decided that a debtor who had amended a plan to increase the duration beyond 60.....
Drawing on Harris v. Viegelahn, Bankruptcy Judge LaShonda L. Hunt of Chicago held that a chapter 13 debtor’s attorney cannot be paid allowed compensation from funds in the hands of the chapter 13.....
District Judge Brett H. Ludwig of Milwaukee stepped into the middle of a split by holding that an individual debtor’s prior bankruptcy did not discharge liability on a personal guarantee for debts.....