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.
Alleging that a debtor was a net winner in a Ponzi scheme doesn’t state a claim for nondischargeability, even when the debtor has realized an “impossibly high” profit of $93,000 on an investment of $2.....
The Fourth Circuit holds that the debt in a settlement agreement based on a claim for willful and malicious conduct is nondischargeable under Section 523(a)(6) and isn’t a dischargeable debt arising.....
Courts don’t agree on who gets appreciation when a home is sold during a chapter 13 case or if the case converts to chapter 7. Does post-petition appreciation stay with the debtor, or does it go to.....
Even when the debtor has no personal liability on a mortgage secured by investment property, a chapter 13 plan may modify the mortgage, according to Bankruptcy Judge Kevin R. Huennekens of Richmond.....
Although the lower courts are split, the Fourth Circuit became the first court of appeals to rule that the Bankruptcy Code does not preempt claims under state law for violation of the discharge.....
A district judge in New Jersey held that a chapter 7 trustee isn’t entitled to a commission based on disbursements to the trustee’s own counsel. The judge believes that counsel for a trustee is not a.....
Bankruptcy Judge Klinette H. Kindred of Alexandria, Va., embraced the concurring opinion in this term’s Bartenwerfer opinion from the Supreme Court by holding that a poor schlub who was an unwitting.....
For authority, Bankruptcy Judge Kathryn C. Ferguson of Trenton, N.J., could have cited Bob Dylan, who sang, “For the times, they are a-changin’.”
The debtor had been fired by his employer, allegedly.....
The chapter 13 debtors’ monthly mortgage payment was $1,100 more than the local standard mortgage deduction. Abjuring a split of circuits, the Fourth Circuit held that debtors with above-median income.....
For a year, there had been a breath of hope that so-called bifurcated fee arrangements would pass muster in South Carolina. Now, the breath of hope has become a last gasp.
Affirming the bankruptcy.....