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.
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.....
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.....
After discharge, state and federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction to decide whether a debt was discharged.
Allowing a state court to decide a discharge question is risky, for reasons shown in a.....
The Fifth Circuit expanded Bartenwerfer by holding a debt to be nondischargeable when the debtor was neither a partner nor an agent nor the person who himself committed the fraud.
The October 16.....
Student loans consolidated after filing cannot be discharged even on a showing of “undue hardship,” for reasons explained by Bankruptcy Judge Shad M. Robinson of Austin, Texas.
The debtor filed a.....
On a question where the courts are divided, Bankruptcy Judge John S. Hodge of Shreveport, La., ruled that debt service for a non-purchase money lien on an automobile is not deductible in calculating a.....
The extended bar date for governmental claims applies if a governmental unit is the holder of the claim, even if a nongovernmental entity is the servicer of the claim, the Fifth Circuit says.
A couple.....
The commission of a serious crime doesn’t necessarily give rise to a nondischargeable debt, as Bankruptcy Judge Robert L. Jones of Lubbock, Texas, explained in an opinion on July 7. The opinion shows.....
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.....
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.....