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.
Laying the groundwork for the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and resolve a circuit split, the Ninth Circuit ruled that voluntary contributions to a retirement plan are not counted as disposable.....
The denial of compensation to a chapter 13 trustee when dismissal precedes confirmation does not offend the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, for multiple reasons explained by the Ninth.....
Bankruptcy Judge Michelle M. Harner of Baltimore decided that a mortgage servicer who barred the chapter 13 debtor from using the servicer’s online payment platform had violated the automatic stay ab.....
On the same day, the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel issued two opinions in the same case laying down important rules for involuntary petitions:
(1) Fully secured creditors with nonrecourse.....
Since the CARES Act has expired, the bankruptcy court cannot now amend a confirmed chapter 13 plan while retaining an 84-month duration of the plan. For reasons explained in an opinion by Bankruptcy.....
On a question where the bankruptcy courts are divided, Bankruptcy Judge Maria Elena Chavez-Ruark of Greebelt, Md., decided that the calculation of the compensation of a chapter 7 trustee is based upon.....
On the very same day, the Fifth Circuit and Bankruptcy Judge Keith L. Phillips of Richmond, Va., wrote opinions describing the limited circumstances under which a chapter 7 debtor may object to the.....
Over a dissent, the majority on a Ninth Circuit panel affirmed the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel by holding that a debtor retains an “absolute right” to dismiss a chapter 13 case under Section 1307(b).....
A chapter 13 debtor has an unfettered right to dismiss under Section 1307(b) if the case has not previously been “converted” to chapter 13 under Section 706.
To protect a debtor’s right to dismiss, the.....
The Ninth Circuit bent over backwards to hold that sovereign immunity protects a state from the imposition of compensatory and punitive damages for filing an involuntary bankruptcy petition that was.....