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.
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.....
Directing a vulgar insult at a debtor is no violation of the automatic stay. Indeed, basing a contempt motion on a text message to a debtor that said, “You’re such a piece of s—t,” “has absolutely no.....
A lender and its lawyer were sanctioned under Bankruptcy Rule 9011 for filing a dischargeability complaint against a consumer based only on the allegation that it must have been fraud because the.....
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.....
Once a debtor has completed plan payments, the bankruptcy court has power under Bankruptcy Rule 7070 to clear title by removing liens that were stripped off in the debtor’s chapter 13 plan.
In.....
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.....
If a chapter 7 trustee succeeds with a clever argument in the Fifth Circuit, whole life policies will not be exempt in Texas. The trustee’s argument failed to convince Bankruptcy Judge Craig A.....