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.
The Sixth Circuit has effectively immunized the U.S. Trustee from paying a debtor’s attorneys’ fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) when the U.S. Trustee is the loser in a contested.....
Addressing a question that the Seventh Circuit hasn’t decided, Bankruptcy Judge David D. Cleary of Chicago “respectfully” disagreed with the Sixth Circuit and sided with the majority by holding that a.....
The receipt of a chapter 7 discharge does not automatically bar a debtor from converting a case to chapter 7, according to District Judge Nancy G. Edmonds of Detroit.
On the other hand, the right to.....
Other than a judicial lien securing a domestic support obligation, a debtor may avoid a lien that impairs an exemption under Section 522(f), even if the lien secures a nondischargeable debt, according.....
On a question where courts disagree, Bankruptcy Judge Denise E. Barnett of Memphis, Tenn., has held that a chapter 13 debtor may retain exempt proceeds from a personal injury settlement because.....
Hon. Mark Randon of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan recently weighed in on an issue that has divided bankruptcy courts over the past few years. Debtors who opt for.....
Before we begin this column, we'd like to take a moment to remember the lives that were lost on 9/11 and the families and communities that continue to be impacted by that tragic event. Never forget.
Ci.....
The government won the IRS Open three sets to love, when the Sixth Circuit sided with the Third and Fourth Circuits by holding that the “penalty” imposed on a taxpayer for failure to purchase health.....
Declining “the request to expand broadly an already questionable doctrine,” the majority on a Sixth Circuit panel held “that the doctrine of equitable mootness has no place in Chapter 7 liquidations.”.....
Using powers of equity and common sense, Bankruptcy Judge Daniel S. Opperman of Bay City, Mich., didn’t allow a grinch to steal a disabled man’s IRA.
A chapter 7 debtor was permanently disabled. Before.....