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.
Overruling the Seventh Circuit’s own 1984 precedent in deference to the later-decided Barnhill v. Johnson, 503 U.S. 393 (1992), Circuit Judge Frank H. Easterbrook held that a judgment creditor is.....
A decision by a district judge in Madison, Wis., highlights a problem that Congress ought to fix: Chapter 13 debtors should have statutory power to file avoidance actions, because Section 544(b)(1).....
During an era when courts torture the language of opaque statutes to find answers for difficult questions, it was refreshing to read an opinion by Bankruptcy Judge Robert A. Mark of Miami, who used.....
On an issue where there is little authority and the lower courts are split, Bankruptcy Judge Beth E. Hanan of Milwaukee decided that a debtor who had amended a plan to increase the duration beyond 60.....
Drawing on Harris v. Viegelahn, Bankruptcy Judge LaShonda L. Hunt of Chicago held that a chapter 13 debtor’s attorney cannot be paid allowed compensation from funds in the hands of the chapter 13.....
District Judge Brett H. Ludwig of Milwaukee stepped into the middle of a split by holding that an individual debtor’s prior bankruptcy did not discharge liability on a personal guarantee for debts.....
Welcome to a law student’s nightmare: the convergence of property law and bankruptcy.
If a debtor owns property as a joint tenant with right of survivorship, the trustee can’t sell the property if the.....
For standing to appeal, an individual chapter 7 debtor must substantiate allegations that the estate is solvent. “Speculative support” for the value of the assets will not suffice, the Seventh Circuit.....
On a topic with sparse authority where the lower courts are divided, Bankruptcy Judge Caryl E. Delano of Ft. Myers, Fla., came down on the side of the debtor by holding that Social Security benefits.....
If the law changes dramatically after confirmation of a plan, the Seventh Circuit tells us that the debtor must move within one year of confirmation to amend the plan. Otherwise, the debtor will be.....