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.
Bankruptcy Judge Jack B. Schmetterer of Chicago discharged about $73,000 in student loans owed by a 53-year-old single woman who had been unemployed for 16 months, had no income, was not eligible for.....
On a question where the lower courts are split, Bankruptcy Judge A. Benjamin Goldgar of Chicago took sides with the minority by holding that violating a PACA trust does not give rise to denial of.....
At least in Illinois, unused vacation pay is exempt as wages, no matter how much, according to Seventh Circuit Judge Frank H. Easterbrook.
The debtor lost his job and filed bankruptcy one week later.....
As a matter of constitutional law, the Seventh Circuit reduced punitive damages from $3 million to $582,000 when the jury had awarded the debtor $582,000 in compensatory damages as a consequence of.....
A decision from Illinois highlights two flaws in the U.S. health care system: (1) Even with health insurance, medical bills can force someone into bankruptcy; and (2) if medical bills are “consumer”.....
The Seventh Circuit slammed the door on another theory used by bankrupt citizens of Chicago to avoid paying traffic tickets and parking fines incurred while in chapter 13.
In March, the Chicago-based.....
On an issue where the courts are divided, bankruptcy and district judges in Indianapolis allow a chapter 13 debtor’s attorney to be paid in full before secured creditors receive more than adequate.....
A September 20 opinion from the Seventh Circuit reads like a suspense novel: For nine pages, Circuit Judge Frank H. Easterbrook sounded as though he was rejecting a test for “related to” jurisdiction.....
Without citing the Taggart decision by the Supreme Court in June, the Seventh Circuit reversed the lower courts and held a creditor in contempt of the discharge injunction.
In Taggart v. Lorenzen, 139.....
Most of us would assume that a home owned by a married couple as tenants by the entireties would be exempt in all respects in all states. But no, that is not true in Illinois and states with similar.....