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.
In Tyler v. Hennepin County, 598 U.S. 631 (2023), the Supreme Court held that a real estate tax foreclosure can violate the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment when a municipality takes title but.....
The Supreme Court’s Truck Insurance decision upset what we thought we knew about bankruptcy standing. It gives broadly defined parties in interest the right to appear and be heard in chapter 11 cases.....
In an important decision, the Second Circuit held that a creditor may not use an uncontested claim allowance in an offensive use of claim preclusion if it would be “unfair.”
In her August 8 opinion.....
To obtain a “bad faith” judgment against an insurer for the plaintiff’s damages in excess of policy limits, the plaintiff must continue the suit nominally against the defendant. When the defendant is.....
The Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel painted itself into a corner in 2002 when it held that a bankruptcy court has no discretion to modify a discharge injunction under Section 524(a).
To avoid.....
Applying analogies to tort law, the Seventh Circuit held that comparative fault requires a reduction of a debtor’s recovery of compensatory damages for a violation of the discharge injunction.
For the.....
Debtors and trustees should read a Fifth Circuit opinion to understand how the sale of a debtor’s claims should be structured to prevent the sale from being champertous and void.
The debtor severely.....
Affirming the bankruptcy court, a district judge in Brooklyn identified a loophole allowing chapter 13 debtors in some states to assert a homestead exemption without having the exemption prevent the.....
If a debtor sues in federal district court seeking money damages for violating the automatic stay, the debtor is entitled to a jury trial. Right?
Wrong! Under Granfinanciera v. Nordberg, 492 U.S. 33.....
On an issue where the circuits are divided, Bankruptcy Judge Patricia M. Mayer of Reading, Pa., decided that she could not employ equity to extend a deadline that had expired — in this case, the.....