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.
Another court has sanctioned a necessarily cumbersome process to make bankruptcy affordable for those who need it most — namely, people so broke they can’t pay the filing fee, much less a retainer.
Ba.....
Widening an existing split of circuits, the Eleventh Circuit rejected the one-day-late rule adopted by three circuits and held that a tax debt can be discharged even if the return was filed late.
The.....
Circuit decisions are rare where the concurrence is more significant than the panel opinion. In a bankruptcy that has already generated gobs of law at all levels, Sixth Circuit Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton.....
Bankruptcy Judge John E. Waites, sitting in Columbia, S.C., refused to compel arbitration of “core” bankruptcy issues. Not surprising.
In a case involving a consumer, he also decided that.....
Differing with the First Circuit, the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel allowed a chapter 13 debtor to retain the post-petition increase in value of a nonexempt asset.
Building on a prior Ninth.....
A lawyer who allegedly helped judgment debtors hide their assets in his trust account got off scot-free under New York fraudulent transfer law combined with ethical rules governing a lawyer’s conduct.....
The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the First Circuit used a case involving the split of authority over Section 1322(c)(1) to opine on the binding effect of a BAP opinion on a later BAP panel in the.....
An opinion by Bankruptcy Judge Christopher M. Klein of Sacramento, Calif., is a hoot. It deserves reading in full text just for the entertainment value. If practices he describes are prevalent in the.....
Fifth Circuit Stretches Equitable Notions to Bend Plain Language
A nonprecedential opinion from the Fifth Circuit raises the perennial question: When, if ever, may the court ignore the plain language.....
Observing that some courts have incorrectly interpreted the Brunner test to impose “punitive standards,” Chief Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia G. Morris of the Southern District of New York allowed a debtor.....