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.
When fraud results in the loss of discharge, it doesn’t necessarily also limit the amount of a state homestead exemption under Section 522(q)(1)(B)(ii), as shown by an opinion from the Ninth Circuit.....
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.....
Unlike the majority of courts, the Sixth Circuit doesn’t permit a chapter 13 debtor to surrender collateral, modify a confirmed plan and classify the deficiency as an unsecured claim.
Bound by Sixth.....
Counsel in California, beware: The state’s reciprocal fee-shifting statute means that the losing side — whether it be the debtor, the trustee or the creditor — pays the adversary’s attorneys’ fees if.....
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.....
An attorney’s disciplinary proceeding offends neither the automatic stay nor the discharge injunction, for reasons explained by the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel.
The same is true even when.....
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.....
In the wake of Schwab v. Reilly, 560 U.S. 770 (2010), Bankruptcy Judge John E. Hoffman, Jr., of Columbus, Ohio, explained when a trustee must or cannot object to a homestead exemption claiming “100%.....
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.....
Sometimes, a trustee and a trustee’s professionals can be paid more than the distribution to unsecured creditors.
Explaining when the phenomenon may occur, Bankruptcy Judge Robert J. Faris said in his.....