7th Circuit

Unemployed for 16 months, surviving on food stamps, and living rent-free enabled a debtor to discharge student loans.

A PACA trust lacks the hallmarks of a trust, so a failure to pay a produce supplier doesn’t give rise to a nondischargeable debt for defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity, Judge Goldgar says.

Pleas to injustice and unfairness failed to persuade the Seventh Circuit to depart from a state law exemption for wages.

Despite atrocious mortgage servicing, the circuit court cut a jury’s $3 million award of punitive damages to $582,000.

Someone forced into bankruptcy on account of medical bills will also be forced into chapter 13.

Appeals courts won’t allow bankruptcy to shield debtors from paying parking tickets and fines incurred in the course of a chapter 13 case.

Indiana bankruptcy and district judges rule that secured lenders are only entitled to ‘adequate protection’ until the debtor’s counsel’s allowed fees have been paid in full.

Seventh Circuit splits with other circuits on basis for jurisdiction to determine the amount of a tax.

On an appeal involving contempt of the discharge injunction, would the circuit court have reached a different conclusion by employing the standard under Taggart?

A judicial lien impairing a homestead exemption is avoidable in some states under Section 522(f), but not in others.