9th Circuit

Bankruptcy Courts Have Statutory Power to Remove Voided Liens

Bankruptcy Rule 7070, incorporating Federal Rule 70 along with 28 U.S.C. § 1655, gives bankruptcy courts power to remove liens of record when the lenders don’t do so voluntarily.
9th Circuit Sep 13, 2023

Chapter 7 Debtors Have No Appellate Standing to Challenge a Short Sale, Circuit Says

Ninth Circuit doesn’t allow debtors to appeal when a trustee sells their home out from underneath them in a short sale.
9th Circuit Jun 12, 2023

Stop Punishing the Innocent: Congress Should Fix the Doll/Evans Problem

What will become of the chapter 13 system if standing trustees must refund all fees collected in cases dismissed before confirmation? The answer is perhaps unexpected: Unsecured creditors in confirmed chapter 13 cases will pay the administrative expenses of cases that fail.
9th Circuit Jul 28, 2023

Circuits Are Now Split on Who Gets Appreciation in a Home When a ‘13’ Converts to ‘7’

Splitting with the Tenth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit holds that chapter 13 debtors lose post-petition appreciation in a home if the case converts to chapter 7.
9th Circuit Jul 3, 2023

Ninth Circuit Won’t Give Pro Se Litigants Slack About Consent to Final Adjudication

Wellness International may have undercut prior Second Circuit authority giving pro se litigants a loophole for arguing there was no implied consent to final adjudication by an Article I judge.
9th Circuit Jun 12, 2023

Two Circuits Now Hold: ‘13’ Trustees Aren’t Paid if Cases Dismiss Before Confirmation

The Ninth and Tenth Circuit disallow fees to chapter 13 trustee if the case is dismissed before confirmation. The identical issue is sub judice in the Second Circuit.

Bartenwerfer Isn’t at Odds with Husky, According to Bankruptcy Judge Margaret Mann

A transferor’s fraudulent intent isn’t imputed to the transferee to make the transferee’s debt nondischargeable for ‘actual fraud.’

Do Debtors Get to Keep Post-Confirmation Windfalls in Chapter 13?

Chapter 13 scholar Keith Lundin believes that debtors retain inheritances acquired more than 180 days after filing.
9th Circuit Apr 14, 2023

A Statement ‘For Informational Purposes’ Can Still Be a Stay Violation, BAP Says

A BAP strictly enforced the stay against a mortgage servicer who improperly listed a pre-petition debt in the portion of the monthly statement showing the next post-petition payment.

Judge Klein Charts the Path for Discharging Student Loans and Not Being Reversed

Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein provides authority for student loan debtors who win in bankruptcy court but face an appeal aimed at the trial court’s fact-findings.