Seventh Circuit Solidifies a Circuit Split on the Automatic Stay
Disagreeing with the Tenth and D.C. Circuits and siding with four other circuits, the Seventh Circuit rules that passively holding estate property violates the automatic stay.
Supreme Court Rejects Strict Liability for Discharge Violations
‘No objectively reasonable basis’ is the high court standard to find civil contempt for violating the discharge injunction.
Supreme Court Agrees to Rule on What Is or Is Not a ‘Final, Appealable’ Order
For now, the high court ducks an important automatic stay question for chapter 13 debtors.
Freezing a Chapter 7 Debtor’s Bank Account Doesn’t Violate the Automatic Stay
SDNY opinion seems to mean that a bank may freeze a debtor’s entire bank account at filing, without violating the automatic stay.
Supreme Court Hears Argument on Good Faith as Defense to Discharge Violation
In Taggart v. Lorenzen, the justices sounded largely noncommittal, except for the Chief Justice, who seemed in the debtor’s camp favoring a stricter standard for contempt of the discharge injunction.
‘Treasury Offset Program’ Can’t Be Used After Bankruptcy, Judge Volk Rules
Bankruptcy Judge Volk, nominated for the district court, rules in favor of the debtor on a question dividing the courts.
Filing Tag-Team Bankruptcies Resulted in Suspension from Practice
Fed up with a lawyer’s frivolous litigation tactics, the federal and state courts suspended a lawyer from practice.
BAPCPA Limits Remedies Against Debtors Who Don’t Reaffirm or Surrender
Congress may have intended to preclude ‘stay and pay,’ but it didn’t succeed.