Consumer Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy Judge Meisel implores the Third Circuit to follow other circuits on dismissing bad faith debtors’ chapter 13 petitions but with bars to refiling.

If a lender could collect only once outside of bankruptcy when both spouses guaranteed a debt, the result is the same in a single or joint bankruptcy by the spouses.

Debt’s Grip: Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy Reviewed by Nicholas G. Glover Written by Prof. Pamela Foohey, Prof. Robert M. Lawless and Dr. Deborah K. Thorne Consumer bankruptcy affects Americans across the socioeconomic spectrum. It is a jarring truth that “[a]lmost every

Having 51% consumer debt doesn’t necessarily mean that the debtor has ‘primarily’ consumer debt.

Event Roundup Mid-Atlantic Bankruptcy Workshop Convenes in Chocolate Town, U.S.A. This year’s Mid-Atlantic Bankruptcy Workshop, geared toward practitioners in the Mid-Atlantic region, was held Aug. 18-20 in Hershey, Pa., at the family-friendly Hershey Lodge. Attendees

A client calls his lawyer after receiving his chapter 7 discharge. He’s pleased; after all, a discharge is “the holy grail” of chapter 7. [i] But there’s an unexpected adversary proceeding pending that alleges that the client owes a debt for a willful and malicious injury. [ii] The client believes in his defenses but understands that this debt won’t be discharged if the claim succeeds. [iii] After the lawyer mentions that a chapter 13 discharge covers such debts after full plan performance, [iv] the client asks whether he should file a new chapter 13 case.

Section 522(f)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code allows debtors to avoid certain liens, including judicial liens, that impair debtors’ exemptions. [i] But § 522(f)(2)(C) says that “this paragraph shall not apply with respect to a judgment arising out of a mortgage foreclosure,” leaving courts to decide whether debtors can avoid mortgage deficiency judgments under § 522(f). Recently, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut’s In re Gramigna [ii] opinion has joined an overwhelming majority of cases that have said that debtors can avoid mortgage deficiency judgments. These majority courts have relied on three predominant rationales.

Ninth Circuit questions continuing validity of BAP opinions on finality handed down before Ritzen.

The Ninth Circuit gives state legislatures the ability to decide whether costs of attorneys’ disciplinary proceedings are dischargeable, or not.

When the debtor makes false statements on schedules, discharge isn’t denied unless they were material, Judge Bentley says.