Govt. Claims/Sovereign Immunity

5th Circuit Feb 20, 2020

Fifth Circuit Rules that the Penalty under the ACA Isn’t a Priority Tax Claim

The exaction for failure to purchase health insurance isn’t an excise tax ‘on a transaction’ under Section 507(a)(8)(E)(i).

Courts Interpret Brunner Too Harshly, Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia Morris Says

A debtor with a law degree but only $37,500 in gross annual income was permitted to discharge more than $220,000 in student loans.

Treasury Offset Program Can’t Be Used After Bankruptcy, District Judge Says

Now on the district court bench, then-Bankruptcy Judge Frank Volk was upheld in a tricky case involving the government’s right of setoff.
9th Circuit Oregon Aug 23, 2019

Student Loans Discharged in Part, Even Though Debtor Wasn’t Destitute

A bankruptcy judge can afford little relief from student loans, even for sympathetic debtors who try hard to repay their debts.
7th Circuit Nov 12, 2019

Seventh Circuit Holds that Parking Tickets and Fines Are Chapter 13 ‘Admin’ Expenses

Appeals courts won’t allow bankruptcy to shield debtors from paying parking tickets and fines incurred in the course of a chapter 13 case.
1st Circuit Jul 26, 2019

Recent Decisions Deepen and Entrench Circuit Split on Discharging Student Loans

Conflicting standards among the circuits warrant a grant of certiorari to define ‘undue hardship’ required for discharging a student loan.
5th Circuit Jul 30, 2019

Fifth Circuit Makes Student Loans Even More Difficult to Discharge

Fifth Circuit now says that student loans must ‘impose intolerable difficulties’ to be dischargeable.